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Isaiah 21 Bible study: Watchman, what of the night?
Isaiah 21 is the only chapter of Isaiah with more than one burden heading, and it has three. Its first heading names no city: Babylon is named only in 21:9, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon" (21:9). And the pains that seize the one who speaks (21:3) are, in Hebrew, the words of Isaiah 13:8, where "the LORD’s day is at hand" (Isaiah 13:6).
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“The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?” The watchman said, “The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again.””
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“In Isaiah 21, the inhabitants of the land of Tema meet the fugitives with their bread.”
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What's really going on
Three burdens in one chapter
This chapter holds three burdens, each with its own heading: "The burden of the wilderness of the sea" (21:1), "The burden of Dumah" (21:11) and "The burden on Arabia" (21:13) (tap burden). Isaiah has eleven burden headings, from "The burden of Babylon" (Isaiah 13:1) to "The burden of the animals of the South" (Isaiah 30:6), and this is the only chapter with more than one. Here is what almost everyone misses: the first heading names no city. It speaks of "the wilderness of the sea", and goes on, "As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land" (21:1). The city's name comes only later, when "He answered" (21:9): "Fallen, fallen is Babylon" (21:9).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Isaiah 21
That was a taste
The rest of Isaiah 21 is waiting in Favor
- A grievous vision, and pains like labor
- "Go, set a watchman"
- Seir, Dedan, Tema and Kedar
- "Fallen, fallen" in other books
- A watchman's post in Habakkuk
- Names that come before
- 11 questions as you read
- 12 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Isaiah 21 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
שָׁמַרshamarsay sha-MAR
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "keep, watch, preserve". Strong's: "properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard". "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" (21:11), and "The watchman said" (21:12): each time watchman is shomer, a form of this verb. It is not the word of the watchman of 21:6, who is metsappeh (tap watchman there), though the WEB gives both as watchman. Isaiah has shomer for watchmen once more: "I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. They will never be silent day nor night" (Isaiah 62:6).
For your group
Isaiah 21 Bible study questions
- 1The watchman was set to "declare what he sees" (21:6), and the one on the watchtower stayed at his post "in the daytime, and every night" (21:8). What helps you keep at what you've been given to do when nothing seems to be happening?
- 2One called out of Seir, "Watchman, what of the night?" (21:11), and "The watchman said" (21:12), "If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again" (21:12). When someone brings you a hard question, what helps you answer them?
- 3"They brought water to him who was thirsty" (21:14), and met the fugitives with bread. Who near you is running from something hard, and what could you bring them this week?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Isaiah 21 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
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Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home