Bible Strands
Isaiah 21:1
This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet transmits a received vision concerning a sudden invasion. The immediate context identifies the target as a coalition involving Elam and Media.
The words — מַשָּׂא (maśśāʾ) translates literally as oracle or burden, while כְּסוּפוֹת (kəṣūp̄ôṯ) means like storm-winds. These terms frame the judgment as a divinely decreed message and compare the invading force to a desert gale.
The thread — The term מַשָּׂא appears in Isaiah 13:1 regarding Babylon, while the rising sea imagery parallels Jeremiah 51:42. The sweeping destruction motif aligns with the broom of destruction declared in Isaiah 14:23.
Why it lands — The text states that an invader will sweep from a terrifying land like a desert storm. It demands recognition that geopolitical upheaval operates under a fixed divine decree.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 14:23 “I will make her a place for owls and for swamplands; I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
- Isaiah 13:1 This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:
- Jeremiah 51:42 The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered in turbulent waves.
- Zechariah 9:14 Then the LORD will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord GOD will sound the ram’s horn and advance in the whirlwinds of the south.
- Isaiah 13:20 She will never be inhabited or settled from generation to generation; no nomad will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flock there.
- Isaiah 17:1 This is the burden against Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is no longer a city; it has become a heap of ruins.
- Job 37:9 The tempest comes from its chamber, and the cold from the driving north winds.
- Isaiah 13:4 Listen, a tumult on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations gathered together! The LORD of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war.
- Ezekiel 31:12 Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and left it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. And all the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it.
- Daniel 11:40 At the time of the end, the king of the South will engage him in battle, but the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots, horsemen, and many ships, invading many countries and sweeping through them like a flood.