Isaiah 21 — Dead Sea Scrolls
17 verses • 6 variants • Columns XVI–XVII of 1QIsaiah-a
Scroll Overview
Summary
Chapter 21 contains three short oracles: the 'Wilderness of the Sea' (Babylon, vv. 1-10), Dumah/Edom (vv. 11-12), and Arabia (vv. 13-17). The 17 verses contain mostly orthographic variants. The dramatic watchman imagery is preserved identically.
Notable Variants
Verse 2 has a minor variant in the verb form. Verse 8 has a noteworthy reading where 1QIsaiah-a confirms the difficult 'lion' reading. The watchman motif in verses 6-9 is identical in both traditions.
Scroll Condition
Well preserved; fully legible.
The burden of the wilderness of the sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev, it comes from the wilderness, from a land of terror.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVI, line 22
A harsh vision has been declared to me: The betrayer betrays, the plunderer plunders. Go up, Elam! Lay siege, Media! All her groaning I will bring to an end.
Masoretic (WLC)
הַבּוֹגֵד
the treacherous one
Dead Sea Scroll
הבוגד
the treacherous one
Identical consonantal text. The cry 'The treacherous one betrays, the destroyer destroys' is preserved identically. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVI, line 23
Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me like the pangs of a woman in labor. I am twisted by what I hear, dismayed by what I see.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVI, line 24
My heart staggers, horror overwhelms me; the twilight I longed for he has turned to trembling for me.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVI, line 25
Set the table, spread the cloth, eat, drink — arise, you commanders, oil the shield!
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVI, line 26
For this is what the Lord said to me: "Go, post a watchman; let him report what he sees."
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVII, line 1
When he sees riders — a pair of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels — let him listen closely, very closely.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVII, line 2
Then the watchman cried out: "On the watchtower, my Lord, I stand continually through the day, and at my post I am stationed through every night."
Masoretic (WLC)
אַרְיֵה
a lion
Dead Sea Scroll
אריה
a lion
1QIsaiah-a reads אריה ('a lion'), confirming the MT's difficult reading. Some scholars have proposed emending to הָרֹאֶה (ha-ro'eh, 'the seer/lookout'), which would fit the watchman context better. But 1QIsaiah-a supports the MT: the watchman cries out 'like a lion' — a powerful image of urgency. The scroll's confirmation makes the proposed emendation less likely.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVII, line 3
And look — here it comes: a chariot of men, a pair of horsemen! He spoke up and said: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground!"
Masoretic (WLC)
נָפְלָה נָפְלָה בָבֶל
Fallen, fallen is Babylon
Dead Sea Scroll
נפלה נפלה בבל
Fallen, fallen is Babylon
Both texts preserve the dramatic double declaration: 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon!' The duplication is identical — this is not a scribal error but emphatic repetition. This phrase is echoed in Revelation 14:8 and 18:2. 1QIsaiah-a confirms the antiquity of this doubled form.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVII, line 4
O my threshed people, child of my threshing floor! What I have heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVII, line 5
The burden of Dumah: Someone calls to me from Seir — "Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?"
Masoretic (WLC)
שֵׂעִיר
Seir
Dead Sea Scroll
שעיר
Seir
Identical consonantal text. The Dumah/Edom oracle calls from Seir — the mountain homeland of Edom. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVII, line 6
The watchman says: "Morning comes — and also night. If you would ask, ask; come back again."
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVII, line 7
The burden against Arabia: In the thickets of Arabia you will lodge, O caravans of Dedanites.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVII, line 8
Bring water to meet the thirsty, O inhabitants of the land of Tema; greet the fugitive with bread.
Masoretic (WLC)
דְּדָנִים
Dedanites
Dead Sea Scroll
דדנים
Dedanites
Identical consonantal text. The Arabian trading people of Dedan is named identically. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVII, line 9
For they have fled from swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, from the weight of war.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVII, line 10
For this is what the Lord said to me: "Within a year — as a hired worker counts it — all the glory of Kedar will come to an end."
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVII, line 11
And the remnant of Kedar's archers, the warriors among the sons of Kedar, will be few — for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.
Masoretic (WLC)
קֵדָר
Kedar
Dead Sea Scroll
קדר
Kedar
Identical consonantal text. The oracle concludes with Kedar's glory diminishing — Arabia's most powerful tribal confederation. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XVII, line 12