Isaiah 21:8

Amplified Bible

And the lookout called like a lion, "O Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower by day, And I am stationed every night at my guard post.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then the lookout reported,“Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day,and I stay at my post all night.

Hebrew Names Version
He cried as a lion: Lord, I stand continually on the watch-tower in the day-time, and am set in my ward whole nights;

King James Version
And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights:

English Standard Version
Then he who saw cried out: "Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights.

New American Standard Bible
Then the lookout called, "Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, And I am stationed every night at my guard post.

New Century Version
Then the lookout called out, "My master, each day I stand in the watchtower watching; every night I have been on guard.

World English Bible
He cried as a lion: Lord, I stand continually on the watch-tower in the day-time, and am set in my ward whole nights;

Geneva Bible (1587)
And he cryed, A lyon: my lorde, I stand continually vpon ye watche towre in the day time, and I am set in my watche euery night:

Legacy Standard Bible
Then the lookout called,"O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower,And I am stationed every night at my guard post.

Berean Standard Bible
Then the lookout shouted, "Day after day, O lord, I stand on the watchtower; night after night I stay at my post.

Contemporary English Version
Then a guard said, "I have stood day and night on this watchtower, Lord.

Complete Jewish Bible
He calls out like a lion: "My lord, I stand on the watchtower all day long, I stay at my post all night."

Darby Translation
And he cried [as] a lion, Lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights.

Easy-to-Read Version
Then one day the watchman called out, "My master, every day I have been in the watchtower watching. Every night I have been standing on duty.

George Lamsa Translation
Then the watchman cried into my ears, saying, I the LORD stand continually in the daytime, and I stand upon my watchtower every night.

Good News Translation
The sentry calls out, "Sir, I have been standing guard at my post day and night."

Lexham English Bible
Then the watchman called, "Lord, I am standing on the watchtower continually by day, and I am standing at my post throughout the night.

Literal Translation
And he cried, A lion! My lord, I always stand on my watchtower by day; and I am stationed at my post all the nights.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And the lyon cried: LORDE, I haue stonde waytinge all the whole daye, and haue kepte my watch all the night.

American Standard Version
And he cried as a lion: O Lord, I stand continually upon the watch-tower in the day-time, and am set in my ward whole nights;

Bible in Basic English
And the watchman gave a loud cry, O my lord, I am on the watchtower all day, and am placed in my watch every night:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And he cried as a lion: 'Upon the watch-tower, O Lord, I stand continually in the daytime, and I am set in my ward all the nights.'

King James Version (1611)
And he cryed; A lyon: my Lord, I stand continually vpon the watch-tower in the day time, and I am set in my ward whole nights.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And he cryed, a lion, my Lorde I stande continually vpon the watche towre in the day tyme, and am appoynted to kepe my watch euery nyght.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Hearken with great attention, and call thou Urias to the watch-tower: the Lord has spoken. I stood continually during the day, and I stood in the camp all night:

English Revised Version
And he cried as a lion: O Lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the day-time, and am set in my ward whole nights:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and criede as a lioun, Y stonde contynueli bi dai on the totyng place of the Lord, and Y stonde bi alle nyytis on my kepyng.

Update Bible Version
And he cried as a lion: O Lord, I stand continually on the watch-tower in the day-time, and am set in my ward whole nights;

Webster's Bible Translation
And he cried, a lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watch-tower in the day time, and I am set in my ward whole nights.

New English Translation
Then the guard cries out: "On the watchtower, O sovereign master, I stand all day long; at my post I am stationed every night.

New King James Version
Then he cried, "A lion, [fn] my Lord!I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime;I have sat at my post every night.

New Living Translation
Then the watchman called out, "Day after day I have stood on the watchtower, my lord. Night after night I have remained at my post.

New Life Bible
Then the watchman called out like a lion, "O Lord, I stand watching from the watch-tower at all times during the day. And I stand there every night.

New Revised Standard
Then the watcher called out: "Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed throughout the night.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then cried he. A lion! On the watch, O My Lord, had I been standing continually, by day, And at my post, had I been stationed whole nights; -

Douay-Rheims Bible
And a lion cried out: I am upon the watchtower of the Lord, standing continually by day: and I am upon my ward, standing whole nights.

Revised Standard Version
Then he who saw cried: "Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights.

Young's Literal Translation
And he crieth -- a lion, `On a watch-tower my lord, I am standing continually by day, And on my ward I am stationed whole nights.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then the lookout called, "O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, And I am stationed every night at my guard post.

Contextual Overview

¹The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning the Desert of the Sea (the seasonally flooded plains just south of Babylon): As windstorms in the Negev (the South) sweep through, So it (God's judgment) comes from the desert, from [the hostile armies of] a terrifying land. ²A harsh vision has been shown to me; The treacherous one deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam! Lay siege, Media! All the groaning [caused by Babylon's ruthless oppressions] I [the LORD] have brought to an end. ³Therefore [continues Isaiah] my loins are filled with anguish; Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in childbirth; I am so bent and bewildered that I cannot hear, I am so terrified that I cannot see. ⁴My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; The twilight I longed for has been turned into fear and trembling for me. ⁵They set the table [for the doomed banquet], they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; "Rise up, captains [of Belshazzar's court], oil your shields [for battle, for your enemy is at the gates]!" ⁶This is what the Lord says to me, "Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees. ⁷"When he sees a chariot, horsemen in pairs, A train of donkeys and a train of camels, Let him pay attention and listen closely, very closely." ⁸And the lookout called like a lion, "O Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower by day, And I am stationed every night at my guard post.⁹"Now look! Here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs." And one said, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon; And all the carved images of her gods are shattered on the ground." ¹⁰O my threshed people [Judah, who must be judged and trampled down by Babylon], my afflicted of the threshing floor. What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel, I have [joyfully] announced to you [that Babylon is to fall].

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

cried, A lion: or, cried as a lion, Isaiah 5:29, Jeremiah 4:7, Jeremiah 25:38, Jeremiah 49:19, Jeremiah 50:44, 1 Peter 5:8

I stand: Isaiah 56:10, Isaiah 62:6, Psalms 63:6, Psalms 127:1, Habakkuk 2:1, Habakkuk 2:2

whole nights: or, every night

Reciprocal: Nehemiah 12:25 - keeping Psalms 130:6 - I say more than they that watch for the morning Ezekiel 3:17 - a watchman Ezekiel 10:1 - I looked Acts 12:10 - the first Romans 12:7 - ministry Revelation 18:2 - become

Cross-References

Genesis 19:3
However, Lot strongly urged them, so they turned aside and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them [with wine], and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

Genesis 26:30
Then Isaac held a [formal] banquet (covenant feast) for them, and they ate and drank.

Genesis 29:22
So Laban gathered together all the men of the place and prepared a [wedding] feast [with wine].

Genesis 40:20
Now on the third day, [which was] the Pharaoh's birthday, he [released the two men from prison and] made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker [that is, presented them in public] among his servants.

Judges 14:10
His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for that was the customary thing for young men to do.

Judges 14:12
Then Samson said to them, "Let me now ask you a riddle; if you can tell me what it is within the seven days of the feast, and solve it, then I will give you thirty linen tunics (undergarments) and thirty changes of [outer] clothing.

1 Samuel 1:22
But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, "I will not go up until the child is weaned; and then I will bring him, so that he may appear before the LORD and remain there as long as he lives."

1 Samuel 25:36
Then Abigail came to Nabal, and he was holding a feast in his house [for the shearers], like the feast of a king. And Nabal's mood was joyous because he was very drunk; so she told him nothing at all until the morning light.

2 Samuel 3:20
So Abner came to David at Hebron, and [brought] twenty men along with him. And David prepared a feast for Abner and the men with him.

1 Kings 3:15
Then Solomon awoke, and he realized that it was a dream. He came [back] to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and he prepared a feast for all his servants.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he cried, a lion,.... That is, the watchman cried, a lion, or that he saw a lion; not Uriah the priest, as the Septuagint; nor Habakkuk, as some Jewish writers; but Cyrus, at the head of the Persian and Median armies, compared to a lion for his fierceness, courage, and strength; see 2 Timothy 4:17 a type of Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, by whom antichrist, or mystical Babylon, will be destroyed, Revelation 5:5. The Targum is,

"the prophet said, the voice of armies, coming with coats of mail, as a lion.''

Aben Ezra interprets it, the watchman cried as a lion, with a great voice; upon sight of the chariots and horsemen, he lifted up his voice, and roared like a lion, to express the terror he was in, and the greatness of the calamity that was coming upon the city.

I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime: so that nothing could escape his notice:

and I am set in my ward whole nights: which expresses his diligence, vigilance, and constancy, in the discharge of his duty; and therefore what he said he saw might be depended on.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And he cried, A lion - Margin, ‘As a lion.’ This is the correct rendering. The particle כ (k) - ‘as,’ is not unfrequently omitted (see Isaiah 62:5; Psalms 11:1). That is, ‘I see them approach with the fierceness, rapidity, and terror of a lion (compare Revelation 10:3).

My lord, I stand continually upon the watch-tower - This is the speech of the watchman, and is addressed, not to Yahweh, but to him that appointed him. It is designed to show the “diligence” with which he had attended to the object for which he was appointed. He had been unceasing in his observation; and the result was, that now at length he saw the enemy approach like a lion, and it was certain that Babylon now must fall. The language used here has a striking resemblance to the opening of the “Agamemnon” of AEschylus; being the speech of the watchman, who had been very long upon his tower looking for the signal which should make known that Troy had fallen. It thus commences:

‘Forever thus! O keep me not, ye gods,

Forever thus, fixed in the lonely tower

Of Atreus’ palace, from whose height I gaze

O’er watched and weary, like a night-dog, still

Fixed to my post; meanwhile the rolling year

Moves on, and I my wakeful vigils keep

By the cold star-light sheen of spangled skies.’

Symmons, quoted in the “Pictorial Bible.”

I am set in my ward - My place where one keeps watch. It does not mean that he was confined or imprisoned, but that he had kept his watch station (משׁמרת mish^emeret from שׁמר shâmar “to watch, to keep, to attend to”).

Whole nights - Margin, ‘Every night.’ It means that he had not left his post day or night.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 21:8. And he cried, A lion - "He that looked out on the watch"] The present reading, אריה aryeh, a lion, is so unintelligible, and the mistake so obvious, that I make no doubt that the true reading is הראה haroeh, the seer; as the Syriac translator manifestly found it in his copy, who renders it by דקוא duka, a watchman.