Isaiah 21:8

Wycliffe Bible

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.

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.

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.

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:

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

¹ The birthun of the forsakun see. As whirlewyndis comen fro the southwest, it cometh fro desert, fro the orible lond. ² An hard reuelacioun is teld to me; he that is vnfeithful, doith vnfeithfuli; and he that is a distriere, distrieth. Thou Helam, stie, and thou, Meda, biseche; Y made al the weilyng therof for to ceesse. ³ Therfor my leendis ben fillid with sorewe; angwische weldide me, as the angwisch of a womman trauelynge of child; Y felle doun, whanne Y herde; Y was disturblid, whanne Y siy. ⁴ Myn herte fadide, derknessis astonieden me; Babiloyne, my derlyng, is set to me in to myracle. ⁵ Sette thou a boord, biholde thou in to a toting place; rise, ye princes, etynge and drynkynge, take ye scheeld. ⁶ For whi the Lord seide these thingis to me, Go thou, and sette a lokere; and telle he, what euer thing he seeth. ⁷ And he siy the chare of tweyne horse men, the stiere of an asse, and the stiere of a camel; and he bihelde diligentli with myche lokyng, ⁸ 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. ⁹ Lo! this cometh, a man stiere of a carte of horse men. And Isaie criede, and seide, Babiloyne felle doun, felle doun; and alle the grauun ymagis of goddis therof ben al to-brokun in to erthe. ¹⁰ Mi threschyng, and the douyter of my cornfloor, Y haue teld to you what thingis Y herde of the Lord of oostis, of God of Israel.

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
He constreynede hem greetli, that thei schulden turne to hym. And whanne thei weren entrid in to his hous, he made a feeste, he bakide therf breed, and thei eten.

Genesis 26:30
Therfor Isaac made a feeste to hem; and after mete and drynk thei risen eerli,

Genesis 29:22
And whanne many cumpenyes of freendis weren clepid to the feeste, he made weddyngis,

Genesis 40:20
Fro thennus the thridde dai was the dai of birthe of Farao, which made a greet feeste to hise children, and hadde mynde among metis on the maistir `of boteleris, and on the prince of bakeris;

Judges 14:10
And so his fadir yede doun to the womman, and made a feeste to his sone Sampson; for yonge men weren wont to do so.

Judges 14:12
To whiche Sampson spak, Y schal putte forth to you a probleme, `that is, a douyteful word and priuy, and if ye `asoilen it to me with ynne seuen daies of the feeste, Y schal yyue to you thretti lynnun clothis, and cootis `of the same noumbre; sotheli if ye moun not soyle,

1 Samuel 1:22
And Anna stiede not, for sche hadde seid to hir hosebonde, Y schal not go, til the yonge child be wenyd, and til Y lede hym, and he appere bifor the `siyt of the Lord, and dwelle there contynueli.

1 Samuel 25:36
Forsothe Abigail cam to Nabal; and, lo! a feeste was to him in his hows, as the feeste of a kyng; and the herte of Nabal was iocounde, for he was `drunkun greetli; and sche schewide not to hym a word litil ether greet til the morewe.

2 Samuel 3:20
And he cam to Dauid in Ebron with twenti men. And Dauid made a feeste to Abner, and to the men that camen with hym.

1 Kings 3:15
Therfor Salomon wakide, and vndirstood what the sweuen was. And whanne he hadde come to Jerusalem, he stood bifor the arke of boond of pees of the Lord, and he offride brent sacrifices, and made pesible sacrifices, and a greet feeste to alle hise meynees.

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.