Isaiah 21:8
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights:
American King James Version (AKJV)
And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights:
American Standard Version (ASV)
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;
Basic English Translation (BBE)
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:
Webster's Revision
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.
World English Bible
He cried like a lion: "Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post.
English Revised Version (ERV)
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:
Definitions for Isaiah 21:8
Clarke's Isaiah 21:8 Bible Commentary
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.
Barnes's Isaiah 21:8 Bible Commentary
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; Psalm 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 Igaze
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 mishemeret 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.
Wesley's Isaiah 21:8 Bible Commentary
21:8 A lion - The watchmen cried out, I see also a lion marching before the horsemen and chariots: which they suppose to represent Cyrus or Darius marching in the head of their armies. My lord - The watchman speaks to the prophet, who had set him in this station.Whole nights - According to thy command I have stood, and do yet stand continually, both day and night, upon my watch - tower.