Isaiah 21:8

8 And the lookout^[a] shouted, “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post.

Isaiah 21:8 in Other Translations

8 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:

ESV

8 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.

NLT

8 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.

MSG

8 Just then, the lookout shouted, "I'm at my post, Master, Sticking to my post day after day and all through the night!

CSB

8 Then the lookout reported, "Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day, and I stay at my post all night.

Isaiah 21:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 21:8

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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Isaiah 21:8 In-Context

6 This is what the Lord says to me: “Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.

7 When he sees chariots with teams of horses, riders on donkeys or riders on camels, let him be alert, fully alert.”

8 And the lookout shouted, “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post.

9 Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses. And he gives back the answer: ‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!’ ”

10 My people who are crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD Almighty, from the God of Israel.

Cross References 1

1. Micah 7:7; Habakkuk 2:1

Footnotes 1

[a]. Dead Sea Scrolls and Syriac; Masoretic Text "A lion"