The Tanach, with the evidence built in
This is the complete Hebrew Bible in the Jewish Publication Society translation. Wherever a real archaeological find bears on the text, those words are underlined in gold✦. Hover over them or tap them to see the artifact and what it confirms. From there, Next find takes you to the next underline, so you can tour a whole book’s evidence, and the share button turns the verse into an image.
Each chapter lists its finds under its title, and the chapter picker shows how many finds every book and chapter has. The AA button sets the text size, light or dark, and English, Hebrew, or the two together.
Chapter 21
1The “Desert of the Sea” Pronouncement.Like the galesThat race through the Negeb,It comes from the desert,The terrible land.
2A harsh prophecyHas been announced to me:“The betrayer is betraying,The ravager ravaging.Advance, Elam!Lay siege, Media!I have put an endTo all her sighing.”
3Therefore my loinsAre seized with trembling;I am gripped by pangsLike a woman in travail,Too anguished to hear,Too frightened to see.
4My mind is confused,I shudder in panic.My night of pleasureHe has turned to terror:
5“Set the table!”To “Let the watchman watch!”“Eat and drink!”To “Up, officers! Grease the shields!”
6For thus my Lord said to me:“Go, set up a sentry;Let him announce what he sees.
7He will see mounted men,Horsemen in pairs—Riders on asses,Riders on camels—And he will listen closely,Most attentively.”
8And [like] a lion he called out:“On my Lord’s lookout I standEver by day,And at my post I watchEvery night.
9And there they come, mounted men—Horsemen in pairs!”Then he spoke up and said,“Fallen, fallen is Babylon,And all the images of her godsHave crashed to the ground!”
10My threshing, the product of my threshing floor:What I have heard from the LORD of Hosts,The God of Israel—That I have told to you.
11The “Dumah” Pronouncement.A call comes to me from Seir:“Watchman, what of the night?Watchman, what of the night?”
12The watchman replied,“Morning came, and so did night.If you would inquire, inquire.Come back again.”
13The “In the Steppe” Pronouncement.In the scrub, in the steppe, you will lodge,O caravans of the Dedanites!
14Meet the thirsty with water,You who dwell in the land of Tema;Greet the fugitive with bread.
15For they have fled before swords:Before the whetted sword,Before the bow that was drawn,Before the stress of war.
16For thus my Lord has said to me: “In another year, fixed like the years of a hired laborer, all the multitude of Kedar shall vanish;
17the remaining bows of Kedar’s warriors shall be few in number; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.
Translation: Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (Jewish Publication Society, 1985), via Sefaria, used under CC BY-NC.
Paragraph divisions follow the Masoretic text (Miqra according to the Masorah, CC BY-SA).