21:13–17 The word ‘arab (NIV Arabia) comes only here, in this poem about the steppe, and could refer to people living on the high desert plain, or it could mean “evening.” So again the introduction points in several directions. The scene remains to the northeast from Judah. Dedan and Tema are oases near Dumah in northwest Arabia. Dedan is mentioned in the records of Nabonidus (see on 14:3–23) and Tema was his capital for a period. Again we are in the midst of an event, perhaps within the same sequence of events as in verses 1–10 and 11–12. There has been a battle and there have been winners and losers. The unidentified losers are exhausted and fleeing and are now without water or food. The oracle urges the nomads of Dedan and Teman to have mercy on them.

Verses 16–17 are in prose and migh…