Isaiah 21:16

A year. The Dead Sea scroll 1QIs reads “three years.”

The years of an hireling. See on ch. 16:14. A hireling would not work more than the time that had been bargained for. The meaning is that the fall of Kedar would not be delayed. Within a year the specified judgment was certain to fall.

Kedar. In Genesis, Kedar is listed as an Ishmaelite tribe, as are also Dumah and Tema (Gen. 25:13–15). But elsewhere Kedar seems to be a general term for nomadic peoples of the Arabian Desert (Ps. 120:5; S. of Sol. 1:5; cf. Isa. 42:11; 60:7; Jer. 2:10). Isaiah proclaims an extensive judgment to fall within a year upon all the desert region of northern Arabia. Tiglath-pileser III declares that he inflicted a sore judgment upon Samsi, an Arabian queen, that he slew 1,100 of her people and took 30,000 of her camels and 20,000 head of cattle. Sargon likewise claims to have received tribute from the Arabian queen in the form of gold dust, ivory, horses, and camels, and he also claims to have subdued other Arabian tribes who had never before paid tribute. The exact year, however, of the judgment specified is not known.