Isaiah 13
1 This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:
The burden of Babylon which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw.
2 Raise a banner on a barren hilltop; call aloud to them. Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
Over the foggy mountain lift up a sign! Raise the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers enter through the gates!
3 I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph.
In my wrath, I commanded my sanctified ones, and I called my strong ones, those who exult in my glory.
4 Listen, a tumult on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations gathered together! The LORD of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war.
On the mountains, there is the voice of a multitude, as if of a numerous people, a voice with the sound of kings, of nations gathered together. For the Lord of hosts has given orders to soldiers of war,
5 They are coming from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens— the LORD and the weapons of His wrath— to destroy the whole country.
to those who are arriving from a far off land, from the heights of the heavens. It is the Lord and the instruments of his fury, so that he may bring ruin to all the earth.
6 Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
Wail aloud! For the day of the Lord draws near! It will arrive like a devastation from the Lord.
7 Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man’s heart will melt.
Because of it, every hand will fail, and every heart of man will waste away and be crushed.
8 Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another, their faces flushed with fear.
Writhing and pain will seize them. They will be in pain, like a woman in labor. Each one will appear stupefied to his neighbor. Their countenances will be like faces which have been burned up.
9 Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming— cruel, with fury and burning anger— to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners within it.
Behold, the day of the Lord approaches: a cruel day, full of indignation and wrath and fury, which will place the earth in solitude and crush the sinners from it.
10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.
For the stars of the heavens, in their splendor, will not display their light. The sun will be obscured at its rising, and the moon will not shine in her brightness.
11 I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. I will end the haughtiness of the arrogant and lay low the pride of the ruthless.
And I will act against the evils of the world, and against the impious for their iniquity. And I will cause the pride of the unfaithful to cease, and I will bring down the arrogance of the strong.
12 I will make man scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.
A man will be more precious than gold, and mankind will become like pure refined gold.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts on the day of His burning anger.
For this purpose, I will stir up heaven, and the earth will be moved from its place, because of the indignation of the Lord of hosts, because of the day of his furious wrath.
14 Like a hunted gazelle, like a sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land.
And they will be like a doe fleeing away, or like sheep; and there will be no one who may gather them together. Each one will turn to his own people, and every one will flee to his own land.
15 Whoever is caught will be stabbed, and whoever is captured will die by the sword.
All who are found will be killed, and all who are caught unaware will fall by the sword.
16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be ravished.
Their infants will be thrown down violently before their eyes. Their houses will be plundered, and their wives will be violated.
17 Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who have no regard for silver and no desire for gold.
Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them. They will not seek silver, nor desire gold.
18 Their bows will dash young men to pieces; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; they will not look with pity on the children.
Instead, with their arrows, they will put the little children to death, and they will take no pity on breastfeeding women, and their eye will not spare their children.
19 And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
And then Babylon, the glorious one among kingdoms, that famous pride of the Chaldeans, will be destroyed, even as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 She will never be inhabited or settled from generation to generation; no nomad will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flock there.
It will not be inhabited, even unto the end, and it will not be reestablished, even from generation to generation. The Arab will not pitch his tents there, nor will the shepherds take rest there.
21 But desert creatures will lie down there, and howling creatures will fill her houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about.
Instead, the wild beasts will rest there, and their houses will be filled with serpents, and ostriches will live there, and the hairy ones will leap about there.
22 Hyenas will howl in her fortresses and jackals in her luxurious palaces. Babylon’s time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.
And the tawny owls will answer one another there, in its buildings, and the Sirens in its shrines of pleasure.
