Esias 13
1 THE VISION WHICH ESAIAS SON OF AMOS SAW AGAINST BABYLON.
This is the message Isaiah, son of Amoz, received about Babylon.
2 Lift up a standard on the mountain of the plain, exalt the voice to them, beckon with the hand, open [the gates], ye rulers.
Set up a banner on a bare hilltop; shout out to them; wave your hand to encourage them to enter the palaces of princes.
3 I give command, and I bring them: giants are coming to fulfil my wrath, rejoicing at the same time and insulting.
I have ordered the ones I have chosen to attack; I have called my warriors to execute my furious judgment and to celebrate my triumph.
4 A voice of many nations on the mountains, [even] like [to that] of many nations; a voice of kings and nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts has given command to a war-like nation,
A noise comes from the mountains, sounding like that of a huge crowd! It's the roaring sound from the kingdoms, from nations gathering together! The Lord Almighty is calling up an army for war.
5 to come from a land afar off, from the utmost foundation of heaven; the Lord and his warriors [are coming] to destroy all the world.
They are coming from distant lands, from beyond the far horizons—the Lord and the weapons of his fury—coming to destroy the whole country.
6 Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is near, and destruction from God shall arrive.
Howl in fear, for the day of the Lord is approaching—the time when the Almighty destroys.
7 Therefore every hand shall become powerless, and every soul of man shall be dismayed.
Everyone's hands will fall limp, and everyone will lose their minds in panic.
8 The elders shall be troubled, and pangs shall seize them, as of a woman in travail: and they shall mourn one to another, and shall be amazed, and shall change their countenance as a flame.
They will be terrified; pain and anguish will seize them; they will suffer like a woman giving birth. They will look in shock at each other, their faces burning in fear.
9 For behold! the day of the Lord is coming which cannot be escaped, [a day] of wrath and anger, to make the world desolate, and to destroy sinners out of it.
Look! The day of the Lord is coming—cruel, with fury and fierce anger—to devastate the land and to wipe out its sinners.
10 For the stars of heaven, and Orion, and all the host of heaven, shall not give their light; and it shall be dark at sunrise, and the moon shall not give her light.
The stars in the constellations of heaven above will not shine. When the sun rises it will stay dark. The moon will give no light.
11 And I will command evils for the whole world, and [will visit] their sins on the ungodly: and I will destroy the pride of transgressors, and will bring low the pride of the haughty.
I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their sin, says the Lord. I will put an end to the conceit of the arrogant, and I will humiliate tyrants and their pride.
12 And they that are left shall be more precious than gold tried in the fire; and a man shall be more precious than the stone that is in Suphir.
I will make people scarcer than pure gold, rarer than the gold of Ophir.
13 For the heaven shall be enraged, and the earth shall be shaken from her foundation, because of the fierce anger of the Lord of hosts, in the day in which his wrath shall come on.
So I will shake the heavens and make the earth jump out of its place because of the fury of the Lord Almighty, at the time when his anger burns.
14 And they that are left shall be as a fleeing fawn, and as a stray sheep, and there shall be none to gather [them]: so that a man shall turn back to his people, and a man shall flee to his own land.
Like a gazelle being hunted, or like sheep without a shepherd, the Babylonians will return to their own people, they will run away to their own land.
15 For whosoever shall be taken shall be overcome; and they that are gathered together shall fall by the sword.
Anyone who is captured will be stabbed to death; anyone who is caught will be killed by the sword.
16 And they shall dash their children before their eyes; and they shall spoil their houses, and shall take their wives.
Their little children will be dashed to pieces as they watch, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be raped.
17 Behold, I will stir up against you the Medes, who do not regard silver, neither have they need of gold.
I'm going to get the Medes to attack them, people who don't care about silver or gold.
18 They shall break the bows of the young men; and they shall have no mercy on your children; nor shall their eyes spare thy children.
Their bows will slaughter their young men; they will show no mercy to babies; they will have no pity on children.
19 And Babylon, which is called glorious by the king of the Chaldeans, shall be as [when] God overthrew Sodoma, and Gomorrha.
Babylon, the most marvelous city of any kingdom, the greatest pride of the Babylonian people, will be demolished by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall any enter into it for many generations: neither shall the Arabians pass through it; nor shall shepherds at all rest in it.
No one will ever live in Babylon again. It will be deserted—no desert nomad will set up a tent there, no shepherd will bring a flock to rest there.
21 But wild beasts shall rest there; and the houses shall be filled with howling; and monsters shall rest there, and devils shall dance there, and satyrs shall dwell there; and hedgehogs shall make their nests in their houses. It will come soon, and will not tarry.
Only desert animals will make their homes there, and the ruined houses will be inhabited by wild dogs. Owls will live there, and wild goats will leap around.
Hyenas will howl in her fortresses and jackals in her lavish palaces. Babylon's time is coming soon—they will not last much longer.
