Isaiah 13
1 The burden of Babylon which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw.
The word of the Lord about Babylon which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw.
2 Over the foggy mountain lift up a sign! Raise the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers enter through the gates!
Put up a flag on a clear mountain-top, make a loud outcry to them, give directions with the hand, so that they may go into the doors of the great ones.
3 In my wrath, I commanded my sanctified ones, and I called my strong ones, those who exult in my glory.
I have given orders to my holy ones, I have sent out my men of war, those of mine who take pride in their power, to give effect to my wrath.
4 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,
The noise of great numbers in the mountains, like the noise of a strong people! The noise of the kingdoms of the nations meeting together! The Lord of armies is numbering his forces for war.
5 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.
They come from a far country, from the farthest part of heaven, even the Lord and the instruments of his wrath, with destruction for all the land.
6 Wail aloud! For the day of the Lord draws near! It will arrive like a devastation from the Lord.
Send out a cry of grief; for the day of the Lord is near; it comes as destruction from the Most High.
7 Because of it, every hand will fail, and every heart of man will waste away and be crushed.
For this cause all hands will be feeble, and every heart of man be turned to water;
8 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.
Their hearts will be full of fear; pains and sorrows will overcome them; they will be in pain like a woman in childbirth; they will be shocked at one another; their faces will be like flames.
9 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.
See, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel, with wrath and burning passion: to make the land a waste, driving the sinners in it to destruction.
10 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.
For the stars of heaven and its bright armies will not give their light: the sun will be made dark in his journey through the heaven, and the moon will keep back her light.
11 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.
And I will send punishment on the world for its evil, and on the sinners for their wrongdoing; and I will put an end to all pride, and will make low the power of the cruel.
12 A man will be more precious than gold, and mankind will become like pure refined gold.
I will make men so small in number, that a man will be harder to get than gold, even the best gold of Ophir.
13 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.
For this cause the heavens will be shaking, and the earth will be moved out of its place, in the wrath of the Lord of armies, and in the day of his burning passion.
14 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.
And it will be that, like a roe in flight, and like wandering sheep, they will go every man to his people and to his land.
15 All who are found will be killed, and all who are caught unaware will fall by the sword.
Everyone who is overtaken will have a spear put through him, and everyone who goes in flight will be put to the sword.
16 Their infants will be thrown down violently before their eyes. Their houses will be plundered, and their wives will be violated.
Their young children will be broken up before their eyes; their goods will be taken away, and their wives made the property of others.
17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them. They will not seek silver, nor desire gold.
See, I am driving the Medes against them, who put no value on silver and have no pleasure in gold.
18 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.
In their hands are bows and spears; they are cruel, violently putting the young men to death, and crushing the young women; they have no pity for children, and no mercy for the fruit of the body.
19 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.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beautiful town which is the pride of the Chaldaeans, will be like God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 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.
People will never be living in it again, and it will have no more men from generation to generation: the Arab will not put up his tent there; and those who keep sheep will not make it a resting-place for their flocks.
21 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.
But the beasts of the waste land will have their holes there; and the houses will be full of crying jackals, and ostriches will have their place there, and evil spirits will be dancing there.
22 And the tawny owls will answer one another there, in its buildings, and the Sirens in its shrines of pleasure.
And wolves will be answering one another in their towers, and jackals in their houses of pleasure: her time is near, and her days of power will quickly be ended.
