Isaiah 13
1 The burden of Babylon which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw.
The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
2 Over the foggy mountain lift up a sign! Raise the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers enter through the gates!
Lift you up a banner on the high mountain, exalt the voice to them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
3 In my wrath, I commanded my sanctified ones, and I called my strong ones, those who exult in my glory.
I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for my anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
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 a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts musters the host of the battle.
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 end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
6 Wail aloud! For the day of the Lord draws near! It will arrive like a devastation from the Lord.
Howl you; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Because of it, every hand will fail, and every heart of man will waste away and be crushed.
Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt:
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.
And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travails: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as 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.
Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
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 the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
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 punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 A man will be more precious than gold, and mankind will become like pure refined gold.
I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge 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.
Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
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 shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man takes up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.
15 All who are found will be killed, and all who are caught unaware will fall by the sword.
Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined to them shall fall by 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 children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them. They will not seek silver, nor desire gold.
Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
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.
Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eyes shall not spare children.
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 beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew 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.
It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelled in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
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 wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
22 And the tawny owls will answer one another there, in its buildings, and the Sirens in its shrines of pleasure.
And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
