Isaiah 13
1 The burden of Babylon which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw.
The burden of Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz hath seen:
2 Over the foggy mountain lift up a sign! Raise the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers enter through the gates!
'On a high mountain lift ye up an ensign, Raise the voice to them, wave the hand, And they go in to the openings of nobles.
3 In my wrath, I commanded my sanctified ones, and I called my strong ones, those who exult in my glory.
I have given charge to My sanctified ones, Also I have called My mighty ones for Mine anger, Those rejoicing at Mine excellency.'
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,
A voice of a multitude in the mountains, A likeness of a numerous people, A voice of noise from the kingdoms of nations who are gathered, Jehovah of Hosts inspecting a host of 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 are coming in from a land afar off, From the end of the heavens, Jehovah and the instruments of His indignation, To destroy all the land.
6 Wail aloud! For the day of the Lord draws near! It will arrive like a devastation from the Lord.
Howl ye, for near [is] the day of Jehovah, As destruction from the Mighty it cometh.
7 Because of it, every hand will fail, and every heart of man will waste away and be crushed.
Therefore, all hands do fail, And every heart of man doth 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 have been troubled, Pains and pangs they take, As a travailing woman they are pained, A man at his friend they marvel, The appearance of flames — their faces!
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.
Lo, the day of Jehovah doth come, Fierce, with wrath, and heat of anger, To make the land become a desolation, Yea, its sinning ones He destroyeth from 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 the heavens, and their constellations, Cause not their light to shine, Darkened hath been the sun in its going out, And the moon causeth not its light to come forth.
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 have appointed on the world evil, And on the wicked their iniquity, And have caused to cease the excellency of the proud, And the excellency of the terrible I make low.
12 A man will be more precious than gold, and mankind will become like pure refined gold.
I make man more rare than fine gold, And a common man than pure 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.
Therefore the heavens I cause to tremble, And the earth doth shake from its place, In the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts, And in a day of the heat of his 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 hath been, as a roe driven away, And as a flock that hath no gatherer, Each unto his people — they turn, And each unto his land — they flee.
15 All who are found will be killed, and all who are caught unaware will fall by the sword.
Every one who is found is thrust through, And every one who is added falleth by sword.
16 Their infants will be thrown down violently before their eyes. Their houses will be plundered, and their wives will be violated.
And their sucklings are dashed to pieces before their eyes, Spoiled are their houses, and their wives lain with.
17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them. They will not seek silver, nor desire gold.
Lo, I am stirring up against them the Medes, Who silver esteem not, And gold — they delight not 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.
And bows dash young men to pieces, And the fruit of the womb they pity not, On sons their eye hath no pity.
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 beauty of kingdoms, The glory, the excellency of the Chaldeans, Hath been as overthrown by God, With Sodom and with 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.
She doth not sit for ever, Nor continueth unto many generations, Nor doth Arab pitch tent there, And shepherds lie not down 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.
And Ziim have lain down there, And full have been their houses of howlings, And dwelt there have daughters of an ostrich, And goats do skip there.
22 And the tawny owls will answer one another there, in its buildings, and the Sirens in its shrines of pleasure.
And Aiim have responded in his forsaken habitations, And dragons in palaces of delight, And near to come [is] her time, And her days are not drawn out!
