Isaiah 13
1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaias the son of Amos saw.
This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:
2 Upon the dark mountain lift ye up a banner, exalt the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers go into the gates.
Raise a banner on a barren hilltop; call aloud to them. Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, and have called my strong ones in my wrath, them that rejoice in my glory.
I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph.
4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as it were of many people, the noise of the sound of kings, of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts hath given charge to the troops of war.
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.
5 To them that come from a country afar off, from the end of heaven: tile Lord and the instruments of his wrath, to destroy the whole land.
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.
6 Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is near: it shall come as a destruction from the Lord.
Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every heart of man shall melt,
Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man’s heart will melt.
8 And shall be broken. Gripings and pains shall take hold of them, they shall be in pain as a woman in labour. Every one shall be amazed at his neighbour, their countenances shall be as faces burnt.
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.
9 Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
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.
10 For the stars of heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light.
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.
11 And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity: and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and will bring down the arrogancy of the mighty.
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.
12 A man shall be more precious than gold, yea a man than the finest of gold.
I will make man scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.
13 For this I will trouble the heaven: and the earth shall be moved out of her place, for the indignation of the Lord of hosts, and for the day of his tierce wrath.
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.
14 And they shall be as a doe fleeing away, and as a sheep: and there shall be none to gather them together: every man shall turn to his own people, and every one shall flee to his own land.
Like a hunted gazelle, like a sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land.
15 Every one that shall be found, shall be slain: and every one that shall come to their aid, shall fall by the sword.
Whoever is caught will be stabbed, and whoever is captured will die by the sword.
16 Their infants shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes: their houses shall be pillaged, and their wives shall be ravished.
Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be ravished.
17 Behold I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not seek silver, nor desire gold:
Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who have no regard for silver and no desire for gold.
18 But with their arrows they shall kill the children, and shall have no pity upon the sucklings of the womb, and their eye shall not spare their sons.
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.
19 And that Babylon, glorious among kingdoms, the famous pride of the Chaldeans, shall be even as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha.
And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It shall no more be inhabited for ever, and it shall not be founded unto generation and generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch his tents there, nor shall shepherds rest there.
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.
21 But wild beasts shall rest there, and their houses shall be filled with serpents, and ostriches shall dwell there, and the hairy ones shall dance there:
But desert creatures will lie down there, and howling creatures will fill her houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about.
22 And owls shall answer one another there, in the houses thereof, and sirens in the temples of pleasure.
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.
