Isaiah 13
1 This is the message Isaiah, son of Amoz, received about Babylon.
The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:
2 Set up a banner on a bare hilltop; shout out to them; wave your hand to encourage them to enter the palaces of princes.
Set up a banner on the bare mountain. Lift up your voice to them. Wave your hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
3 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.
I have commanded my consecrated ones; I have also called my mighty men to carry out my anger, my proudly exulting ones.
4 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.
The noise of a multitude is in the mountains, as of a great people; the noise of an uproar of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together. The LORD of hosts is mustering the army for the battle.
5 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.
They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
6 Howl in fear, for the day of the Lord is approaching—the time when the Almighty destroys.
Wail; for the day of the LORD is at hand. It will come as destruction from Shaddai.
7 Everyone's hands will fall limp, and everyone will lose their minds in panic.
Therefore all hands will be feeble, and everyone's heart will melt.
8 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.
They will be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows will seize them. They will be in pain like a woman in labor. They will look in amazement one at another. Their faces will be faces of flame.
9 Look! The day of the Lord is coming—cruel, with fury and fierce anger—to devastate the land and to wipe out its sinners.
Look, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy its sinners out of it.
10 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.
For the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.
11 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.
I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will humble the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make people scarcer than pure gold, rarer than the gold of Ophir.
I will make people more rare than fine gold, even a person than the pure gold of Ophir.
13 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.
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
14 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.
It will happen that like a hunted gazelle, and like sheep that no one gathers, they will each turn to their own people, and will each flee to their own land.
15 Anyone who is captured will be stabbed to death; anyone who is caught will be killed by the sword.
Everyone who is found will be thrust through. Everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
16 Their little children will be dashed to pieces as they watch, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be raped.
Their infants also will be dashed in pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be ransacked, and their wives raped.
17 I'm going to get the Medes to attack them, people who don't care about silver or gold.
Look, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it.
18 Their bows will slaughter their young men; they will show no mercy to babies; they will have no pity on children.
Their bows will dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb. Their eyes will not spare children.
19 Babylon, the most marvelous city of any kingdom, the greatest pride of the Babylonian people, will be demolished by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 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.
It will never be inhabited, neither will it be lived in from generation to generation. The Arabian will not pitch a tent there, neither will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.
21 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.
But wild animals of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of jackals. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will frolic there.
22 Hyenas will howl in her fortresses and jackals in her lavish palaces. Babylon's time is coming soon—they will not last much longer.
Wolves will cry in their fortresses, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.
