Isaiah 13
1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:
THE VISION WHICH ESAIAS SON OF AMOS SAW AGAINST BABYLON.
2 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.
Lift up a standard on the mountain of the plain, exalt the voice to them, beckon with the hand, open [the gates], you rulers.
3 I have commanded my consecrated ones; I have also called my mighty men to carry out my anger, my proudly exulting ones.
I give command, and I bring them: giants are coming to fulfil my wrath, rejoicing at the same time and insulting.
4 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. YHWH of hosts is mustering the army for the battle.
A voice of many nations on the mountains, [even] like [to that] of many nations; a voice of kings and nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts has given command to a warlike nation,
5 They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even YHWH, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
to come from a land afar off, from the utmost foundation of heaven; the Lord and his warriors [are coming] to destroy all the world.
6 Wail; for the day of YHWH is at hand. It will come as destruction from Shaddai.
Howl you, for the day of the Lord is near, and destruction from God shall arrive.
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble, and everyone's heart will melt.
Therefore every hand shall become powerless, and every soul of man shall be dismayed.
8 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.
The elders shall be troubled, and pangs shall seize them, as of a woman in travail: and they shall mourn one to another, and shall be amazed, and shall change their countenance as a flame.
9 Look, the day of YHWH comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy its sinners out of it.
For behold! the day of the Lord is coming which can’t be escaped, [a day] of wrath and anger, to make the world desolate, and to destroy sinners out of it.
10 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.
For the stars of heaven, and Orion, and all the host of heaven, shall not give their light; and it shall be dark at sunrise, and the moon shall not give her light.
11 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.
And I will command evils for the whole world, and [will visit] their sins on the ungodly: and I will destroy the pride of transgressors, and will bring low the pride of the haughty.
12 I will make people more rare than fine gold, even a person than the pure gold of Ophir.
And they that are left shall be more precious than gold tried in the fire; and a man shall be more precious than the stone that is in Suphir.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place in the wrath of YHWH of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
For the heaven shall be enraged, and the earth shall be shaken from her foundation, because of the fierce anger of the Lord of hosts, in the day in which his wrath shall come on.
14 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.
And they that are left shall be as a fleeing fawn, and as a stray sheep, and there shall be none to gather [them]: so that a man shall turn back to his people, and a man shall flee to his own land.
15 Everyone who is found will be thrust through. Everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
For whoever shall be taken shall be overcome; and they that are gathered together shall fall by the sword.
16 Their infants also will be dashed in pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be ransacked, and their wives raped.
And they shall dash their children before their eyes; and they shall spoil their houses, and shall take their wives.
17 Look, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it.
Behold, I will stir up against you the Medes, who do not regard silver, neither have they need of gold.
18 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.
They shall break the bows of the young men; and they shall have no mercy on your children; nor shall their eyes spare your children.
19 Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
And Babylon, which is called glorious by the king of the Chaldeans, shall be as [when] God overthrew Sodoma, and Gomorrha.
20 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.
It shall never be inhabited, neither shall any enter into it for many generations: neither shall the Arabians pass through it; nor shall shepherds at all rest in it.
21 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.
But wild beasts shall rest there; and the houses shall be filled with howling; and monsters shall rest there, and devils shall dance there, and satyrs shall dwell there; and hedgehogs shall make their nests in their houses. It will come soon, and will not wait.
22 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.
