Isaiah 13
1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:
The burden of Babylon which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw.
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.
Over the foggy mountain lift up a sign! Raise the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers enter through the gates!
3 I have commanded my consecrated ones; I have also called my mighty men to carry out my anger, my proudly exulting ones.
In my wrath, I commanded my sanctified ones, and I called my strong ones, those who exult in my glory.
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.
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,
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 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.
6 Wail; for the day of YHWH is at hand. It will come as destruction from Shaddai.
Wail aloud! For the day of the Lord draws near! It will arrive like a devastation from the Lord.
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble, and everyone's heart will melt.
Because of it, every hand will fail, and every heart of man will waste away and be crushed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
12 I will make people more rare than fine gold, even a person than the pure gold of Ophir.
A man will be more precious than gold, and mankind will become like pure refined gold.
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 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.
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 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.
15 Everyone who is found will be thrust through. Everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
All who are found will be killed, and all who are caught unaware will 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.
Their infants will be thrown down violently before their eyes. Their houses will be plundered, and their wives will be violated.
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 the Medes against them. They will not seek silver, nor desire 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.
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.
19 Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
And the tawny owls will answer one another there, in its buildings, and the Sirens in its shrines of pleasure.
