ISAIAH
CHAPTER 13

A Prophecy Against Babylon

¹ An oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

² Raise a banner on a bare hilltop,
shout to them;
beckon to them
to enter the gates of the nobles.
³ I have commanded my holy ones;
I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath-
those who rejoice in my triumph.

⁴ Listen, a noise on the mountains,
like that of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,
like nations massing together!
The LORD Almighty is mustering
an army for war.
⁵ They come from faraway lands,
from the ends of the heavens-
the LORD and the weapons of his wrath-
to destroy the whole country.

⁶ Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty. ^[1]
7 Because of this, all hands will go limp,
every man's heart will melt.
⁸ Terror will seize them,
pain and anguish will grip them;
they will writhe like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each other,
their faces aflame.

⁹ See, the day of the LORD is coming
-a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger-
to make the land desolate
and destroy the sinners within it.
¹⁰ The stars of heaven and their constellations
will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened
and the moon will not give its light.
¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil,
the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
¹² I will make man scarcer than pure gold,
more rare than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the LORD Almighty,
in the day of his burning anger.

¹⁴ Like a hunted gazelle,
like sheep without a shepherd,
each will return to his own people,
each will flee to his native land.
¹⁵ Whoever is captured will be thrust through;
all who are caught will fall by the sword.
¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
their houses will be looted and their wives ravished.

¹⁷ See, I will stir up against them the Medes,
who do not care for silver
and have no delight in gold.
¹⁸ Their bows will strike down the young men;
they will have no mercy on infants
nor will they look with compassion on children.
¹⁹ Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms,
the glory of the Babylonians' ^[2] pride,
will be overthrown by God
like Sodom and Gomorrah.
²⁰ She will never be inhabited
or lived in through all generations;
no Arab will pitch his tent there,
no shepherd will rest his flocks there.
²¹ But desert creatures will lie there,
jackals will fill her houses;
there the owls will dwell,
and there the wild goats will leap about.
²² Hyenas will howl in her strongholds,
jackals in her luxurious palaces.
Her time is at hand,
and her days will not be prolonged.

Footnotes

1. 13:6 Hebrew Shaddai
2. 13:19 Or Chaldeans'

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Bible text from Gospelcom.net.  Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

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