Isaiah 13

The Judgment of Babylon

1 The oracle concerning a Babylon which b Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

2  On a bare hill c raise a signal;
cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for d them to enter
the gates of the nobles.
 3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
my proudly exulting ones. ▼
▼ Or those who exult in my majesty

 4  The sound f of a tumult is on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together!
g The  Lord of hosts is mustering
a host for battle.
 5  h They come from a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the  Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole land. ▼
▼ Or earth; also verse 9

 6  j Wail, for k the day of the  Lord is near;
as destruction from the Almighty ▼
▼ The Hebrew words for  destruction and  almighty sound alike
 it will come!
 7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every human heart m will melt.
 8 They will be dismayed:
n pangs and agony will seize them;
o they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.
 9  Behold, p the day of the  Lord comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
and q to destroy its sinners from it.
 10  r For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
s the sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not shed its light.
 11 I will punish t the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will u put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
v and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
 12 I will make w people more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the x gold of Ophir.
 13 Therefore y I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the  Lord of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.
 14 And like a hunted gazelle,
or like sheep with none to gather them,
z each will turn to his own people,
and each will flee to his own land.
 15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
 16  aa Their infants will be dashed in pieces
before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives ravished.
 17  Behold, ab I am stirring up the Medes against them,
who have no regard for silver
and do not delight in gold.
 18  ac Their bows will slaughter ▼
▼ Hebrew dash in pieces
 the young men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes will not pity children.
 19 And Babylon ae the glory of kingdoms,
the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,
will be af like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.
 20  ag It will never be inhabited
or lived in for all generations;
no ah Arab will pitch his tent there;
no ai shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
 21 But aj wild animals will lie down there,
and their houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ak ostriches ▼
▼ Or owls
 will dwell,
and there wild goats will dance.
 22 Hyenas ▼
▼ Or foxes
 will cry in its towers,
and an jackals in ao the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
and its days will not be prolonged.

Isaiah 14:1-27

The Restoration of Jacob

1  ap For the  Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and aq will set them in their own land, and ar sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 And as the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the  Lord’s land at as male and female slaves. ▼
▼ Or servants
 av They will take captive those who were their captors, aw and rule over those who oppressed them.

Israel’s Remnant Taunts Babylon

3 When the  Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, 4 you will take up this ax taunt against the king of Babylon:

“How the oppressor has ceased,
ay the insolent fury ▼
▼ Dead Sea Scroll (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate); the meaning of the word in the Masoretic Text is uncertain
 ceased!
 5 The  Lord has broken the ba staff of the wicked,
the bb scepter of rulers,
 6  bc that struck the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.
 7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
bd they break forth into singing.
 8  be, bf The cypresses rejoice at you,
bg the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low,
no woodcutter comes up against us.’
 9 Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.
 10  bh All of them will answer
and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!’
 11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
and worms are your covers.
 12  “How bi you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, bj son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
 13 You said in your heart,
bk ‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
bl I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north; ▼
▼ Or  in the remote parts of Zaphon

 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
 15  bn But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.
 16 Those who see you will stare at you
and ponder over you:
‘Is this bo the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
 17 who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
bp who did not let his prisoners go home?’
 18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb; ▼
▼ Hebrew house

 19 but you are cast out, away from your grave,
like a loathed branch,
br clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,
who go down to the stones of the pit,
like a dead body trampled underfoot.
 20 You will not be joined with them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land,
you have slain your people.
“May bs the offspring of evildoers
nevermore be named!
 21 Prepare slaughter for his sons
bt because of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the earth,
and fill the face of the world with cities.”

22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the  Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and bu remnant bv descendants and posterity,” declares the  Lord. 23 “And I will make it a possession of the bw hedgehog ▼
▼ Possibly porcupine, or owl
 and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the  Lord of hosts.

An Oracle Concerning Assyria

24  The  Lord of hosts has sworn:
by “As I have planned,
so shall it be,
and as I have purposed,
so shall it stand,
 25 that bz I will break the Assyrian in my land,
and on my mountains trample him underfoot;
and ca his yoke shall depart from them,
and cb his burden from their shoulder.”
 26  This is the purpose that is purposed
concerning the whole earth,
and this is cc the hand that is stretched out
over all the nations.
 27  cd For the  Lord of hosts has purposed,
and who will annul it?
ce His hand is stretched out,
and who will turn it back?
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