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.
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