Proclamation Against Babylon

13 The aburden 1against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

2 “Lift bup a banner con the high mountain,

Raise your voice to them;

dWave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.

3 I have commanded My 2sanctified ones;

I have also called eMy mighty ones for My anger—

Those who frejoice in My exaltation.”

4 The gnoise of a multitude in the mountains,

Like that of many people!

A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together!

The Lord of hosts musters

The army for battle.

5 They come from a far country,

From the end of heaven—

The hLord and His 3weapons of indignation,

To destroy the whole iland.

6 Wail, jfor the day of the Lord is at hand!

kIt will come as destruction from the Almighty.

7 Therefore all hands will be limp,

Every man’s heart will melt,

8 And they will be afraid.

lPangs 4and sorrows will take hold of them;

They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth;

They will be amazed at one another;

Their faces will be like flames.

9 Behold, mthe day of the Lord comes,

Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger,

To lay the land desolate;

And He will destroy nits sinners from it.

10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations

Will not give their light;

The sun will be odarkened in its going forth,

And the moon will not cause its light to shine.

11 “I will ppunish the world for its evil,

And the wicked for their iniquity;

qI will halt the arrogance of the proud,

And will lay low the haughtiness of the 5terrible.

12 I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold,

A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.

13 rTherefore I will shake the heavens,

And the earth will move out of her place,

In the wrath of the Lord of hosts

And in sthe day of His fierce anger.

14 It shall be as the hunted gazelle,

And as a sheep that no man 6takes up;

tEvery man will turn to his own people,

And everyone will flee to his own land.

15 Everyone who is found will be thrust through,

And everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.

16 Their children also will be udashed to pieces before their eyes;

Their houses will be plundered

And their wives vravished.

17 “Behold, wI will stir up the Medes against them,

Who will not 7regard silver;

And as for gold, they will not delight in it.

18 Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces,

And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb;

Their eye will not spare children.

19 xAnd Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,

The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride,

Will be as when God overthrew ySodom and Gomorrah.

20 zIt will never be inhabited,

Nor will it be settled from generation to generation;

Nor will the Arabian pitch tents there,

Nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there.

21 aBut wild beasts of the desert will lie there,

And their houses will be full of 8owls;

Ostriches will dwell there,

And wild goats will caper there.

22 The hyenas will howl in their citadels,

And jackals in their pleasant palaces.

bHer time is near to come,

And her days will not be prolonged.”

Mercy on Jacob

14 For the Lord awill have mercy on Jacob, and bwill still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. cThe strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob. 2 Then people will take them dand bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the Lord; they will take them captive whose captives they were, eand rule over their oppressors.

Fall of the King of Babylon

3 It shall come to pass in the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve, 4 that you fwill take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say:

“How the oppressor has ceased,

The ggolden 1city ceased!

5 The Lord has broken hthe staff of the wicked,

The scepter of the rulers;

6 He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke,

He who ruled the nations in anger,

Is persecuted and no one hinders.

7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;

They break forth into singing.

8 iIndeed the cypress trees rejoice over you,

And the cedars of Lebanon,

Saying, ‘Since you 2were cut down,

No woodsman has come up against us.’

9 “Hell j 3from beneath is excited about you,

To meet you at your coming;

It stirs up the dead for you,

All the chief ones of the earth;

It has raised up from their thrones

All the kings of the nations.

10 They all shall kspeak and say to you:

‘Have you also become as weak as we?

Have you become like us?

11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,

And the sound of your stringed instruments;

The maggot is spread under you,

And worms cover you.’

The Fall of Lucifer

12 “How lyou are fallen from heaven,

O 4Lucifer, son of the morning!

How you are cut down to the ground,

You who weakened the nations!

13 For you have said in your heart:

m‘I will ascend into heaven,

nI will exalt my throne above the stars of God;

I will also sit on the omount of the congregation

pOn the farthest sides of the north;

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,

qI will be like the Most High.’

15 Yet you rshall be brought down to Sheol,

To the 5lowest depths of the Pit.

16 “Those who see you will gaze at you,

And consider you, saying:

‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,

Who shook kingdoms,

17 Who made the world as a wilderness

And destroyed its cities,

Who 6did not open the house of his prisoners?’

18 “All the kings of the nations,

All of them, sleep in glory,

Everyone in his own house;

19 But you are cast out of your grave

Like an 7abominable branch,

Like the garment of those who are slain,

8Thrust through with a sword,

Who go down to the stones of the pit,

Like a corpse trodden underfoot.

20 You will not be joined with them in burial,

Because you have destroyed your land

And slain your people.

sThe brood of evildoers shall never be named.

21 Prepare slaughter for his children

tBecause of the iniquity of their fathers,

Lest they rise up and possess the land,

And fill the face of the world with cities.”

Babylon Destroyed

22 “For I will rise up against them,” says the Lord of hosts,

“And cut off from Babylon uthe name and vremnant,

wAnd offspring and posterity,” says the Lord.

23 “I will also make it a possession for the xporcupine,

And marshes of muddy water;

I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says the Lord of hosts.

Assyria Destroyed

24 The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying,

“Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass,

And as I have purposed, so it shall ystand:

25 That I will break the zAssyrian in My land,

And on My mountains tread him underfoot.

Then ahis yoke shall be removed from them,

And his burden removed from their shoulders.

26 This is the bpurpose that is purposed against the whole earth,

And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

27 For the Lord of hosts has cpurposed,

And who will annul it?

His hand is stretched out,

And who will turn it back?”

Philistia Destroyed

28 This is the 9burden which came in the year that dKing Ahaz died.

29 “Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia,

eBecause the rod that struck you is broken;

For out of the serpent’s roots will come forth a viper,

fAnd its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent.

30 The firstborn of the poor will feed,

And the needy will lie down in safety;

I will kill your roots with famine,

And it will slay your remnant.

31 Wail, O gate! Cry, O city!

All you of Philistia are dissolved;

For smoke will come from the north,

And no one will be alone in his 1appointed times.”

32 What will they answer the messengers of the nation?

That gthe Lord has founded Zion,

And hthe poor of His people shall take refuge in it.