Isaiah 13–23

A PRONOUNCEMENT AGAINST BABYLON

13A pronouncement^o concerning Babylon^p that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

²Lift up a banner on a barren mountain.^q

Call out to them.

Signal with your hand, and they will go

through the gates of the nobles.

³I have commanded my consecrated ones;

yes, I have called my warriors,

who celebrate my triumph,

to execute my wrath.^r

⁴Listen, a commotion on the mountains,

like that of a mighty people!

Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,

like nations being gathered together!

The Lord of Armies is mobilizing an army for war.

⁵They are coming from a distant land,

from the farthest horizon—

the Lord and the weapons of his wrath—

to destroy the whole country.^A

⁶Wail! For the day of the Lord is near.^s

It will come as destruction from the Almighty.^t

⁷Therefore everyone’s hands will become weak,

and every man will lose heart.

⁸They will be horrified;

pain and agony will seize them;

they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.^u

They will look at each other,

their faces flushed with fear.

⁹Look, the day^v of the Lord is coming—

cruel, with fury and burning anger—

to make the earth a desolation

and to destroy its sinners.^w

¹⁰Indeed, the stars of the sky and its constellations^B

will not give their light.

The sun will be dark when it rises,

and the moon will not shine.^a

¹¹I will punish the world for its evil,^b

and wicked people for their iniquities.

I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant^c

and humiliate the insolence of tyrants.

¹²I will make a human more scarce than fine gold,

and mankind more rare than the gold of Ophir.^d

¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,

and the earth will shake from its foundations^e

at the wrath of the Lord of Armies,

on the day of his burning anger.

¹⁴Like wandering gazelles

and like sheep without a shepherd,^f

each one will turn to his own people,

each one will flee to his own land.

¹⁵Whoever is found will be stabbed,

and whoever is caught will die by the sword.

¹⁶Their children will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;^g

their houses will be looted,

and their wives raped.

¹⁷Look! I am stirring up the Medes against them,^h

who cannot be bought off with^A silver

and who have no desire for gold.

¹⁸Their bows will cut young men to pieces.

They will have no compassion on offspring;

they will not look with pity on children.

¹⁹And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,

the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans,

will be like Sodom and Gomorrah

when God overthrew them.ⁱ

²⁰It will never be inhabited

or lived in from generation to generation;^j

a nomad will not pitch his tent there,

and shepherds will not let their flocks rest there.

²¹But desert creatures will lie down there,

and owls will fill the houses.

Ostriches will dwell there,

and wild goats will leap about.^k

²²Hyenas will howl in the fortresses,

and jackals, in the luxurious palaces.

Babylon’s time is almost up;

her days are almost over.

ISRAEL’S RETURN

14For the Lord will have compassion^l on Jacob and will choose Israel again.^m He will settle them on their own land.ⁿ The resident alien will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.^{o 2}The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land.^p They will make captives of their captors and will rule over their oppressors.

DOWNFALL OF THE KING OF BABYLON

³When the Lord gives you rest from your pain,^q torment, and the hard labor^r you were forced to do, ⁴you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylon^s and say:

How the oppressor has quieted down,

and how the raging^B has become quiet!

⁵The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,

the scepter of the rulers.

⁶It struck the peoples in anger

with unceasing blows.

It subdued the nations in rage

with relentless persecution.

⁷The whole earth is calm and at rest;

people shout with a ringing cry.

⁸Even the cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon

rejoice over you:^t

“Since you have been laid low,

no lumberjack has come against us.”

⁹Sheol below is eager to greet your coming,

stirring up the spirits of the departed for you—

all the rulers^A of the earth—

making all the kings of the nations

rise from their thrones.

¹⁰They all respond to you, saying,

“You too have become as weak as we are;

you have become like us!

¹¹Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol,

along with the music of your harps.

Maggots are spread out under you,

and worms cover you.”

¹²Shining morning star,^Ba

how you have fallen from the heavens!^b

You destroyer of nations,

you have been cut down to the ground.

¹³You said to yourself,

“I will ascend to the heavens;^c

I will set up my throne

above the stars of God.^d

I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly,

in the remotest parts of the North.^Ce

¹⁴I will ascend above the highest clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.”

¹⁵But you will be brought down to Sheol

into the deepest regions of the Pit.^f

¹⁶Those who see you will stare at you;

they will look closely at you:

“Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble,

who shook the kingdoms,

¹⁷who turned the world into a wilderness,^g

who destroyed its cities

and would not release the prisoners to return home?”

¹⁸All the kings of the nations

lie in splendor, each in his own tomb.

¹⁹But you are thrown out without a grave,

like a worthless branch,

covered by those slain with the sword

and dumped into a rocky pit like a trampled corpse.

²⁰You will not join them in burial,

because you destroyed your land

and slaughtered your own people.

The offspring of evildoers

will never be mentioned again.^h

²¹Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons,

because of the iniquityⁱ of their ancestors.

They will never rise up to possess a land

or fill the surface of the earth with cities.

²²“I will rise up against them”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—“and I will cut off from Babylon her reputation, remnant, offspring, and posterity”—this is the Lord’s declaration. ²³“I will make her a swampland and a region for herons,^A and I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction.”

This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.

ASSYRIA WILL BE DESTROYED

²⁴The Lord of Armies has sworn:

As I have purposed, so it will be;

as I have planned it, so it will happen.^j

²⁵I will break Assyria^k in my land;

I will tread him down on my mountain.

Then his yoke will be taken from them,

and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.

²⁶This is the plan^l prepared

for the whole earth,

and this is the hand stretched out

against all the nations.

²⁷The Lord of Armies himself has planned it;

therefore, who can stand in its way?

It is his hand that is outstretched,

so who can turn it back?

A PRONOUNCEMENT AGAINST PHILISTIA

²⁸In the year that King Ahaz died,^m this pronouncement came:ⁿ

²⁹Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia,

because the rod of the one who struck you^o is broken.

For a viper will come from the root^B of a snake,

and from its egg comes a flying serpent.^p

³⁰Then the firstborn^q of the poor will be well fed,

and the impoverished will lie down in safety,

but I will kill your root with hunger,

and your remnant will be slain.

³¹Wail, you gates!^r Cry out, city!

Tremble with fear,^a all Philistia!

For a cloud of dust is coming from the north,^b

and there is no one missing from the invader’s ranks.

³²What answer will be given to the messengers from that nation?

The Lord has founded Zion,^c

and his oppressed people find refuge in her.

A PRONOUNCEMENT AGAINST MOAB

15A pronouncement concerning Moab:^d

Ar in Moab is devastated,^e

destroyed in a night.

Kir in Moab is devastated,

destroyed in a night.

²Dibon went up to its temple

to weep at its high places.

Moab wails on Nebo and at^C Medeba.

Every head is shaved;

every beard is chopped short.

³In its streets they wear sackcloth;

on its rooftops and in its public squares everyone wails,

falling down and weeping.

⁴Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;

their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.^f

Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out,

and they tremble.

⁵My heart cries out over Moab,

whose fugitives flee as far as Zoar,^g

to Eglath-shelishiyah;

they go up the Ascent of Luhith weeping;

they raise a cry of destruction

on the road to Horonaim.

⁶The Waters of Nimrim^h are desolate;

the grass is withered, the foliage is gone,

and the vegetation has vanished.

⁷So they carry their wealth and belongings

over the Wadi of the Willows.ⁱ

⁸For their cry echoes

throughout the territory of Moab.

Their wailing reaches Eglaim;

their wailing reaches Beer-elim.

⁹The Waters of Dibon^A are full of blood,^j

but I will bring on Dibon even more than this—

a lion for those who escape from Moab,

and for the survivors in the land.^k

16Send lambs to the ruler of the land,^l

from Sela in the desert^m

to the mountain of Daughter Zion.

²Like a bird fleeing,

forced from the nest,

the daughters of Moab

will be at the fords of the Arnon.

³Give us counsel and make a decision.

Shelter us at noonday

with shade that is as dark as night.

Hide the refugees;ⁿ

do not betray the one who flees.

⁴Let my refugees stay with you;

be a refuge for Moab^B from the aggressor.

When the oppressor has gone,

destruction has ended,

and marauders have vanished from the land,

⁵a throne will be established in love,^o

and one will sit on it faithfully^C

in the tent of David,

judging and pursuing what is right,

quick to execute justice.

⁶We have heard of Moab’s pride^p—

how very proud he is—

his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance,

and his empty boasting.

⁷Therefore let Moab wail;

let every one of them wail for Moab.

You who are completely devastated, mourn

for the raisin cakes^q of Kir-hareseth.^r

⁸For Heshbon’s terraced vineyards

and the grapevines of Sibmah have withered.

The rulers of the nations

have trampled its choice vines

that reached as far as Jazer^s

and spread to the desert.

Their shoots spread out

and reached the sea.^t

⁹So I join with Jazer

to weep for the vines of Sibmah;

I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears.

Triumphant shouts have fallen silent^A

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