Isaiah 13–23

The Judgment of Babylon

13The oracle concerning ^fBabylon which ^gIsaiah the son of Amoz saw.

²On a bare hill ^hraise a signal;

cry aloud to them;

wave the hand for ⁱthem to enter

the gates of the nobles.

³I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,

and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,

my proudly exulting ones.¹

⁴The sound ^jof a tumult is on the mountains

as of a great multitude!

The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,

of nations gathering together!

^kThe Lord of hosts is mustering

a host for battle.

^5lThey come from a distant land,

from the end of the heavens,

the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,

to destroy the whole land.²

^6mWail, for ⁿthe day of the Lord is near;

as destruction from the Almighty³ it will come!

⁷Therefore all hands will be feeble,

and every human heart ^owill melt.

⁸They will be dismayed:

^ppangs and agony will seize them;

^qthey will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

They will look aghast at one another;

their faces will be aflame.

⁹Behold, ⁿthe day of the Lord comes,

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

to make the land a desolation

and ^rto destroy its sinners from it.

^10sFor the stars of the heavens and their constellations

will not give their light;

^tthe sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light.

¹¹I will punish ^uthe world for its evil,

and the wicked for their iniquity;

I will ^vput an end to the pomp of the arrogant,

^wand lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

¹²I will make ^xpeople more rare than fine gold,

and mankind than the ^ygold of Ophir.

¹³Therefore ^zI 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.

¹⁴And like a hunted gazelle,

or like sheep with none to gather them,

^aeach will turn to his own people,

and each will flee to his own land.

¹⁵Whoever is found will be thrust through,

and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

^16bTheir infants will be dashed in pieces

before their eyes;

their houses will be plundered

and their wives ravished.

¹⁷Behold, ^cI am stirring up the Medes against them,

who have no regard for silver

and do not delight in gold.

^18dTheir bows will slaughter⁴ the young men;

they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

their eyes will not pity children.

¹⁹And Babylon, ^ethe glory of kingdoms,

the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,

will be ^flike Sodom and Gomorrah

when God overthrew them.

^20gIt will never be inhabited

or lived in for all generations;

no ^hArab will pitch his tent there;

no ⁱshepherds will make their flocks lie down there.

²¹But ^jwild animals will lie down there,

and their houses will be full of howling creatures;

there ^kostriches⁵ will dwell,

and there wild goats will dance.

²²Hyenas⁶ will cry in its towers,

and ^ljackals in ^mthe pleasant palaces;

its time is close at hand

and its days will not be prolonged.

The Restoration of Jacob

14ⁿFor the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and ^owill set them in their own land, and ^psojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. ²And ^qthe peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord’s land ^ras male and female slaves.^{1 s}They will take captive those who were their captors, ^tand rule over those who oppressed them.

Israel’s Remnant Taunts Babylon

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

“How the oppressor has ceased,

^vthe insolent fury² ceased!

⁵The Lord has broken the ^wstaff of the wicked,

the ^wscepter of rulers,

^6xthat struck the peoples in wrath

with unceasing blows,

that ruled the nations in anger

with unrelenting persecution.

⁷The whole earth is at rest and quiet;

^ythey break forth into singing.

^8zaThe cypresses rejoice at you,

^bthe cedars of Lebanon, saying,

‘Since you were laid low,

no woodcutter comes up against us.’

⁹Sheol 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.

^10cAll of them will answer

and say to you:

‘You too have become as weak as we!

You have become like us!’

¹¹Your 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 ^dyou are fallen from heaven,

O Day Star, ^eson of Dawn!

How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low!

¹³You said in your heart,

^f‘I will ascend to heaven;

above the stars of God

^gI will set my throne on high;

I will sit on the mount of assembly

in the far reaches of the north;³

¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.’

^15hBut you are brought down to Sheol,

to the far reaches of the pit.

¹⁶Those who see you will stare at you

and ponder over you:

‘Is this ⁱthe man who made the earth tremble,

who shook kingdoms,

¹⁷who made the world like a desert

and overthrew its cities,

^jwho did not let his prisoners go home?’

¹⁸All the kings of the nations lie in glory,

each in his own tomb;⁴

¹⁹but you are cast out, away from your grave,

like a loathed branch,

^kclothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,

who go down to the stones of the pit,

like a dead body trampled underfoot.

²⁰You will not be joined with them in burial,

because you have destroyed your land,

you have slain your people.

“May ^lthe offspring of evildoers

nevermore be named!

²¹Prepare slaughter for his sons

^mbecause 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 ⁿremnant, ^odescendants and posterity,” declares the Lord. ²³“And I will make it a possession of the ^phedgehog,⁵ and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.

An Oracle Concerning Assyria

²⁴The Lord of hosts has sworn:

^q“As I have planned,

so shall it be,

and as I have purposed,

so shall it stand,

²⁵that ^rI will break the Assyrian in my land,

and on my mountains trample him underfoot;

and ^shis yoke shall depart from them,

and ^shis burden from their shoulder.”

²⁶This is the purpose that is purposed

concerning the whole earth,

and this is ^tthe hand that is stretched out

over all the nations.

^27uFor the Lord of hosts has purposed,

and who will annul it?

^tHis hand is stretched out,

and who will turn it back?

An Oracle Concerning Philistia

²⁸In the year that ^vKing Ahaz died came this ^woracle:

²⁹Rejoice not, ^xO Philistia, all of you,

that ^ythe rod that struck you is broken,

for from the serpent’s root will come forth an adder,

and its fruit will be a ^zflying fiery serpent.

³⁰And the firstborn of ^athe poor will graze,

and ^athe needy lie down in safety;

but I will kill your root with famine,

and your remnant it will slay.

^31bWail, O ^cgate; cry out, O city;

melt in fear, ^xO Philistia, all of you!

^dFor smoke comes out of the north,

and there is no straggler in his ranks.

³²What will one answer the messengers of the nation?

^e“The Lord has founded Zion,

and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”

An Oracle Concerning Moab

15An ^woracle concerning ^fMoab.

Because ^gAr of Moab is laid waste in a night,

Moab is undone;

because ^hKir of Moab is laid waste in a night,

Moab is undone.

²He has gone up to the temple,¹ and to ⁱDibon,

to the high places² to weep;

over ^jNebo and over ⁱMedeba

Moab ^kwails.

On every head is ^lbaldness;

every beard is shorn;

³in the streets they wear sackcloth;

on the housetops and in the squares

everyone wails and melts in tears.

^4mHeshbon and ^mElealeh cry out;

their voice is heard as far as ⁿJahaz;

therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;

his soul trembles.

⁵My heart cries out for Moab;

her fugitives flee to Zoar,

to ⁿEglath-shelishiyah.

For at the ^oascent of Luhith

they go up weeping;

on the road to ^oHoronaim

they raise a cry of destruction;

⁶the waters of ^pNimrim

are a desolation;

the grass is withered, the vegetation fails,

the greenery is no more.

^7qTherefore the abundance they have gained

and what they have laid up

they carry away

over the Brook of the Willows.

⁸For a cry has gone

around the land of Moab;

her wailing reaches to Eglaim;

her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.

⁹For the waters of ^rDibon³ are full of blood;

for I will bring upon Dibon even more,

^sa lion for those of Moab who escape,

for the remnant of the land.

16^tSend the lamb to the ruler of the land,

from ^uSela, by way of the desert,

to the mount of the daughter of Zion.

²Like fleeing birds,

like a scattered nest,

so are the daughters of Moab

at ^vthe fords of the Arnon.

³“Give counsel;

grant justice;

^wmake your shade like night

at the height of noon;

shelter the outcasts;

do not reveal the fugitive;

⁴let ^xthe outcasts of Moab

sojourn among you;

be a shelter to them¹

from the destroyer.

When the oppressor is no more,

and destruction has ceased,

and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,

^5ythen a throne will be established in steadfast love,

and on it will sit in faithfulness

in the tent of David

one who judges and seeks justice

and is swift to do righteousness.”

^6zWe have heard of the pride of Moab—

how proud he is!—

^aof his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;

in his idle boasting he is not right.

⁷Therefore let Moab wail for Moab,

^blet everyone wail.

Mourn, utterly stricken,

for the ^craisin cakes of ^dKir-hareseth.

⁸For the fields of Heshbon languish,

and ^ethe vine of Sibmah;

the lords of the nations

have struck down its branches,

which reached to Jazer

and strayed to the desert;

its shoots spread abroad

and passed over the sea.

⁹Therefore ^fI weep with ^ethe weeping of Jazer

for the vine of Sibmah;

I drench you with my tears,

O Heshbon and Elealeh;

for over ^gyour summer fruit and your harvest

the shout has ceased.

^10h…