Isaiah 13–23

An Oracle against Babylon

13An oracle ^oagainst Babylon ^pthat Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

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

Call out to them.

Wave your hand, and they will go

through the gates of the nobles.

³I have commanded My chosen ones;

I have also called My warriors,

who exult in My triumph,

to execute My wrath. ^r

⁴Listen, a tumult on the mountains,

like that of a mighty people!

Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,

like nations being gathered together!

The Lord of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war.

⁵They are coming from a far land,

from the distant horizon—

the Lord and the weapons of His wrath—

to destroy the whole country. ^s

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

It will come like destruction from the Almighty. ^u

⁷Therefore everyone’s hands will become weak,

and every man’s heart will melt.

⁸They will be horrified;

pain and agony will seize them;

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

They will look at each other,

their faces flushed with fear.

⁹Look, the day ^wof the Lord is coming—

cruel, with rage and burning anger—

to make the earth a desolation

and to destroy the sinners on it. ^x

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

will not give their light.

The sun will be dark when it rises,

and the moon will not shine. ^z

¹¹I will bring disaster on the world,

and their own iniquity, ^aon the wicked.

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

and humiliate the insolence of tyrants.

¹²I will make man scarcer than gold,

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

¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,

and the earth will shake from its foundations ^d

at the wrath of the Lord of Hosts,

on the day of His burning anger.

¹⁴Like wandering gazelles

and like sheep without a shepherd, ^e

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 smashed to death before their eyes; ^f

their houses will be looted,

and their wives raped.

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

who cannot be bought off with ^hsilver

and who have no desire for gold.

¹⁸Their bows will cut young men to pieces.

They will have no compassion on little ones;

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 ^lon Jacob and will choose Israel again. ^mHe will settle them on their own land. ⁿThe foreigner will join them and be united with the house of Jacob. ^o2The 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. ^pThey 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, ^qtorment, and the hard labor ^ryou were forced to do, ⁴you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylon ^sand say:

How the oppressor has quieted down,

and how the raging ^thas 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.

⁷All the earth is calm and at rest;

people shout with a ringing cry.

⁸Even the cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon

rejoice over you: ^u

“Since you have been laid low,

no woodcutter has come against us.”

⁹Sheol below is eager to greet your coming.

He stirs up the spirits of the departed for you—

all the rulers ^vof the earth.

He makes 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, ^wx

how you have fallen from the heavens! ^y

You destroyer of nations,

you have been cut down to the ground.

¹³You said to yourself:

“I will ascend to the heavens; ^z

I will set up my throne

above the stars of God. ^a

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

in the remotest parts of the North. ^bc

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. ^d

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, ^e

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 remembered. ^f

²¹Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons,

because of the iniquity ^gof their fathers.

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 Hosts—“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 screech owls, ^hand I will sweep her away with a broom of destruction.”

This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

Assyria Will Be Destroyed

²⁴The Lord of Hosts has sworn:

As I have purposed, so it will be;

as I have planned it, so it will happen. ⁱ

²⁵I will break Assyria ^jin 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 ^kprepared

for the whole earth,

and this is the hand stretched out

against all the nations.

²⁷The Lord of Hosts Himself has planned it;

therefore, who can stand in its way?

It is His hand that is outstretched,

so who can turn it back?

An Oracle against Philistia

²⁸In the year that King Ahaz died, ^lthis oracle came: ^m

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

because the rod of the one who struck you ⁿis broken.

For a viper will come from the root ^oof a snake,

and from its egg comes a flying serpent. ^p

³⁰Then the firstborn ^qof 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. ^r

³¹Wail, you gates! ^sCry out, city!

Tremble with fear, ^tall Philistia!

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

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, ^v

and His afflicted people find refuge in her.

An Oracle against Moab

15An oracle against Moab: ^w

Ar in Moab is devastated, ^x

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 ^yMedeba.

Every head is shaved;

every beard is cut off.

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. ^z

Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out,

and they tremble. ^a

⁵My heart cries out over Moab,

whose fugitives flee as far as Zoar, ^b

to Eglath-shelishiyah;

they go up the slope of Luhith weeping;

they raise a cry of destruction

on the road to Horonaim.

⁶The waters of Nimrim ^care 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. ^d

⁸For their cry echoes

throughout the territory of Moab.

Their wailing reaches Eglaim;

their wailing reaches Beer-elim.

⁹The waters of Dibon ^eare full of blood, ^f

but I will bring on Dibon ^geven more than this—

a lion for those who escape from Moab,

and for the survivors in the land. ^h

16Send lambs to the ruler of the land, ⁱ

from Sela in the desert ^j

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; ^k

do not betray the one who flees.

⁴Let my refugees stay with you;

be a refuge for Moab ^lfrom the aggressor.

When the oppressor has gone,

destruction has ended,

and marauders have vanished from the land.

⁵Then in the tent of David

a throne will be established by faithful love. ^m

A judge who seeks what is right

and is quick to execute justice

will sit on the throne forever.

⁶We have heard of Moab’s pride ⁿ—

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.

Mourn, you who are completely devastated,

for the raisin cakes ^oof Kir-hareseth. ^p

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 ^q

and spread to the desert.

Their shoots spread out

and reached the Dead Sea. ^r

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 ^s

over your summer fruit and your harvest.

¹⁰Joy and rejoicing ^thave been…