Isaiah 13

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.