Isaiah 13

CHAPTER 13

An Oracle Concerning Babylon

¹The ^1aoracle concerning ^bBabylon which ^cIsaiah the son of Amoz beheld.

^2aLift up a standard on the ^1bbare hill,

Heighten your voice at them,

^cWave the hand that they may ^denter the doors of the nobles.

³I have commanded My set apart ones,

I have even called My ^amighty warriors,

My ¹proudly exulting ones,

To execute My anger.

⁴A ^asound of tumult on the mountains,

Like that of many people!

A sound of the rumbling of kingdoms,

Of nations gathered together!

Yahweh of hosts is mustering the host for battle.

⁵They are coming from a far country,

From the ^aend of the sky,

Yahweh and His instruments of ^bindignation,

To ^cwreak destruction on the whole land.

⁶Wail, for the ^aday of Yahweh is near!

It will come as ^bdestruction from ¹the Almighty.

⁷Therefore ^aall hands will fall limp,

And every man’s ^bheart will melt.

⁸They will be ^aterrified,

Pains and labor pangs will take hold of them;

They will ^bwrithe like a woman in labor,

They will look at one another in astonishment,

Their faces aflame.

⁹Behold, ^athe day of Yahweh is coming,

Cruel, with fury and burning anger,

To make the land a desolation;

And He will exterminate its sinners from it.

¹⁰For the ^astars of heaven and their constellations

Will not flash forth their light;

The ^bsun will be dark when it rises

And the moon will not shed its light.

¹¹Thus I will ^apunish the world for its evil

And the ^bwicked for their iniquity;

I will also put an end to the ^cpride of the arrogant

And bring low the ^dlofty pride of the ^1eruthless.

¹²I will make mortal man ^1ascarcer than fine gold

And mankind than the ^bgold of Ophir.

¹³Therefore I will make the ^aheavens tremble,

And ^bthe earth will be shaken from its place

At the fury of Yahweh of hosts

In ^cthe day of His burning anger.

¹⁴And it will be that like a hunted gazelle,

Or like ^asheep with none to gather them,

They will each turn to his own people,

And each one flee to his own land.

¹⁵Anyone who is found will be ^apierced through,

And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.

¹⁶Their ^ainfants also will be dashed to pieces

Before their eyes;

Their houses will be plundered

And their wives ravished.

¹⁷Behold, I am going to ^aawaken the Medes against them,

Who will not think about silver or ^btake pleasure in gold.

¹⁸And their bows will dash the ^ayoung men to pieces,

They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,

Nor will their ^beye pity ¹children.

¹⁹And it will be that ^aBabylon, the ^bbeauty of kingdoms, the ¹honor of the Chaldeans’ pride,

Will be as when God ^coverthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

²⁰It will ^anever be inhabited or dwelt in from generation to generation;

Nor will the ^1bArab pitch his tent there,

Nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.

²¹But ^adesert creatures will lie down there,

And their houses will be full of ¹owls;

Ostriches also will dwell there, and ²shaggy goats will leap there.

²²¹And hyenas will howl in their fortified towers

And jackals in their luxurious ^apalaces.

Her fateful time also ²will soon come

And her days will not be prolonged.