Prophecies about Babylon

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

2 aLift up a standard on the 1bbare hill,

Raise your voice to them,

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

3 I have commanded My consecrated ones,

I have even called My amighty warriors,

My proudly exulting ones,

To execute My anger.

4 A asound of tumult on the mountains,

Like that of many people!

A sound of the uproar of kingdoms,

Of nations gathered together!

The Lord of hosts is mustering the army for battle.

5 They are coming from a far country,

From the 1afarthest horizons,

The Lord and His instruments of bindignation,

To cdestroy the whole land.

Judgment on the Day of the Lord

6 Wail, for the aday of the Lord is near!

It will come as bdestruction from 1the Almighty.

7 Therefore aall hands will fall limp,

And every man’s bheart will melt.

8 They will be aterrified,

Pains and anguish will take hold of them;

They will bwrithe like a woman in labor,

They will look at one another in astonishment,

Their faces aflame.

9 Behold, athe day of the Lord is coming,

Cruel, with fury and burning anger,

To make the land a desolation;

And He will exterminate its sinners from it.

10 For 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.

11 Thus I will apunish the world for its evil

And the bwicked for their iniquity;

I will also put an end to the carrogance of the proud

And abase the dhaughtiness of the 1eruthless.

12 I will make mortal man 1ascarcer than pure gold

And mankind than the bgold of Ophir.

13 Therefore I will make the aheavens tremble,

And bthe earth will be shaken from its place

At the fury of the Lord of hosts

In cthe day of His burning anger.

14 And 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.

15 Anyone who is found will be athrust through,

And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.

16 Their alittle ones also will be dashed to pieces

Before their eyes;

Their houses will be plundered

And their wives ravished.

Babylon Will Fall to the Medes

17 Behold, I am going to astir up the Medes against them,

Who will not value silver or btake pleasure in gold.

18 And their bows will 1mow down the ayoung men,

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

Nor will their beye pity 2children.

19 And aBabylon, the bbeauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride,

Will be as when God coverthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

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

Nor will the bArab pitch his tent there,

Nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.

21 But adesert creatures will lie down there,

And their houses will be full of 1owls;

Ostriches also will live there, and 2shaggy goats will frolic there.

22 1Hyenas 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.

Chapter 14

Israel’s Taunt

1 When the Lord will ahave compassion on Jacob and again bchoose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then cstrangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.

2 The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the ahouse of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the Lord bas male servants and female servants; and 1they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.

3 And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you arest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved,

4 that you will atake up this 1taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,

“How bthe oppressor has ceased,

And how 2fury has ceased!

5 “The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,

The scepter of rulers

6 aWhich used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes,

Which 1subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.

7 “The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;

They abreak forth into shouts of joy.

8 “Even the acypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,

‘Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.’

9 “aSheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come;

It arouses for you the 1spirits of the dead, all the 2leaders of the earth;

It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.

10 “aThey will all respond and say to you,

‘Even you have been made weak as we,

You have become like us.

11 ‘Your apomp and the music of your harps

Have been brought down to Sheol;

Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you

And worms are your covering.’

12 “How you have afallen from heaven,

O 1bstar of the morning, son of the dawn!

You have been cut down to the earth,

You who have weakened the nations!

13 “But you said in your heart,

‘I will aascend to heaven;

I will braise my throne above the stars of God,

And I will sit on the mount of assembly

In the recesses of the north.

14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

aI will make myself like the Most High.’

15 “Nevertheless you awill be thrust down to Sheol,

To the recesses of the pit.

16 “Those who see you will gaze at you,

They will 1ponder over you, saying,

‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,

Who shook kingdoms,

17 Who made the world like a awilderness

And overthrew its cities,

Who bdid not 1allow his prisoners to go home?’

18 “All the kings of the nations lie in glory,

Each in his own 1tomb.

19 “But you have been acast out of your tomb

Like 1a rejected branch,

2Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword,

Who go down to the stones of the bpit

Like a ctrampled corpse.

20 “You will not be united with them in burial,

Because you have ruined your country,

You have slain your people.

May the aoffspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever.

21 “Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter

Because of the ainiquity of their fathers.

They must not arise and take possession of 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 aname and survivors, boffspring and posterity,” declares the Lord.

23 “I will also make it a possession for the ahedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of bdestruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.