Isaiah 13

Chapter 13

Prophecies about Babylon

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

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

Raise your voice to them,

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

³I have commanded My consecrated ones,

I have even called My ^amighty warriors,

My proudly exulting ones,

To execute My anger.

⁴A ^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.

⁵They 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

⁶Wail, for the ^aday of the Lord 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 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.

⁹Behold, ^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.

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 ^carrogance of the proud

And abase the ^dhaughtiness of the ^1eruthless.

¹²I will make mortal man ^1ascarcer than pure 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 the Lord 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 ^athrust through,

And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.

¹⁶Their ^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

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

Who will not value silver or ^btake pleasure in gold.

¹⁸And 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.

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

Will be as when God ^coverthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

²⁰It 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.

²¹But ^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.

²²¹Hyenas 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.