Isa 13:1-14:27 | ESV_morph | STEP | The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw .

2 On a bare hill ^craise a signal;
cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for ^dthem to enter
the gates of the nobles.
3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
my proudly exulting ones. ^{▼▼Or those who exult in my majesty}
4 The sound ^fof a tumult is on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together!
^gThe Lord of hosts is mustering
a host for battle.
5 ^hThey come from a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole land. ^{▼▼Or earth; also verse 9}
6 ^jWail, for ^kthe day of the Lord is near;
as destruction from the Almighty ^{▼▼The Hebrew words for destruction and almighty sound alike} it will come!
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every human heart ^mwill melt.
8 They will be dismayed:
ⁿpangs and agony will seize them;
^othey will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.
9 Behold, ^pthe day of the Lord comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
and ^qto destroy its sinners from it.
10 ^rFor the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
^sthe sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not shed its light.
11 I will punish ^tthe world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will ^uput an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
^vand lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make ^wpeople more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the ^xgold of Ophir.
13 Therefore ^yI will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.
14 And like a hunted gazelle,
or like sheep with none to gather them,
^zeach will turn to his own people,
and each will flee to his own land.
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
16 ^aaTheir infants will be dashed in pieces
before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives ravished.
17 Behold, ^abI am stirring up the Medes against them,
who have no regard for silver
and do not delight in gold.
18 ^acTheir bows will slaughter ^{▼▼Hebrew dash in pieces} the young men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes will not pity children.
19 And Babylon, ^aethe glory of kingdoms,
the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,
will be ^aflike Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.
20 ^agIt will never be inhabited
or lived in for all generations;
no ^ahArab will pitch his tent there;
no ^aishepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
21 But ^ajwild animals will lie down there,
and their houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ^akostriches ^{▼▼Or owls} will dwell,
and there wild goats will dance.
22 Hyenas ^{▼▼Or foxes} will cry in its towers,
and ^anjackals in ^aothe pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
and its days will not be prolonged.

‏ Isaiah 14:1-27

The Restoration of Jacob

1 ^apFor the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and ^aqwill set them in their own land, and ^arsojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 And ^asthe peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord’s land ^atas male and female slaves. ^{▼▼Or servants} ^avThey will take captive those who were their captors, ^awand rule over those who oppressed them.

Israel’s Remnant Taunts Babylon

3 When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, 4 you will take up this ^axtaunt against the king of Babylon:

“How the oppressor has ceased,
^aythe insolent fury ^{▼▼Dead Sea Scroll (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate); the meaning of the word in the Masoretic Text is uncertain} ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the ^bastaff of the wicked,
the ^bbscepter of rulers,
6 ^bcthat struck the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
^bdthey break forth into singing.
8 ^be, ^bfThe cypresses rejoice at you,
^bgthe cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low,
no woodcutter comes up against us.’
9 Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.
10 ^bhAll of them will answer
and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!’
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
and worms are your covers.
12 “How ^biyou are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, ^bjson of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart,
^bk‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
^blI will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north; ^{▼▼Or in the remote parts of Zaphon}
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 ^bnBut you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you
and ponder over you:
‘Is this ^bothe man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
17 who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
^bpwho did not let his prisoners go home?’
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb; ^{▼▼Hebrew house}
19 but you are cast out, away from your grave,
like a loathed branch,
^brclothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,
who go down to the stones of the pit,
like a dead body trampled underfoot.
20 You will not be joined with them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land,
you have slain your people.
“May ^bsthe offspring of evildoers
nevermore be named!
21 Prepare slaughter for his sons
^btbecause of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess 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 name and ^buremnant, ^bvdescendants and posterity,” declares the Lord. 23 “And I will make it a possession of the ^bwhedgehog, ^{▼▼Possibly porcupine, or owl} and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.

An Oracle Concerning Assyria

24 The Lord of hosts has sworn:
^by“As I have planned,
so shall it be,
and as I have purposed,
so shall it stand,
25 that ^bzI will break the Assyrian in my land,
and on my mountains trample him underfoot;
and ^cahis yoke shall depart from them,
and ^cbhis burden from their shoulder.”
26 This is the purpose that is purposed
concerning the whole earth,
and this is ^ccthe hand that is stretched out
over all the nations.
27 ^cdFor the Lord of hosts has purposed,
and who will annul it?
^ceHis hand is stretched out,
and who will turn it back?