Isaiah 13

Prophecies about Babylon

1 The ^apronouncement concerning ^bBabylon which ^cIsaiah the son of Amoz saw:

2 ^dLift up a flag on the ▼

▼Or wind-swept mountain

, ^fbare hill,
Raise your voice to them,
^gWave the hand that they may ^henter the doors of the nobles.
3 I have commanded My consecrated ones,
I have also called for My ⁱwarriors
Who boast in My eminence,
To execute My anger.
4 A ^jsound of a roar on the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
Of nations gathered together!
The Lord of armies is mustering the army for battle.
5 They are coming from a distant country,
From the ▼

▼Lit end of heaven

, ^lfarthest horizons,
The Lord and the weapons of His ^mindignation,
To ⁿdestroy the whole land.

Judgment on the Day of the Lord

6 Wail, for the ^oday of the Lord is near!
It will come as ^pdestruction from ▼

▼Heb Shaddai

the Almighty.
7 Therefore ^rall hands will fall limp,
And every human ^sheart will melt.
8 They will be ^tterrified,
Pains and anguish will take hold of them;
They will ^uwrithe like a woman in labor,
They will look at one another in astonishment,
Their faces aflame.
9 Behold, ^vthe 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 ^wstars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash their light;
The ^xsun will be dark when it rises
And the moon will not shed its light.
11 So I will ^ypunish the world for its evil
And the ^zwicked for their wrongdoing;
I will also put an end to the ^aaaudacity of the proud
And humiliate the ^abarrogance of the ▼

▼Or violent

, ^adtyrants.
12 I will make mortal man ^aescarcer than pure gold
And mankind than the ^afgold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the ^agheavens tremble,
And ^ahthe earth will be shaken from its place
At the fury of the Lord of armies
In ^aithe day of His burning anger.
14 And it will be that, like a hunted gazelle,
Or like ^ajsheep with no one to gather them,
Each of them will turn to his own people,
And each of them will flee to his own land.
15 Anyone who is found will be ^akthrust through,
And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
16 Their ^allittle ones also will be dashed to pieces
Before their eyes;
Their houses will be plundered
And their wives raped.

Babylon Will Fall to the Medes

17 Behold, I am going to ^amstir up the Medes against them,
Who will not value silver or ^antake pleasure in gold.
18 And their bows will ▼

▼Lit dash in pieces

mow down the ^apyoung men,
They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,
Nor will their ^aqeye pity ▼

▼Lit sons

children.
19 And ^asBabylon, the ^atbeauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God ^auoverthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It will ^avnever be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation;
Nor will the ^awArab pitch his tent there,
Nor will shepherds allow their flocks to lie down there.
21 But ^axdesert creatures will lie down there,
And their houses will be full of ▼

▼Or howling creatures

owls;
Ostriches also will live there, and ▼

▼Or goat demons

shaggy goats will frolic there.
22 ▼

▼Or howling creatures

Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers
And jackals in their luxurious ^bbpalaces.
Her fateful time also ▼

▼Lit is near to come

will soon come,
And her days will not be prolonged.