Isaiah 13

The Judgment of Babylon

1The oracle concerning aBabylon which bIsaiah 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.
3I 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!
7Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every human heart mwill melt.
8They 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.
11I 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.
12I will make wpeople more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the xgold of Ophir.
13Therefore 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.
14And 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.
15Whoever 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.
19And 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.
21But 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.
22Hyenas
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.
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