Isaiah 13

Isaiah 13

Proclamation against Babylon

1The oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw.[#Jer 50; 51]

2On a bare hill raise a signal;[#Isa 10.32; Jer 50.2; 51.25]

cry aloud to them;

wave the hand for them to enter

the gates of the nobles.

3I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,[#Ps 149.2; Joel 3.11]

have summoned my warriors, my proudly exulting ones,

to execute my anger.

4Listen, a tumult on the mountains[#Isa 5.30; 42.13]

as of a great multitude!

Listen, an uproar of kingdoms,

of nations gathering together!

The Lord of hosts is mustering

an army for battle.

5They come from a distant land,[#Isa 5.26; 10.5; 24.1]

from the end of the heavens,

the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,

to destroy the whole earth.

6Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;[#Isa 10.25; Joel 1.15; Zeph 1.7]

it will come like destruction from the Almighty!

7Therefore all hands will be feeble,[#Ezek 7.17; 21.7]

and every human heart will melt,

8and they will be terrified.[#Isa 21.3; 26.17]

Pangs and agony will seize them;

they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

They will look aghast at one another;

their faces will be aflame.

9See, the day of the Lord is coming,[#Isa 66.15, 16]

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

to make the earth a desolation

and to destroy its sinners from it.

10For the stars of the heavens and their constellations[#Isa 5.30; Joel 2.10; Mt 24.29; Mk 13.24; Lk 21.25]

will not give their light;

the sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light.

11I will punish the world for its evil[#Isa 2.11; 11.4; 26.21; Jer 48.29]

and the wicked for their iniquity;

I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant

and lay low the insolence of tyrants.

12I will make mortals more rare than fine gold

and humans than the gold of Ophir.

13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,[#Isa 34.4; 51.6; Jer 10.10; Am 8.8; Hag 2.6]

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.

14Like a gazelle on the run[#1 Kings 22.17; Jer 50.16; 51.9]

or like sheep with no one to gather them,

all will turn back to their own people,

and all will flee to their own lands.

15Whoever is found will be thrust through,

and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

16Their infants will be dashed to pieces[#Ps 137.9; Nah 3.10; Zech 14.2]

before their eyes;

their houses will be plundered

and their wives raped.

17See, I am stirring up the Medes against them,[#Isa 21.2; Jer 51.11; Dan 5.28]

who have no regard for silver

and do not delight in gold.

18Their bows will slaughter the young men;[#2 Kings 8.12; Ezek 9.5, 10]

they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

their eyes will not pity children.

19And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,[#Gen 19.24; Deut 29.23; Isa 21.9; Jer 49.18; Dan 4.30]

the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans,

will be like Sodom and Gomorrah

when God overthrew them.

20It will never be inhabited[#Jer 51.37–43]

or lived in for all generations;

Arabs will not pitch their tents there;

shepherds will not make their flocks lie down there.

21But wild animals will lie down there,[#Isa 34.11–15]

and its houses will be full of howling creatures;

there ostriches will live,

and there goat-demons will dance.

22Hyenas will cry in its towers[#Jer 51.33]

and jackals in the pleasant palaces;

its time is close at hand;

and its days will not be prolonged.

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, copyright © 2021 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Published by: National Council of the Churches of Christ