Isaiah 13
1 This is the message Isaiah, son of Amoz, received about Babylon.
The burden of Babylon which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw.
2 Set up a banner on a bare hilltop; shout out to them; wave your hand to encourage them to enter the palaces of princes.
Over the foggy mountain lift up a sign! Raise the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers enter through the gates!
3 I have ordered the ones I have chosen to attack; I have called my warriors to execute my furious judgment and to celebrate my triumph.
In my wrath, I commanded my sanctified ones, and I called my strong ones, those who exult in my glory.
4 A noise comes from the mountains, sounding like that of a huge crowd! It's the roaring sound from the kingdoms, from nations gathering together! The Lord Almighty is calling up an army for war.
On the mountains, there is the voice of a multitude, as if of a numerous people, a voice with the sound of kings, of nations gathered together. For the Lord of hosts has given orders to soldiers of war,
5 They are coming from distant lands, from beyond the far horizons—the Lord and the weapons of his fury—coming to destroy the whole country.
to those who are arriving from a far off land, from the heights of the heavens. It is the Lord and the instruments of his fury, so that he may bring ruin to all the earth.
6 Howl in fear, for the day of the Lord is approaching—the time when the Almighty destroys.
Wail aloud! For the day of the Lord draws near! It will arrive like a devastation from the Lord.
7 Everyone's hands will fall limp, and everyone will lose their minds in panic.
Because of it, every hand will fail, and every heart of man will waste away and be crushed.
8 They will be terrified; pain and anguish will seize them; they will suffer like a woman giving birth. They will look in shock at each other, their faces burning in fear.
Writhing and pain will seize them. They will be in pain, like a woman in labor. Each one will appear stupefied to his neighbor. Their countenances will be like faces which have been burned up.
9 Look! The day of the Lord is coming—cruel, with fury and fierce anger—to devastate the land and to wipe out its sinners.
Behold, the day of the Lord approaches: a cruel day, full of indignation and wrath and fury, which will place the earth in solitude and crush the sinners from it.
10 The stars in the constellations of heaven above will not shine. When the sun rises it will stay dark. The moon will give no light.
For the stars of the heavens, in their splendor, will not display their light. The sun will be obscured at its rising, and the moon will not shine in her brightness.
11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their sin, says the Lord. I will put an end to the conceit of the arrogant, and I will humiliate tyrants and their pride.
And I will act against the evils of the world, and against the impious for their iniquity. And I will cause the pride of the unfaithful to cease, and I will bring down the arrogance of the strong.
12 I will make people scarcer than pure gold, rarer than the gold of Ophir.
A man will be more precious than gold, and mankind will become like pure refined gold.
13 So I will shake the heavens and make the earth jump out of its place because of the fury of the Lord Almighty, at the time when his anger burns.
For this purpose, I will stir up heaven, and the earth will be moved from its place, because of the indignation of the Lord of hosts, because of the day of his furious wrath.
14 Like a gazelle being hunted, or like sheep without a shepherd, the Babylonians will return to their own people, they will run away to their own land.
And they will be like a doe fleeing away, or like sheep; and there will be no one who may gather them together. Each one will turn to his own people, and every one will flee to his own land.
15 Anyone who is captured will be stabbed to death; anyone who is caught will be killed by the sword.
All who are found will be killed, and all who are caught unaware will fall by the sword.
16 Their little children will be dashed to pieces as they watch, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be raped.
Their infants will be thrown down violently before their eyes. Their houses will be plundered, and their wives will be violated.
17 I'm going to get the Medes to attack them, people who don't care about silver or gold.
Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them. They will not seek silver, nor desire gold.
18 Their bows will slaughter their young men; they will show no mercy to babies; they will have no pity on children.
Instead, with their arrows, they will put the little children to death, and they will take no pity on breastfeeding women, and their eye will not spare their children.
19 Babylon, the most marvelous city of any kingdom, the greatest pride of the Babylonian people, will be demolished by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
And then Babylon, the glorious one among kingdoms, that famous pride of the Chaldeans, will be destroyed, even as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 No one will ever live in Babylon again. It will be deserted—no desert nomad will set up a tent there, no shepherd will bring a flock to rest there.
It will not be inhabited, even unto the end, and it will not be reestablished, even from generation to generation. The Arab will not pitch his tents there, nor will the shepherds take rest there.
21 Only desert animals will make their homes there, and the ruined houses will be inhabited by wild dogs. Owls will live there, and wild goats will leap around.
Instead, the wild beasts will rest there, and their houses will be filled with serpents, and ostriches will live there, and the hairy ones will leap about there.
22 Hyenas will howl in her fortresses and jackals in her lavish palaces. Babylon's time is coming soon—they will not last much longer.
And the tawny owls will answer one another there, in its buildings, and the Sirens in its shrines of pleasure.
