Esias 13
1 THE VISION WHICH ESAIAS SON OF AMOS SAW AGAINST BABYLON.
This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:
2 Lift up a standard on the mountain of the plain, exalt the voice to them, beckon with the hand, open [the gates], you rulers.
Raise a banner on a barren hilltop; call aloud to them. Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
3 I give command, and I bring them: giants are coming to fulfil my wrath, rejoicing at the same time and insulting.
I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph.
4 A voice of many nations on the mountains, [even] like [to that] of many nations; a voice of kings and nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts has given command to a warlike nation,
Listen, a tumult on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations gathered together! The LORD of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war.
5 to come from a land afar off, from the utmost foundation of heaven; the Lord and his warriors [are coming] to destroy all the world.
They are coming from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens— the LORD and the weapons of His wrath— to destroy the whole country.
6 Howl you, for the day of the Lord is near, and destruction from God shall arrive.
Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore every hand shall become powerless, and every soul of man shall be dismayed.
Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man’s heart will melt.
8 The elders shall be troubled, and pangs shall seize them, as of a woman in travail: and they shall mourn one to another, and shall be amazed, and shall change their countenance as a flame.
Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another, their faces flushed with fear.
9 For behold! the day of the Lord is coming which can’t be escaped, [a day] of wrath and anger, to make the world desolate, and to destroy sinners out of it.
Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming— cruel, with fury and burning anger— to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners within it.
10 For the stars of heaven, and Orion, and all the host of heaven, shall not give their light; and it shall be dark at sunrise, and the moon shall not give her light.
For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.
11 And I will command evils for the whole world, and [will visit] their sins on the ungodly: and I will destroy the pride of transgressors, and will bring low the pride of the haughty.
I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. I will end the haughtiness of the arrogant and lay low the pride of the ruthless.
12 And they that are left shall be more precious than gold tried in the fire; and a man shall be more precious than the stone that is in Suphir.
I will make man scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.
13 For the heaven shall be enraged, and the earth shall be shaken from her foundation, because of the fierce anger of the Lord of hosts, in the day in which his wrath shall come on.
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts on the day of His burning anger.
14 And they that are left shall be as a fleeing fawn, and as a stray sheep, and there shall be none to gather [them]: so that a man shall turn back to his people, and a man shall flee to his own land.
Like a hunted gazelle, like a sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land.
15 For whoever shall be taken shall be overcome; and they that are gathered together shall fall by the sword.
Whoever is caught will be stabbed, and whoever is captured will die by the sword.
16 And they shall dash their children before their eyes; and they shall spoil their houses, and shall take their wives.
Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be ravished.
17 Behold, I will stir up against you the Medes, who do not regard silver, neither have they need of gold.
Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who have no regard for silver and no desire for gold.
18 They shall break the bows of the young men; and they shall have no mercy on your children; nor shall their eyes spare your children.
Their bows will dash young men to pieces; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; they will not look with pity on the children.
19 And Babylon, which is called glorious by the king of the Chaldeans, shall be as [when] God overthrew Sodoma, and Gomorrha.
And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall any enter into it for many generations: neither shall the Arabians pass through it; nor shall shepherds at all rest in it.
She will never be inhabited or settled from generation to generation; no nomad will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flock there.
21 But wild beasts shall rest there; and the houses shall be filled with howling; and monsters shall rest there, and devils shall dance there, and satyrs shall dwell there; and hedgehogs shall make their nests in their houses. It will come soon, and will not wait.
But desert creatures will lie down there, and howling creatures will fill her houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about.
Hyenas will howl in her fortresses and jackals in her luxurious palaces. Babylon’s time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.
