Isaiah 13:12-21

English Standard Version

¹²I will make ^(A)people more rare than fine gold,
    and mankind than the ^(B)gold of Ophir.
¹³Therefore ^(C)I 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,
^(D)each 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^(E)Their infants will be dashed in pieces
    before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
    and their wives ravished.

¹⁷Behold, ^(F)I am stirring up the Medes against them,
    who have no regard for silver
    and do not delight in gold.
¹⁸^(G)Their bows will slaughter^[a] the young men;
    they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
    their eyes will not pity children.
¹⁹And Babylon, ^(H)the glory of kingdoms,
    the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,
will be ^(I)like Sodom and Gomorrah
    when God overthrew them.
²⁰^(J)It will never be inhabited
    or lived in for all generations;
no ^(K)Arab will pitch his tent there;
    no ^(L)shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
²¹But ^(M)wild animals will lie down there,
    and their houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ^(N)ostriches^[b] will dwell,
    and there wild goats will dance.