Isaiah 13
New King James Version
Proclamation Against Babylon
13 The (A)burden[a] against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
2 “Lift(B) up a banner (C)on the high mountain,
Raise your voice to them;
(D)Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded My [b]sanctified ones;
I have also called (E)My mighty ones for My anger—
Those who (F)rejoice in My exaltation.”
4 The (G)noise of a multitude in the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together!
The Lord of hosts musters
The army for battle.
5 They come from a far country,
From the end of heaven—
The (H)Lord and His [c]weapons of indignation,
To destroy the whole (I)land.
6 Wail, (J)for the day of the Lord is at hand!
(K)It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore all hands will be limp,
Every man’s heart will melt,
8 And they will be afraid.
(L)Pangs[d] and sorrows will take hold of them;
They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth;
They will be amazed at one another;
Their faces will be like flames.
9 Behold, (M)the day of the Lord comes,
Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger,
To lay the land desolate;
And He will destroy (N)its sinners from it.
10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not give their light;
The sun will be (O)darkened in its going forth,
And the moon will not cause its light to shine.
11 “I will (P)punish the world for its evil,
And the wicked for their iniquity;
(Q)I will halt the arrogance of the proud,
And will lay low the haughtiness of the [e]terrible.
12 I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold,
A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 (R)Therefore I will shake the heavens,
And the earth will move out of her place,
In the wrath of the Lord of hosts
And in (S)the day of His fierce anger.
14 It shall be as the hunted gazelle,
And as a sheep that no man [f]takes up;
(T)Every man will turn to his own people,
And everyone will flee to his own land.
15 Everyone who is found will be thrust through,
And everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
16 Their children also will be (U)dashed to pieces before their eyes;
Their houses will be plundered
And their wives (V)ravished.
17 “Behold,(W) I will stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not [g]regard silver;
And as for gold, they will not delight in it.
18 Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces,
And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb;
Their eye will not spare children.
19 (X)And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew (Y)Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 (Z)It will never be inhabited,
Nor will it be settled from generation to generation;
Nor will the Arabian pitch tents there,
Nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there.
21 (AA)But wild beasts of the desert will lie there,
And their houses will be full of [h]owls;
Ostriches will dwell there,
And wild goats will caper there.
22 The hyenas will howl in their citadels,
And jackals in their pleasant palaces.
(AB)Her time is near to come,
And her days will not be prolonged.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 13:1 oracle, prophecy
- Isaiah 13:3 consecrated or set apart
- Isaiah 13:5 Or instruments
- Isaiah 13:8 Sharp pains
- Isaiah 13:11 Or tyrants
- Isaiah 13:14 gathers
- Isaiah 13:17 esteem
- Isaiah 13:21 Or howling creatures
Isaiah 13
New Century Version
God’s Message to Babylon
13 God showed Isaiah son of Amoz this message about Babylon:
2 Raise a flag on the bare mountain.
Call out to the men.
Raise your hand to signal them
to enter through the gates for important people.
3 I myself have commanded those people
whom I have separated as mine.
I have called those warriors to carry out my anger.
They rejoice and are glad to do my will.
4 Listen to the loud noise in the mountains,
the sound of many people.
Listen to the noise among the kingdoms,
the sound of nations gathering together.
The Lord All-Powerful is calling
his army together for battle.
5 This army is coming from a faraway land,
from the edge of the horizon.
In anger the Lord is using this army like a weapon
to destroy the whole country.
6 Cry, because the Lord’s day of judging is near;
the Almighty is sending destruction.
7 People will be weak with fear,
and their courage will melt away.
8 Everyone will be afraid.
Pain and hurt will grab them;
they will hurt like a woman giving birth to a baby.
They will look at each other in fear,
with their faces red like fire.
God’s Judgment Against Babylon
9 Look, the Lord’s day of judging is coming—
a terrible day, a day of God’s anger.
He will destroy the land
and the sinners who live in it.
10 The stars will not show their light;
the skies will be dark.
The sun will grow dark as it rises,
and the moon will not give its light.
11 The Lord says, “I will punish the world for its evil
and wicked people for their sins.
I will cause proud people to lose their pride,
and I will destroy the pride of those who are cruel to others.
12 People will be harder to find than pure gold;
there will be fewer people than there is fine gold in Ophir.
13 I will make the sky shake,
and the earth will be moved from its place
by the anger of the Lord All-Powerful
at the time of his burning anger.
14 “Then the people from Babylon will run away like hunted deer
or like sheep who have no shepherd.
Everyone will turn back to his own people;
each will run back to his own land.
15 Everyone who is captured will be killed;
everyone who is caught will be killed with a sword.
16 Their little children will be beaten to death in front of them.
Their houses will be robbed
and their wives raped.
17 “Look, I will cause the armies of Media to attack Babylon.
They do not care about silver
or delight in gold.
18 Their soldiers will shoot the young men with arrows;
they will show no mercy on children,
nor will they feel sorry for little ones.
19 Babylon is the most beautiful of all kingdoms,
and the Babylonians are very proud of it.
But God will destroy it
like Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 No one will ever live there
or settle there again.
No Arab will put a tent there;
no shepherd will bring sheep there.
21 Only desert animals will live there,
and their houses will be full of wild dogs.
Owls will live there,
and wild goats will leap about in the houses.
22 Wolves will howl within the strong walls,
and wild dogs will bark in the beautiful buildings.
The end of Babylon is near;
its time is almost over.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.