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13 God showed Isaiah son of Amoz this message about Babylon:

God’s Message to Babylon

Raise a flag on the bare mountain.
    Call out to the men.
Raise your hand to signal them.
    Tell them to enter through the gates for important people.
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.

Listen to the loud noise in the mountains.
    It sounds like many people.
Listen to the noise among the kingdoms.
    Nations are gathering together.
The Lord of heaven’s armies is calling
    his army together for battle.
This army is coming from a faraway land.
    It is coming from the edge of the horizon.
In anger the Lord is using this army like a weapon.
    And it will destroy the whole country.

Cry, because the Lord’s day of judging is near.
    God All-Powerful is sending destruction.
People will be weak with fear.
    Their courage will melt away.
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.
    Their faces will become red like fire.

Look, the Lord’s day of judging is coming.
    It will be a terrible day. God will be very angry,
and he will destroy the country.
    God will destroy the sinners who live in the land.
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.
    I will punish wicked people for their sins.
I will cause the proud people to lose their pride.
    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.
The Lord of heaven’s armies will be very angry.
    His anger will burn at that time.

14 “Then the people from Babylon will run away like hunted deer.
    They will run like sheep who have no shepherd.
Everyone will turn back to his own people.
    Each will run back to his own land.
15 Anyone 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 as their parents watch.
    Everything in their houses will be stolen.
    And their wives will be raped.
17 Look, I will cause the armies of Media to attack Babylon.
    They do not care about silver.
    They do not delight in gold.
18 Their soldiers will shoot the young men with arrows.
    The soldiers will show no mercy on the children.
    They will not feel sorry for the little boys.
19 Babylon is the most beautiful of all kingdoms.
    The Babylonians are very proud of it.
But God will destroy it
    like Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 No one will ever live there.
    No one will settle there again.
No Arab will put his tent there.
    No shepherd will bring his sheep there.
21 Only animals from the desert will live there.
    The houses of Babylon will be full of wild dogs.
Owls will live there.
    Wild goats will leap about in the houses.
22 Wolves will howl within the strong walls.
    Wild dogs will bark in the beautiful buildings.
The end of Babylon is near.
    Its time is almost over.”

The Judgment of Babylon

13 The oracle concerning (A)Babylon which (B)Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

On a bare hill (C)raise a signal;
    cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for (D)them to enter
    the gates of the nobles.
I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
    and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
    my proudly exulting ones.[a]

The sound (E)of a tumult is on the mountains
    as of a great multitude!
The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
    of nations gathering together!
(F)The Lord of hosts is mustering
    a host for battle.
(G)They come from a distant land,
    from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
    to destroy the whole land.[b]

(H)Wail, for (I)the day of the Lord is near;
    as destruction from the Almighty[c] it will come!
Therefore all hands will be feeble,
    and every human heart (J)will melt.
They will be dismayed:
    (K)pangs and agony will seize them;
    (L)they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
    their faces will be aflame.

Behold, (M)the day of the Lord comes,
    cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
    and (N)to destroy its sinners from it.
10 (O)For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
    will not give their light;
(P)the sun will be dark at its rising,
    and the moon will not shed its light.
11 I will punish (Q)the world for its evil,
    and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will (R)put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
    (S)and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make (T)people more rare than fine gold,
    and mankind than the (U)gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore (V)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.
14 And like a hunted gazelle,
    or like sheep with none to gather them,
(W)each will turn to his own people,
    and each will flee to his own land.
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
    and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
16 (X)Their infants will be dashed in pieces
    before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
    and their wives ravished.

17 Behold, (Y)I am stirring up the Medes against them,
    who have no regard for silver
    and do not delight in gold.
18 (Z)Their bows will slaughter[d] the young men;
    they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
    their eyes will not pity children.
19 And Babylon, (AA)the glory of kingdoms,
    the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,
will be (AB)like Sodom and Gomorrah
    when God overthrew them.
20 (AC)It will never be inhabited
    or lived in for all generations;
no (AD)Arab will pitch his tent there;
    no (AE)shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
21 But (AF)wild animals will lie down there,
    and their houses will be full of howling creatures;
there (AG)ostriches[e] will dwell,
    and there wild goats will dance.
22 Hyenas[f] will cry in its towers,
    and (AH)jackals in (AI)the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
    and its days will not be prolonged.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 13:3 Or those who exult in my majesty
  2. Isaiah 13:5 Or earth; also verse 9
  3. Isaiah 13:6 The Hebrew words for destruction and almighty sound alike
  4. Isaiah 13:18 Hebrew dash in pieces
  5. Isaiah 13:21 Or owls
  6. Isaiah 13:22 Or foxes