The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 13 The Destruction of Babylon and the Deliverance of Israel

 The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 13

The Destruction of Babylon and the Deliverance of Israel

1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

2 Lift up a banner upon the bare mountain; lift up your voice to them; wave your hand to them, that they may enter the gates of the princes.

3 I have commanded my holy ones; I have called my mighty men to my anger, those who rejoice in my majesty.

4 The shouting of the multitude is heard on the mountains, like that of a great people, the tumult of kingdoms, and of nations gathered together. The Lord of hosts musters the army.

5 He comes from a far country, from the end of heaven, the Lord and the instruments of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.

 6 Howl, for the day of the Lord is near; it comes like destruction from the Almighty.

7 Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every man's heart will melt.

8 They will be terrified, and pangs and anguish will seize them, and they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. Everyone will be terrified of his neighbor; their faces will be like faces of flame.

9 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth desolate and to destroy its sinners from it.

10 For the stars of heaven and the heavenly bodies will not stop their light; the sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not give its light. 

11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will put an end to the arrogance of the arrogant, and I will humble the haughtiness of the ruthless.

12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold, and rarer than the gold of Ophir.

13 Therefore I will shake the heavens; the earth will be moved out of its place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

14 Everyone will be like a fleeing deer, and like a sheep that no one takes back; everyone will return 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 caught will fall by the sword.

16 Their children will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered, and their wives ravished. 

17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not regard silver, nor desire gold.

18 Their bows will dash young men to pieces, and they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye will not spare children.

19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the glory and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah, when God overthrew them.

20 It will no longer be inhabited, nor will it be built from generation to generation. The Arabian will not pitch his tent there, nor will the shepherds make their flocks lie down there.

21 But the wild beasts of the desert will lie down, horrible creatures; ostriches will dwell there, and satyrs will cavort there.

22 Howling beasts will cry to one another in their empty palaces, and jackals in their pleasure palaces. for his time is near, and his days will not be prolonged.