13:1 The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. |
13:2 On a bare hill raise a signal, cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles. |
13:3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones. |
13:4 Hark, a tumult on the mountains as of a great multitude! Hark, an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together! The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle. |
13:5 They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole earth. |
13:6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! |
13:7 Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every man's heart will melt, |
13:8 and they will be dismayed. Pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in travail. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame. |
13:9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. |
13:10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light. |
13:11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless. |
13:12 I will make men more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir. |
13:13 Therefore 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. |
13:14 And like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, every man will turn to his own people, and every man will flee to his own land. |
13:15 Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. |
13:16 Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished. |
13:17 Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold. |
13:18 Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children. |
13:19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chalde'ans, will be like Sodom and Gomor'rah when God overthrew them. |
13:20 It will never be inhabited or dwelt in for all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there. |
13:21 But wild beasts will lie down there, and its houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there satyrs will dance. |
13:22 Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days |