Isaiah 13

An Oracle Against Babylon

1An oracle concerning Babylon, which Isaiah son of Amoz saw. 2Raise a signal on a bare hill!
Shout to them; wave your hand,
so they may enter the nobles’ gates. 3I have commanded my consecrated ones;
I have summoned my warriors to carry out my anger,
those who exult in my majesty. 4A roar on the mountains, like a vast people!
The tumult of kingdoms, nations assembling!
The LORD of hosts is mustering an army for war.

5They come from a distant land,
from the edge of the heavens—
the LORD and the weapons of his fury—
to ruin the whole land. 6Wail, for the LORD’s day is near!
It comes like devastation from Shaddai. 7Therefore every hand will go limp,
every human heart will melt. 8They will be terrified.
Pangs and anguish will seize them;
they will writhe like a woman in labor.
They will stare at one another in horror,
their faces aflame.

9Look, the LORD’s day is coming,
cruel, with fury and burning anger,
to make the land desolate
and destroy its sinners from it. 10Heaven’s stars and constellations
will not shine their light.
The sun will be dark as it rises,
and the moon will give no light. 11“I will punish the world for its evil,
the wicked for their guilt.
I will end the arrogant’s pride
and bring tyrants’ haughtiness low. 12I will make people scarcer than refined gold,
human beings rarer than Ophir’s gold.

13Therefore I will shake the heavens,
and the earth will tremble out of place,
at the LORD of hosts’ fury,
on the day of his burning anger. 14Like a hunted gazelle,
like sheep with no one to gather them,
each will turn to their own people,
each flee to their own land. 15Everyone found will be pierced through;
everyone caught will fall by the sword. 16Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes,
their houses plundered,
and their wives raped.

17Look, I am stirring up the Medes against them,
who care nothing for silver
and take no pleasure in gold. 18Their bows will shatter young men.
They will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes will not spare children. 19Babylon, beauty among kingdoms,
the Chaldeans’ proud splendor,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them. 20It will never again be inhabited
or settled through the generations.
No Arab will pitch a tent there;
no shepherd will rest a flock there.

21Desert creatures will lie there;
its houses will fill with howling animals.
Ostriches will live there,
and goat-demons will dance there. 22Hyenas will answer one another in its fortresses,
jackals in its luxurious palaces.
Its time is near;
its days will not be prolonged.”