Isaiah 13-16

New King James Version

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.”

“How the oppressor has ceased,
The ^(AI)golden^[i] city ceased!
⁵ The Lord has broken ^(AJ)the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of the rulers;
⁶ He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke,
He who ruled the nations in anger,
Is persecuted and no one hinders.
⁷ The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
They break forth into singing.
^8 (AK)Indeed the cypress trees rejoice over you,
And the cedars of Lebanon,
Saying, ‘Since you ^[j]were cut down,
No woodsman has come up against us.’

⁹ “Hell^(AL)[k] from beneath is excited about you,
To meet you at your coming;
It stirs up the dead for you,
All the chief ones of the earth;
It has raised up from their thrones
All the kings of the nations.
¹⁰ They all shall ^(AM)speak and say to you:
‘Have you also become as weak as we?
Have you become like us?
¹¹ Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
And the sound of your stringed instruments;
The maggot is spread under you,
And worms cover you.’

¹⁶ “Those who see you will gaze at you,
And consider you, saying:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
¹⁷ Who made the world as a wilderness
And destroyed its cities,
Who ^[n]did not open the house of his prisoners?’

¹⁸ “All the kings of the nations,
All of them, sleep in glory,
Everyone in his own house;
¹⁹ But you are cast out of your grave
Like an ^[o]abominable branch,
Like the garment of those who are slain,
^[p]Thrust through with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit,
Like a corpse trodden underfoot.
²⁰ You will not be joined with them in burial,
Because you have destroyed your land
And slain your people.
^(AU)The brood of evildoers shall never be named.
²¹ Prepare slaughter for his children
^(AV)Because of the iniquity of their fathers,
Lest they rise up and possess the land,
And fill the face of the world with cities.”

²⁹ “Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia,
^(BG)Because the rod that struck you is broken;
For out of the serpent’s roots will come forth a viper,
^(BH)And its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent.
³⁰ The firstborn of the poor will feed,
And the needy will lie down in safety;
I will kill your roots with famine,
And it will slay your remnant.
³¹ Wail, O gate! Cry, O city!
All you of Philistia are dissolved;
For smoke will come from the north,
And no one will be alone in his ^[r]appointed times.”

³² What will they answer the messengers of the nation?
That ^(BI)the Lord has founded Zion,
And ^(BJ)the poor of His people shall take refuge in it.

Because in the night ^(BL)Ar of ^(BM)Moab is laid waste
And destroyed,
Because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste
And destroyed,
² He has gone up to the ^[t]temple and Dibon,
To the high places to weep.
Moab will wail over Nebo and over Medeba;
^(BN)On all their heads will be baldness,
And every beard cut off.
³ In their streets they will clothe themselves with sackcloth;
On the tops of their houses
And in their streets
Everyone will wail, ^(BO)weeping bitterly.
⁴ Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out,
Their voice shall be heard as far as ^(BP)Jahaz;
Therefore the ^[u]armed soldiers of Moab will cry out;
His life will be burdensome to him.

⁵ “My^(BQ) heart will cry out for Moab;
His fugitives shall flee to Zoar,
Like ^[v]a three-year-old heifer.
For ^(BR)by the Ascent of Luhith
They will go up with weeping;
For in the way of Horonaim
They will raise up a cry of destruction,
⁶ For the waters ^(BS)of Nimrim will be desolate,
For the green grass has withered away;
The grass fails, there is nothing green.
⁷ Therefore the abundance they have gained,
And what they have laid up,
They will carry away to the Brook of the Willows.
⁸ For the cry has gone all around the borders of Moab,
Its wailing to Eglaim
And its wailing to Beer Elim.
⁹ For the waters of ^[w]Dimon will be full of blood;
Because I will bring more upon Dimon,
^(BT)Lions upon him who escapes from Moab,
And on the remnant of the land.”

³ “Take counsel, execute judgment;
Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day;
Hide the outcasts,
Do not betray him who escapes.
⁴ Let My outcasts dwell with you, O Moab;
Be a shelter to them from the face of the ^[y]spoiler.
For the extortioner is at an end,
Devastation ceases,
The oppressors are consumed out of the land.
⁵ In mercy ^(BY)the throne will be established;
And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David,
^(BZ)Judging and seeking justice and hastening ^(CA)righteousness.”

⁶ We have heard of the ^(CB)pride of Moab—
He is very proud—
Of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath;
^(CC)But his ^[z]lies shall not be so.
⁷ Therefore Moab shall ^(CD)wail for Moab;
Everyone shall wail.
For the foundations ^(CE)of Kir Hareseth you shall mourn;
Surely they are stricken.

⁸ For ^(CF)the fields of Heshbon languish,
And ^(CG)the vine of Sibmah;
The lords of the nations have broken down its choice plants,
Which have reached to Jazer
And wandered through the wilderness.
Her branches are stretched out,
They are gone over the ^(CH)sea.
⁹ Therefore I will bewail the vine of Sibmah,
With the weeping of Jazer;
I will drench you with my tears,
^(CI)O Heshbon and Elealeh;
For ^[aa]battle cries have fallen
Over your summer fruits and your harvest.

^10 (CJ)Gladness is taken away,
And joy from the plentiful field;
In the vineyards there will be no singing,
Nor will there be shouting;
No treaders will tread out wine in the presses;
I have made their shouting cease.
¹¹ Therefore ^(CK)my ^[ab]heart shall resound like a harp for Moab,
And my inner being for ^[ac]Kir Heres.

¹² And it shall come to pass,
When it is seen that Moab is weary on ^(CL)the high place,
That he will come to his sanctuary to pray;
But he will not prevail.