Isaiah 13-17

New Living Translation

² “Raise a signal flag on a bare hilltop.
    Call up an army against Babylon.
Wave your hand to encourage them
    as they march into the palaces of the high and mighty.
³ I, the Lord, have dedicated these soldiers for this task.
    Yes, I have called mighty warriors to express my anger,
    and they will rejoice when I am exalted.”

⁴ Hear the noise on the mountains!
    Listen, as the vast armies march!
It is the noise and shouting of many nations.
    The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has called this army together.
⁵ They come from distant countries,
    from beyond the farthest horizons.
They are the Lord’s weapons to carry out his anger.
    With them he will destroy the whole land.

⁶ Scream in terror, for the day of the Lord has arrived—
    the time for the Almighty to destroy.
⁷ Every arm is paralyzed with fear.
    Every heart melts,
⁸     and people are terrified.
Pangs of anguish grip them,
    like those of a woman in labor.
They look helplessly at one another,
    their faces aflame with fear.

⁹ For see, the day of the Lord is coming—
    the terrible day of his fury and fierce anger.
The land will be made desolate,
    and all the sinners destroyed with it.
¹⁰ The heavens will be black above them;
    the stars will give no light.
The sun will be dark when it rises,
    and the moon will provide no light.

¹¹ “I, the Lord, will punish the world for its evil
    and the wicked for their sin.
I will crush the arrogance of the proud
    and humble the pride of the mighty.
¹² I will make people scarcer than gold—
    more rare than the fine gold of Ophir.
¹³ For I will shake the heavens.
    The earth will move from its place
when the Lord of Heaven’s Armies displays his wrath
    in the day of his fierce anger.”

¹⁴ Everyone in Babylon will run about like a hunted gazelle,
    like sheep without a shepherd.
They will try to find their own people
    and flee to their own land.
¹⁵ Anyone who is captured will be cut down—
    run through with a sword.
¹⁶ Their little children will be dashed to death before their eyes.
    Their homes will be sacked, and their wives will be raped.

¹⁷ “Look, I will stir up the Medes against Babylon.
    They cannot be tempted by silver
    or bribed with gold.
¹⁸ The attacking armies will shoot down the young men with arrows.
    They will have no mercy on helpless babies
    and will show no compassion for children.”

¹⁹ Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms,
    the flower of Chaldean pride,
will be devastated like Sodom and Gomorrah
    when God destroyed them.
²⁰ Babylon will never be inhabited again.
    It will remain empty for generation after generation.
Nomads will refuse to camp there,
    and shepherds will not bed down their sheep.
²¹ Desert animals will move into the ruined city,
    and the houses will be haunted by howling creatures.
Owls will live among the ruins,
    and wild goats will go there to dance.
²² Hyenas will howl in its fortresses,
    and jackals will make dens in its luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s days are numbered;
    its time of destruction will soon arrive.

“The mighty man has been destroyed.
    Yes, your insolence^[b] is ended.
⁵ For the Lord has crushed your wicked power
    and broken your evil rule.
⁶ You struck the people with endless blows of rage
    and held the nations in your angry grip
    with unrelenting tyranny.
⁷ But finally the earth is at rest and quiet.
    Now it can sing again!
⁸ Even the trees of the forest—
    the cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon—
    sing out this joyous song:
‘Since you have been cut down,
    no one will come now to cut us down!’

⁹ “In the place of the dead^[c] there is excitement
    over your arrival.
The spirits of world leaders and mighty kings long dead
    stand up to see you.
¹⁰ With one voice they all cry out,
    ‘Now you are as weak as we are!
¹¹ Your might and power were buried with you.^[d]
    The sound of the harp in your palace has ceased.
Now maggots are your sheet,
    and worms your blanket.’

¹² “How you are fallen from heaven,
    O shining star, son of the morning!
You have been thrown down to the earth,
    you who destroyed the nations of the world.
¹³ For you said to yourself,
    ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars.
I will preside on the mountain of the gods
    far away in the north.^[e]
14 I will climb to the highest heavens
    and be like the Most High.’
¹⁵ Instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead,
    down to its lowest depths.
¹⁶ Everyone there will stare at you and ask,
‘Can this be the one who shook the earth
    and made the kingdoms of the world tremble?
¹⁷ Is this the one who destroyed the world
    and made it into a wasteland?
Is this the king who demolished the world’s greatest cities
    and had no mercy on his prisoners?’

¹⁸ “The kings of the nations lie in stately glory,
    each in his own tomb,
¹⁹ but you will be thrown out of your grave
    like a worthless branch.
Like a corpse trampled underfoot,
    you will be dumped into a mass grave
    with those killed in battle.
You will descend to the pit.
²⁰     You will not be given a proper burial,
for you have destroyed your nation
    and slaughtered your people.
The descendants of such an evil person
    will never again receive honor.
²¹ Kill this man’s children!
    Let them die because of their father’s sins!
They must not rise and conquer the earth,
    filling the world with their cities.”

²² This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:
    “I, myself, have risen against Babylon!
I will destroy its children and its children’s children,”
    says the Lord.
²³ “I will make Babylon a desolate place of owls,
    filled with swamps and marshes.
I will sweep the land with the broom of destruction.
    I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”

“It will all happen as I have planned.
    It will be as I have decided.
²⁵ I will break the Assyrians when they are in Israel;
    I will trample them on my mountains.
My people will no longer be their slaves
    nor bow down under their heavy loads.
²⁶ I have a plan for the whole earth,
    a hand of judgment upon all the nations.
²⁷ The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has spoken—
    who can change his plans?
When his hand is raised,
    who can stop him?”

²⁹ Do not rejoice, you Philistines,
    that the rod that struck you is broken—
    that the king who attacked you is dead.
For from that snake a more poisonous snake will be born,
    a fiery serpent to destroy you!
³⁰ I will feed the poor in my pasture;
    the needy will lie down in peace.
But as for you, I will wipe you out with famine
    and destroy the few who remain.
³¹ Wail at the gates! Weep in the cities!
    Melt with fear, you Philistines!
A powerful army comes like smoke from the north.
    Each soldier rushes forward eager to fight.

“The Lord has built Jerusalem^[g];
    its walls will give refuge to his oppressed people.”

In one night the town of Ar will be leveled,
    and the city of Kir will be destroyed.
² Your people will go to their temple in Dibon to mourn.
    They will go to their sacred shrines to weep.
They will wail for the fate of Nebo and Medeba,
    shaving their heads in sorrow and cutting off their beards.
³ They will wear burlap as they wander the streets.
    From every home and public square will come the sound of wailing.
⁴ The people of Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out;
    their voices will be heard as far away as Jahaz!
The bravest warriors of Moab will cry out in utter terror.
    They will be helpless with fear.

⁵ My heart weeps for Moab.
    Its people flee to Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah.
Weeping, they climb the road to Luhith.
    Their cries of distress can be heard all along the road to Horonaim.
⁶ Even the waters of Nimrim are dried up!
    The grassy banks are scorched.
The tender plants are gone;
    nothing green remains.
⁷ The people grab their possessions
    and carry them across the Ravine of Willows.
⁸ A cry of distress echoes through the land of Moab
    from one end to the other—
    from Eglaim to Beer-elim.
⁹ The stream near Dibon^[h] runs red with blood,
    but I am still not finished with Dibon!
Lions will hunt down the survivors—
    both those who try to escape
    and those who remain behind.

16 Send lambs from Sela as tribute
    to the ruler of the land.
Send them through the desert
    to the mountain of beautiful Zion.
² The women of Moab are left like homeless birds
    at the shallow crossings of the Arnon River.
³ “Help us,” they cry.
    “Defend us against our enemies.
Protect us from their relentless attack.
    Do not betray us now that we have escaped.
⁴ Let our refugees stay among you.
    Hide them from our enemies until the terror is past.”

When oppression and destruction have ended
    and enemy raiders have disappeared,
⁵ then God will establish one of David’s descendants as king.
    He will rule with mercy and truth.
He will always do what is just
    and be eager to do what is right.

⁶ We have heard about proud Moab—
    about its pride and arrogance and rage.
    But all that boasting has disappeared.
⁷ The entire land of Moab weeps.
    Yes, everyone in Moab mourns
for the cakes of raisins from Kir-hareseth.
    They are all gone now.
⁸ The farms of Heshbon are abandoned;
    the vineyards at Sibmah are deserted.
The rulers of the nations have broken down Moab—
    that beautiful grapevine.
Its tendrils spread north as far as the town of Jazer
    and trailed eastward into the wilderness.
Its shoots reached so far west
    that they crossed over the Dead Sea.^[i]

⁹ So now I weep for Jazer and the vineyards of Sibmah;
    my tears will flow for Heshbon and Elealeh.
There are no more shouts of joy
    over your summer fruits and harvest.
¹⁰ Gone now is the gladness,
    gone the joy of harvest.
There will be no singing in the vineyards,
    no more happy shouts,
no treading of grapes in the winepresses.
    I have ended all their harvest joys.
¹¹ My heart’s cry for Moab is like a lament on a harp.
    I am filled with anguish for Kir-hareseth.^[j]
12 The people of Moab will worship at their pagan shrines,
    but it will do them no good.
They will cry to the gods in their temples,
    but no one will be able to save them.

“Look, the city of Damascus will disappear!
    It will become a heap of ruins.
² The towns of Aroer will be deserted.
    Flocks will graze in the streets and lie down undisturbed,
    with no one to chase them away.
³ The fortified towns of Israel^[l] will also be destroyed,
    and the royal power of Damascus will end.
All that remains of Syria^[m]
    will share the fate of Israel’s departed glory,”
    declares the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

⁴ “In that day Israel’s^[n] glory will grow dim;
    its robust body will waste away.
⁵ The whole land will look like a grainfield
    after the harvesters have gathered the grain.
It will be desolate,
    like the fields in the valley of Rephaim after the harvest.
⁶ Only a few of its people will be left,
    like stray olives left on a tree after the harvest.
Only two or three remain in the highest branches,
    four or five scattered here and there on the limbs,”
    declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁷ Then at last the people will look to their Creator
    and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
⁸ They will no longer look to their idols for help
    or worship what their own hands have made.
They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles
    or worship at the pagan shrines they have built.
⁹ Their largest cities will be like a deserted forest,
    like the land the Hivites and Amorites abandoned^[o]
when the Israelites came here so long ago.
    It will be utterly desolate.
¹⁰ Why? Because you have turned from the God who can save you.
    You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you.
So you may plant the finest grapevines
    and import the most expensive seedlings.
¹¹ They may sprout on the day you set them out;
    yes, they may blossom on the very morning you plant them,
but you will never pick any grapes from them.
    Your only harvest will be a load of grief and unrelieved pain.

¹² Listen! The armies of many nations
    roar like the roaring of the sea.
Hear the thunder of the mighty forces
    as they rush forward like thundering waves.
¹³ But though they thunder like breakers on a beach,
    God will silence them, and they will run away.
They will flee like chaff scattered by the wind,
    like a tumbleweed whirling before a storm.
¹⁴ In the evening Israel waits in terror,
    but by dawn its enemies are dead.
This is the just reward of those who plunder us,
    a fitting end for those who destroy us.