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The Judgement of Babylon

13 The oracle concerning (A)Babylon which (B)Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

On a bare hill (C)raise a signal;
    cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for (D)them to enter
    the gates of the nobles.
I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
    and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
    my proudly exulting ones.[a]
The sound (E)of a tumult is on the mountains
    as of a great multitude!
The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
    of nations gathering together!
(F)The Lord of hosts is mustering
    a host for battle.
(G)They come from a distant land,
    from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
    to destroy the whole land.[b]
(H)Wail, for (I)the day of the Lord is near;
    as destruction from the Almighty[c] it will come!
Therefore all hands will be feeble,
    and every human heart (J)will melt.
They will be dismayed:
    (K)pangs and agony will seize them;
    (L)they will be in anguish like a woman in labour.
They will look aghast at one another;
    their faces will be aflame.
Behold, (M)the day of the Lord comes,
    cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
    and (N)to destroy its sinners from it.
10 (O)For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
    will not give their light;
(P)the sun will be dark at its rising,
    and the moon will not shed its light.
11 I will punish (Q)the world for its evil,
    and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will (R)put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
    (S)and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make (T)people more rare than fine gold,
    and mankind than the (U)gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore (V)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.
14 And like a hunted gazelle,
    or like sheep with none to gather them,
(W)each will turn to his own people,
    and each will flee to his own land.
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
    and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
16 (X)Their infants will be dashed in pieces
    before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
    and their wives ravished.
17 Behold, (Y)I am stirring up the Medes against them,
    who have no regard for silver
    and do not delight in gold.
18 (Z)Their bows will slaughter[d] the young men;
    they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
    their eyes will not pity children.
19 And Babylon, (AA)the glory of kingdoms,
    the splendour and pomp of the Chaldeans,
will be (AB)like Sodom and Gomorrah
    when God overthrew them.
20 (AC)It will never be inhabited
    or lived in for all generations;
no (AD)Arab will pitch his tent there;
    no (AE)shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
21 But (AF)wild animals will lie down there,
    and their houses will be full of howling creatures;
there (AG)ostriches[e] will dwell,
    and there wild goats will dance.
22 Hyenas[f] will cry in its towers,
    and (AH)jackals in (AI)the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
    and its days will not be prolonged.

The Restoration of Jacob

14 (AJ)For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and (AK)will set them in their own land, and (AL)sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. And (AM)the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord's land (AN)as male and female slaves. (AO)They will take captive those who were their captors, (AP)and rule over those who oppressed them.

Israel's Remnant Taunts Babylon

When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, you will take up this (AQ)taunt against the king of Babylon:

“How the oppressor has ceased,
    (AR)the insolent fury[g] ceased!
The Lord has broken the (AS)staff of the wicked,
    the (AT)sceptre of rulers,
(AU)that struck the peoples in wrath
    with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
    with unrelenting persecution.
The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
    (AV)they break forth into singing.
(AW)(AX)The cypresses rejoice at you,
    (AY)the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low,
    no woodcutter comes up against us.’
Sheol beneath is stirred up
    to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
    all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
    all who were kings of the nations.
10 (AZ)All of them will answer
    and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we!
    You have become like us!’
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
    the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
    and worms are your covers.
12 “How (BA)you are fallen from heaven,
    O Day Star, (BB)son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
    you who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart,
    (BC)‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
    (BD)I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
    in the far reaches of the north;[h]
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 (BE)But you are brought down to Sheol,
    to the far reaches of the pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you
    and ponder over you:
‘Is this (BF)the man who made the earth tremble,
    who shook kingdoms,
17 who made the world like a desert
    and overthrew its cities,
    (BG)who did not let his prisoners go home?’
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
    each in his own tomb;[i]
19 but you are cast out, away from your grave,
    like a loathed branch,
(BH)clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,
    who go down to the stones of the pit,
    like a dead body trampled underfoot.
20 You will not be joined with them in burial,
    because you have destroyed your land,
    you have slain your people.
“May (BI)the offspring of evildoers
    nevermore be named!
21 Prepare slaughter for his sons
    (BJ)because of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the earth,
    and fill the face of the world with cities.”

22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and (BK)remnant, (BL)descendants and posterity,” declares the Lord. 23 “And I will make it a possession of the (BM)hedgehog,[j] and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.

An Oracle Concerning Assyria

24 The Lord of hosts has sworn:
(BN)“As I have planned,
    so shall it be,
and as I have purposed,
    so shall it stand,
25 that (BO)I will break the Assyrian in my land,
    and on my mountains trample him underfoot;
and (BP)his yoke shall depart from them,
    and (BQ)his burden from their shoulder.”
26 This is the purpose that is purposed
    concerning the whole earth,
and this is (BR)the hand that is stretched out
    over all the nations.
27 (BS)For the Lord of hosts has purposed,
    and who will annul it?
(BT)His hand is stretched out,
    and who will turn it back?

An Oracle Concerning Philistia

28 In the year that (BU)King Ahaz died came this (BV)oracle:

29 Rejoice not, (BW)O Philistia, all of you,
    that (BX)the rod that struck you is broken,
for from the serpent's root will come forth an adder,
    and its fruit will be a (BY)flying fiery serpent.
30 And the firstborn of (BZ)the poor will graze,
    and (CA)the needy lie down in safety;
but I will kill your root with famine,
    and your remnant it will slay.
31 (CB)Wail, O (CC)gate; cry out, O city;
    melt in fear, (CD)O Philistia, all of you!
(CE)For smoke comes out of the north,
    and there is no straggler in his ranks.
32 What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
(CF)“The Lord has founded Zion,
    and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 13:3 Or those who exult in my majesty
  2. Isaiah 13:5 Or earth; also verse 9
  3. Isaiah 13:6 The Hebrew words for destruction and almighty sound alike
  4. Isaiah 13:18 Hebrew dash in pieces
  5. Isaiah 13:21 Or owls
  6. Isaiah 13:22 Or foxes
  7. Isaiah 14:4 Dead Sea Scroll (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate); the meaning of the word in the Masoretic Text is uncertain
  8. Isaiah 14:13 Or in the remote parts of Zaphon
  9. Isaiah 14:18 Hebrew house
  10. Isaiah 14:23 Possibly porcupine, or owl