Isaiah 13-14

New American Standard Bible

^2 (D)Lift up a flag on the ^[a](E)bare hill,
Raise your voice to them,
^(F)Wave the hand that they may ^(G)enter the doors of the nobles.
³ I have commanded My consecrated ones,
I have also called for My ^(H)warriors
Who boast in My eminence,
To execute My anger.
⁴ A ^(I)sound of a roar on the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
Of nations gathered together!
The Lord of armies is mustering the army for battle.
⁵ They are coming from a distant country,
From the ^[b](J)farthest horizons,
The Lord and the weapons of His ^(K)indignation,
To ^(L)destroy the whole land.

⁶ Wail, for the ^(M)day of the Lord is near!
It will come as ^(N)destruction from ^[c]the Almighty.
⁷ Therefore ^(O)all hands will fall limp,
And every human ^(P)heart will melt.
⁸ They will be ^(Q)terrified,
Pains and anguish will take hold of them;
They will ^(R)writhe like a woman in labor,
They will look at one another in astonishment,
Their faces aflame.
⁹ Behold, ^(S)the day of the Lord is coming,
Cruel, with fury and burning anger,
To make the land a desolation;
And He will exterminate its sinners from it.
¹⁰ For the ^(T)stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash their light;
The ^(U)sun will be dark when it rises
And the moon will not shed its light.
¹¹ So I will ^(V)punish the world for its evil
And the ^(W)wicked for their wrongdoing;
I will also put an end to the ^(X)audacity of the proud
And humiliate the ^(Y)arrogance of the ^[d](Z)tyrants.
¹² I will make mortal man ^(AA)scarcer than pure gold
And mankind than the ^(AB)gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore I will make the ^(AC)heavens tremble,
And ^(AD)the earth will be shaken from its place
At the fury of the Lord of armies
In ^(AE)the day of His burning anger.
¹⁴ And it will be that, like a hunted gazelle,
Or like ^(AF)sheep with no one to gather them,
Each of them will turn to his own people,
And each of them will flee to his own land.
¹⁵ Anyone who is found will be ^(AG)thrust through,
And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
¹⁶ Their ^(AH)little ones also will be dashed to pieces
Before their eyes;
Their houses will be plundered
And their wives raped.

¹⁷ Behold, I am going to ^(AI)stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not value silver or ^(AJ)take pleasure in gold.
¹⁸ And their bows will ^[e]mow down the ^(AK)young men,
They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,
Nor will their ^(AL)eye pity ^[f]children.
¹⁹ And ^(AM)Babylon, the ^(AN)beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God ^(AO)overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
²⁰ It will ^(AP)never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation;
Nor will the ^(AQ)Arab pitch his tent there,
Nor will shepherds allow their flocks to lie down there.
²¹ But ^(AR)desert creatures will lie down there,
And their houses will be full of ^[g]owls;
Ostriches also will live there, and ^[h]shaggy goats will frolic there.
^22 [i]Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers
And jackals in their luxurious ^(AS)palaces.
Her fateful time also ^[j]will soon come,
And her days will not be prolonged.

“How ^(BA)the oppressor has ceased,
And how the ^[m]onslaught has ceased!
⁵ The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of rulers,
^6 (BB)Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes,
Which ^[n]subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.
⁷ The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
They ^(BC)break forth into shouts of joy.
⁸ Even the ^(BD)juniper trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you have been laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.’
^9 (BE)Sheol below is excited about you, to meet you when you come;
It stirs the ^[o]spirits of the dead for you, all the ^[p]leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.
^10 (BF)They will all respond and say to you,
‘Even you have become weak as we,
You have become like us.
¹¹ Your ^(BG)pride and the music of your harps
Have been brought down to Sheol;
Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you
And worms are your covering.’
¹² How you have ^(BH)fallen from heaven,
You ^[q](BI)star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who defeated the nations!
¹³ But you said in your heart,
‘I will ^(BJ)ascend to heaven;
I will ^(BK)raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
^(BL)I will make myself like the Most High.’
¹⁵ Nevertheless you ^(BM)will be brought down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit.
¹⁶ Those who see you will stare at you,
They will ^[r]closely examine you, saying,
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
¹⁷ Who made the world like a ^(BN)wilderness
And overthrew its cities,
Who ^(BO)did not ^[s]allow his prisoners to go home?’
¹⁸ All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
Each in his own ^[t]tomb.
¹⁹ But you have been ^(BP)hurled out of your tomb
Like ^[u]a rejected branch,
^[v]Clothed with those killed who have been pierced with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the ^(BQ)pit
Like a ^(BR)trampled corpse.
²⁰ You will not be united with them in burial,
Because you have ruined your country,
You have killed your people.
May the ^(BS)descendants of evildoers never be mentioned.
²¹ Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons
Because of the ^(BT)wrongdoing of their fathers.
They must not arise and take possession of the earth,
And fill the surface of the world with cities.”

²⁹ “Do not rejoice, ^(CG)Philistia, all of you,
Because the rod that ^(CH)struck you is broken;
For from the serpent’s root a ^(CI)viper will come out,
And its fruit will be a ^(CJ)winged serpent.
^30 [x]Those who are most ^(CK)helpless will eat,
And the poor will lie down in security;
I will kill your root with ^(CL)famine,
And it will kill your survivors.
³¹ Wail, you ^(CM)gate; cry, you city;
^[y]Melt away, ^(CN)Philistia, all of you!
For smoke comes from the ^(CO)north,
And ^(CP)there is no straggler in his ranks.
³² What answer will one give the ^(CQ)messengers of the nation?
That ^(CR)the Lord has founded Zion,
And ^(CS)the poor of His people will take refuge in it.”