Isaiah 13 — AAB

The Burden against Babylon

13Verse 1This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:^{Verse 2}Raise a banner on a barren hilltop;call aloud to them.Wave your hand,that they may enter the gates of the nobles.^{Verse 3}I have commanded My sanctified ones;I have even summoned My warriorsto execute My wrathand exult in My triumph.^{Verse 4}Listen, a tumult on the mountains,like that of a great multitude!Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,like nations gathered together!The LORD of Hosts is mobilizingan army for war.^{Verse 5}They are coming from faraway lands,from the ends of the heavens—the LORD and the weapons of His wrath—to destroy the whole country.^{Verse 6}Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near;it will come as destruction from the Almighty.^{+Verse 7}Therefore all hands will fall limp,and every man’s heart will melt.^{Verse 8}Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them;they will writhe like a woman in labor.They will look at one another,their faces flushed with fear.^{Verse 9}Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming—cruel, with fury and burning anger—to make the earth a desolationand to destroy the sinners within it.^{Verse 10}For the stars of heaven and their constellationswill not give their light.The rising sun will be darkened,and the moon will not give its light.^{Verse 11}I will punish the world for its eviland the wicked for their iniquity.I will end the haughtiness of the arrogantand lay low the pride of the ruthless.^{Verse 12}I will make man scarcer than pure gold,and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.^{Verse 13}Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,and the earth will be shaken from its placeat the wrath of the LORD of Hostson the day of His burning anger.^{Verse 14}Like a hunted gazelle,like a sheep without a shepherd,each will return to his own people,each will flee to his native land.^{Verse 15}Whoever is caught will be stabbed,and whoever is captured will die by the sword.^{Verse 16}Their infants will be dashed to piecesbefore their eyes,their houses will be looted,and their wives will be ravished.^{Verse 17}Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes,who have no regard for silver
and no desire for gold.^{Verse 18}Their bows will dash young men to pieces;they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
they will not look with pity on the children.^{Verse 19}And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans,will be overthrown by Godlike Sodom and Gomorrah.^{Verse 20}She will never be inhabitedor settled from generation to generation;no nomad will pitch his tent there,no shepherd will rest his flock there.^{Verse 21}But desert creatures will lie down there,and her houses will be full of keening creatures.⁺Sirens⁺will dwell there,and goat demons⁺will leap about.^{Verse 22}Howlers⁺will cry out in her fortressesand dragons⁺in her luxurious palaces.Babylon’s time is at hand,and her days will not be prolonged.