IsaiahChapter 13

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¹This is the heavy message against Babylon. Isaiah son of Amoz received it: ²Raise a flag on a bare hilltop.
Call out to them.
Wave your hand to them,
so they will go through the gates of the nobles. ³I have given orders to the ones I set apart.
I have called my warriors
to carry out my anger
and to cheer at my victory. ⁴Listen! There is a noise on the mountains,
like the noise of a great crowd!
Listen! There is a roar among the kingdoms,
like nations gathering together!
The LORD of Hosts is getting an army ready for war. ⁵They are coming from faraway lands,
from the ends of the sky.
The LORD is coming with the weapons of his anger
to destroy the whole land. ⁶Cry out loud,
for the Day of the LORD is near!
It will come like ruin from the Almighty. ⁷So every hand will hang down weak.
Every man's heart will melt with fear. ⁸Terror will grab them.
Pain and deep sorrow will take hold of them.
They will twist in pain like a woman giving birth.
They will look at each other,
with faces red with fear. ⁹Look! The Day of the LORD is coming.
It will be cruel, full of fury and burning anger.
It will make the earth a wasteland.
It will destroy the sinners in it. ¹⁰For the stars in the sky and their groups
will not give their light.
The sun will be dark when it rises.
The moon will not give its light. ¹¹I will punish the world for its evil.
I will punish the wicked for their sin.
I will put an end to the pride of the proud.
I will bring down the pride of the cruel. ¹²I will make people harder to find than pure gold.
They will be rarer than the gold of Ophir. ¹³So I will make the heavens shake.
The earth will be shaken out of its place.
This will happen because the LORD of Hosts is angry,
on the day of his burning anger. ¹⁴Like a hunted gazelle,
like sheep with no shepherd,
each one will go back to his own people.
Each one will run to his own land. ¹⁵Anyone who is found will be stabbed.
Anyone who is caught will be killed by the sword. ¹⁶Their babies will be smashed to pieces
right in front of them.
Their houses will be robbed.
Their wives will be raped. ¹⁷Look! I will stir up the Medes against them.
The Medes do not care about silver.
They do not want gold. ¹⁸Their bows will cut down young men.
They will have no mercy on babies.
They will not pity children. ¹⁹Babylon is the jewel of the kingdoms,
the glory and pride of the Chaldeans.
But God will overthrow it
like Sodom and Gomorrah. ²⁰No one will ever live there again.
No one will settle there for all time to come.
No wandering Arab will set up his tent there.
No shepherd will rest his flock there.a ²¹But desert animals will lie down there.
Howling creatures will fill her houses.
Ostriches will live there.
Wild goats will leap around. ²²Hyenas will howl in her forts.
Jackals will howl in her fancy palaces.
Babylon's time is almost here.
Her days will not last much longer.