Isaiah 13 — Legacy Standard Bible

An Oracle Concerning Babylon

13The ¹^,^aoracle concerning ^bBabylon which ^cIsaiah the son of Amoz beheld.

²^aLift up a standard on the ¹^,^bbare hill,Heighten your voice at them,^cWave the hand that they may ^denter the doors of the nobles.³I have commanded My set apart ones,I have even called My ^amighty warriors,My ¹proudly exulting ones,To execute My anger.⁴A ^asound of tumult on the mountains,Like that of many people!A sound of the rumbling of kingdoms,Of nations gathered together!Yahweh of hosts is mustering the host for battle.⁵They are coming from a far country,From the ^aend of the sky,Yahweh and His instruments of ^bindignation,To ^cwreak destruction on the whole land.⁶Wail, for the ^aday of Yahweh is near!It will come as ^bdestruction from ¹the Almighty.⁷Therefore ^aall hands will fall limp,And every man’s ^bheart will melt.⁸They will be ^aterrified,Pains and labor pangs will take hold of them;They will ^bwrithe like a woman in labor,They will look at one another in astonishment,Their faces aflame.⁹Behold, ^athe day of Yahweh is coming,Cruel, with fury and burning anger,To make the land a desolation;And He will exterminate its sinners from it.¹⁰For the ^astars of heaven and their constellationsWill not flash forth their light;The ^bsun will be dark when it risesAnd the moon will not shed its light.¹¹Thus I will ^apunish the world for its evilAnd the ^bwicked for their iniquity;I will also put an end to the ^cpride of the arrogantAnd bring low the ^dlofty pride of the ¹^,^eruthless.¹²I will make mortal man ¹^,^ascarcer than fine goldAnd mankind than the ^bgold of Ophir.¹³Therefore I will make the ^aheavens tremble,And ^bthe earth will be shaken from its placeAt the fury of Yahweh of hostsIn ^cthe day of His burning anger.¹⁴And it will be that like a hunted gazelle,Or like ^asheep with none to gather them,They will each turn to his own people,And each one flee to his own land.¹⁵Anyone who is found will be ^apierced through,And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.¹⁶Their ^ainfants also will be dashed to piecesBefore their eyes;Their houses will be plunderedAnd their wives ravished.¹⁷Behold, I am going to ^aawaken the Medes against them,Who will not think about silver or ^btake pleasure in gold.¹⁸And their bows will dash the ^ayoung men to pieces,They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,Nor will their ^beye pity ¹children.¹⁹And it will be that ^aBabylon, the ^bbeauty of kingdoms, the ¹honor of the Chaldeans’ pride,Will be as when God ^coverthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.²⁰It will ^anever be inhabited or dwelt in from generation to generation;Nor will the ¹^,^bArab pitch his tent there,Nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.²¹But ^adesert creatures will lie down there,And their houses will be full of ¹owls;Ostriches also will dwell there, and ²shaggy goats will leap there.²²¹And hyenas will howl in their fortified towersAnd jackals in their luxurious ^apalaces.Her fateful time also ²will soon comeAnd her days will not be prolonged.