Isaiah 13–14:23; Isaiah 21:1–10; Isaiah 46–47

red bookmark icon blue bookmark icon gold bookmark icon
Isaiah 13–14:23

The Judgment of Babylon

The oracle concerning fBabylon which gIsaiah the son of Amoz saw.

On a bare hill hraise a signal;

cry aloud to them;

wave the hand for ithem 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.1

The sound jof a tumult is on the mountains

as of a great multitude!

The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,

of nations gathering together!

kThe Lord of hosts is mustering

a host for battle.

lThey come from a distant land,

from the end of the heavens,

the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,

to destroy the whole land.2

mWail, for nthe day of the Lord is near;

as destruction from the Almighty3 it will come!

Therefore all hands will be feeble,

and every human heart owill melt.

They will be dismayed:

ppangs and agony will seize them;

qthey will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

They will look aghast at one another;

their faces will be aflame.

Behold, nthe day of the Lord comes,

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

to make the land a desolation

and rto destroy its sinners from it.

10  sFor the stars of the heavens and their constellations

will not give their light;

tthe sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light.

11  I will punish uthe world for its evil,

and the wicked for their iniquity;

I will vput an end to the pomp of the arrogant,

wand lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

12  I will make xpeople more rare than fine gold,

and mankind than the ygold of Ophir.

13  Therefore zI 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,

aeach 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  bTheir infants will be dashed in pieces

before their eyes;

their houses will be plundered

and their wives ravished.

17  Behold, cI am stirring up the Medes against them,

who have no regard for silver

and do not delight in gold.

18  dTheir bows will slaughter4 the young men;

they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

their eyes will not pity children.

19  And Babylon, ethe glory of kingdoms,

the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,

will be flike Sodom and Gomorrah

when God overthrew them.

20  gIt will never be inhabited

or lived in for all generations;

no hArab will pitch his tent there;

no ishepherds will make their flocks lie down there.

21  But jwild animals will lie down there,

and their houses will be full of howling creatures;

there kostriches5 will dwell,

and there wild goats will dance.

22  Hyenas6 will cry in its towers,

and ljackals in mthe pleasant palaces;

its time is close at hand

and its days will not be prolonged.

The Restoration of Jacob

nFor the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and owill set them in their own land, and psojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. And qthe peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord’s land ras male and female slaves.7 sThey will take captive those who were their captors, tand 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 utaunt against the king of Babylon:

How the oppressor has ceased,

vthe insolent fury8 ceased!

The Lord has broken the wstaff of the wicked,

the wscepter of rulers,

xthat 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;

ythey break forth into singing.

zaThe cypresses rejoice at you,

bthe 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  cAll 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 dyou are fallen from heaven,

O Day Star, eson of Dawn!

How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low!

13  You said in your heart,

fI will ascend to heaven;

above the stars of God

gI will set my throne on high;

I will sit on the mount of assembly

in the far reaches of the north;9

14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.

15  hBut 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 ithe man who made the earth tremble,

who shook kingdoms,

17  who made the world like a desert

and overthrew its cities,

jwho did not let his prisoners go home?

18  All the kings of the nations lie in glory,

each in his own tomb;10

19  but you are cast out, away from your grave,

like a loathed branch,

kclothed 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 lthe offspring of evildoers

nevermore be named!

21  Prepare slaughter for his sons

mbecause 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 nremnant, odescendants and posterity, declares the Lord. 23 And I will make it a possession of the phedgehog,11 and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, declares the Lord of hosts.


Isaiah 21:1–10

Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon

The toracle concerning the wilderness of uthe sea.

vAs whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,

it comes from the wilderness,

from a terrible land.

A stern vision is told to me;

wthe traitor betrays,

and the destroyer destroys.

Go up, O xElam;

lay siege, O yMedia;

all the zsighing she has caused

I bring to an end.

Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;

apangs have seized me,

like the pangs of a woman in labor;

I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;

I am dismayed so that I cannot see.

My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;

bthe twilight I longed for

has been turned for me into trembling.

cThey prepare the table,

they spread the rugs,1

they eat, they drink.

Arise, O princes;

doil the shield!

For thus the Lord said to me:

Go, set a watchman;

let him announce what he sees.

When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,

riders on donkeys, riders on camels,

let him listen diligently,

very diligently.

Then he who saw cried out:2

eUpon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,

continually by day,

and at my post I am stationed

whole nights.

And behold, here come riders,

horsemen in pairs!

fAnd he answered,

gFallen, fallen is Babylon;

hand all the carved images of her gods

he has shattered to the ground.

10  O imy threshed and winnowed one,

what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,

the God of Israel, I announce to you.


Isaiah 46–47

The Idols of Babylon and the One True God

oBel bows down; Nebo stoops;

their idols are on beasts and livestock;

these things you carry are borne

as burdens on weary beasts.

They stoop; they bow down together;

they cannot save the burden,

but pthemselves go into captivity.

Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

all the remnant of the house of Israel,

qwho have been borne by me from before your birth,

carried from the womb;

reven to your old age I am he,

and to gray hairs I will carry you.

I have made, and I will bear;

I will carry and will save.

sTo whom will you liken me and make me equal,

and compare me, that we may be alike?

tThose who lavish gold from the purse,

and weigh out silver in the scales,

hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;

uthen they fall down and worship!

vThey lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,

they set it in its place, and it stands there;

wit cannot move from its place.

If one cries to it, it does not answer

or save him from his trouble.

Remember this and stand firm,

recall it to mind, xyou transgressors,

remember the former things of old;

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me,

10  ydeclaring the end from the beginning

and from ancient times things not yet done,

saying, zMy counsel shall stand,

and I will accomplish all my purpose,

11  acalling a bird of prey from the east,

the man of my counsel from a far country.

bI have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;

I have purposed, and I will do it.

12  Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,

you who are far from righteousness:

13  cI bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,

and my salvation will not delay;

dI will put salvation in Zion,

for Israel my glory.

The Humiliation of Babylon

eCome down and sit in the dust,

O virgin fdaughter of Babylon;

gsit on the ground without a throne,

O daughter of hthe Chaldeans!

iFor you shall no more be called

tender and delicate.

Take the millstones and jgrind flour,

kput off your veil,

strip off your robe, uncover your legs,

pass through the rivers.

Your nakedness shall be uncovered,

and your disgrace shall be seen.

I will take vengeance,

and I will spare no one.

lOur Redeemerthe Lord of hosts is his name

is the Holy One of Israel.

mSit in silence, and go into darkness,

O daughter of hthe Chaldeans;

for you shall no more be called

nthe mistress of kingdoms.

oI was angry with my people;

I profaned my heritage;

I gave them into your hand;

pyou showed them no mercy;

on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.

You said, I shall be qmistress forever,

so that you did not lay these things to heart

or remember their end.

Now therefore hear this, qyou lover of pleasures,

rwho sit securely,

who say in your heart,

sI am, and there is no one besides me;

tI shall not sit as a widow

or know the loss of children:

uThese two things shall come to you

in a moment, vin one day;

the loss of children and widowhood

shall come upon you in full measure,

win spite of your many sorceries

and the great power of your enchantments.

10  You felt secure in your wickedness;

you said, No one sees me;

your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,

and you said in your heart,

xI am, and there is no one besides me.

11  But evil shall come upon you,

which you will not know how to charm away;

disaster shall fall upon you,

for which you will not be able to atone;

yand ruin shall come upon you suddenly,

of which you know nothing.

12  zStand fast in your enchantments

and your many sorceries,

with which you have labored from your youth;

perhaps you may be able to succeed;

perhaps you may inspire terror.

13  You are wearied with your many counsels;

let them stand forth and save you,

athose who divide the heavens,

who gaze at the stars,

who at the new moons make known

what shall come upon you.

14  Behold, bthey are like stubble;

cthe fire consumes them;

they cannot deliver themselves

from the power of the flame.

No coal for warming oneself is this,

no fire to sit before!

15  Such to you are those with whom you have labored,

who have done business with you from your youth;

they wander about, each in his own direction;

there is no one to save you.