Isaiah

The book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 13, New English Translation and King James Version

Chapter 13 New English Translation

The LORD Will Judge Babylon

   1 This is a message about Babylon that God revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz:
   2 On a bare hill raise a signal flag, shout to them, wave your hand, so they might enter the gates of the princes!
   3 I have given orders to my chosen soldiers; I have summoned the warriors through whom I will vent my anger, my boasting, arrogant ones.
   4 There is a loud noise on the mountains - it sounds like a large army! There is great commotion among the kingdoms - nations are being assembled! The LORD who commands armies is mustering forces for battle.
   5 They come from a distant land, from the horizon. It is the LORD with his instruments of judgment, coming to destroy the whole earth.
   6 Wail, for the LORD's day of judgment is near; it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge.
   7 For this reason all hands hang limp, every human heart loses its courage.
   8 They panic - cramps and pain seize hold of them like those of a woman who is straining to give birth. They look at one another in astonishment; their faces are flushed red.
   9 Look, the LORD's day of judgment is coming; it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger, destroying the earth and annihilating its sinners.
   10 Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations no longer give out their light; the sun is darkened as soon as it rises, and the moon does not shine.
   11 I will punish the world for its evil, and wicked people for their sin. I will put an end to the pride of the insolent, I will bring down the arrogance of tyrants.
   12 I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold, and people more scarce than gold from Ophir.
   13 So I will shake the heavens, and the earth will shake loose from its foundation, because of the fury of the LORD who commands armies, in the day he vents his raging anger.
   14 Like a frightened gazelle or a sheep with no shepherd, each will turn toward home, each will run to his homeland.
   15 Everyone who is caught will be stabbed; everyone who is seized will die by the sword.
   16 Their children will be smashed to pieces before their very eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives raped.
   17 Look, I am stirring up the Medes to attack them; they are not concerned about silver, nor are they interested in gold.
   18 Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; they have no compassion on a person's offspring, they will not look with pity on children.
   19 Babylon, the most admired of kingdoms, the Chaldeans' source of honor and pride, will be destroyed by God just as Sodom and Gomorrah were.
   20 No one will live there again; no one will ever reside there again. No bedouin will camp there, no shepherds will rest their flocks there.
   21 Wild animals will rest there, the ruined houses will be full of hyenas. Ostriches will live there, wild goats will skip among the ruins.
   22 Wild dogs will yip in her ruined fortresses, jackals will yelp in the once-splendid palaces. Her time is almost up, her days will not be prolonged.

King James Version

   1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
   2 Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
   3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
   4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.
   5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
   6 ¶ Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
   7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:
   8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
   9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
   10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
   11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
   12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
   13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
   14 And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.
   15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.
   16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
   17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
   18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
   19 ¶ And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
   20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
   21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
   22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.