Isaiah 13 :: New English Translation (NET)

Prophecies about Babylon

Isa 13:1This is a message about Babylon that God revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz:

Isa 13:2On a bare hill raise a signal flag, shout to them, wave your hand, so they might enter the gates of the princes!

Isa 13:3

Isa 13:3I have given orders to my chosen soldiers; I have summoned the warriors through whom I will vent my anger, my boasting, arrogant ones.

Isa 13:4

Isa 13:4There 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.

Isa 13:5

Isa 13:5They come from a distant land, from the horizon. It is the LORD with his instruments of judgment, coming to destroy the whole earth.

Judgment on the Day of the LORD

Isa 13:6

Isa 13:6Wail, for the LORD's day of judgment is near; it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge.

Isa 13:7

Isa 13:7For this reason all hands hang limp, every human heart loses its courage.

Isa 13:8

Isa 13:8They 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.

Isa 13:9

Isa 13:9Look, 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.

Isa 13:10

Isa 13:10Indeed 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.

Isa 13:11

Isa 13:11I 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.

Isa 13:12

Isa 13:12I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold, and people more scarce than gold from Ophir.

Isa 13:13

Isa 13:13So 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.

Isa 13:14

Isa 13:14Like a frightened gazelle or a sheep with no shepherd, each will turn toward home, each will run to his homeland.

Isa 13:15

Isa 13:15Everyone who is caught will be stabbed; everyone who is seized will die by the sword.

Isa 13:16

Isa 13:16Their children will be smashed to pieces before their very eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives raped.

Babylon Will Fall to the Medes

Isa 13:17

Isa 13:17Look, I am stirring up the Medes to attack them; they are not concerned about silver, nor are they interested in gold.

Isa 13:18

Isa 13:18Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; they have no compassion on a person's offspring, they will not look with pity on children.

Isa 13:19

Isa 13:19Babylon, the most admired of kingdoms, the Chaldeans' source of honor and pride, will be destroyed by God just as Sodom and Gomorrah were.

Isa 13:20

Isa 13:20No one will live there again; no one will ever reside there again. No bedouin will camp there, no shepherds will rest their flocks there.

Isa 13:21

Isa 13:21Wild animals will rest there, the ruined houses will be full of hyenas. Ostriches will live there, wild goats will skip among the ruins.

Isa 13:22

Isa 13:22Wild 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.

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Pericope

Isaiah Chapter 13 — Additional Translations: