Isaiah 13
13
A Prophecy Against Babylon
1Here is the prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw.
2Lift up a banner on the top of a bare hill.
Shout to the enemy soldiers.
Wave for them to enter the gates
that are used by the nobles of Babylon.
3The Lord has commanded the soldiers he prepared for battle.
He has sent for them to carry out his anger against Babylon.
They will be happy when he wins the battle for them.
4Listen! I hear a noise in the mountains.
It sounds like a huge crowd.
Listen! I hear a loud noise among the kingdoms.
It sounds like nations gathering together.
The Lord who rules over all is bringing
an army together for war.
5They come from lands far away.
They come from the farthest places on earth.
The Lord and those weapons of his anger
are coming to destroy the whole country of Babylon.
6Cry out! The day of the Lord is near.
The Mighty One is coming to destroy the Babylonians.
7Their hands won’t be able to help them.
Everyone’s heart will melt away in fear.
8The people will be filled with terror.
Pain and suffering will grab hold of them.
They will groan with pain like a woman having a baby.
They’ll look at one another in terror.
Their faces will burn with shame.
9The day of the Lord is coming.
It will be a terrible day.
The Lord’s burning anger will blaze out.
He will make the land dry and empty.
He’ll destroy the sinners in it.
10All the stars in the sky
will stop giving their light.
The sun will be darkened as soon as it rises.
The moon will not shine.
11The Lord will punish the world because it is so evil.
He will punish evil people for their sins.
He’ll put an end to the bragging of those who are proud.
He’ll bring down the pride of those who don’t show any pity.
12He’ll make people harder to find than pure gold.
They will be harder to find than gold from Ophir.
13He will make the heavens tremble.
He’ll shake the earth out of its place.
The Lord who rules over all will show how angry he is.
At that time his burning anger will blaze out.
14Outsiders who live in Babylon will scatter
like antelope that are chased by a hunter.
They are like sheep that don’t have a shepherd.
All of them will return to their own people.
They will run back to their own countries.
15Those who are captured will have spears stuck through them.
Those who are caught will be killed by swords.
16Their babies will be smashed to pieces
right in front of their eyes.
Their houses will be robbed.
Their wives will be raped.
17The Lord will stir up the Medes to attack the Babylonians.
They aren’t interested in getting silver.
They don’t want gold.
18Instead, they will use their bows and arrows
to strike down the young men.
They won’t even show any mercy to babies.
They won’t take pity on children.
19The city of Babylon is the jewel of kingdoms.
It is the pride and glory of the Babylonians.
But God will destroy it
just as he did Sodom and Gomorrah.
20No one will ever live in Babylon again.
No one will live there for all time to come.
Those who wander in the desert will never set up their tents there.
Shepherds will never rest their flocks there.
21But desert creatures will lie down there.
Wild dogs will fill its houses.
Owls will live there.
Wild goats will jump around in it.
22Hyenas will live in its forts.
Wild dogs will live in its beautiful palaces.
The time for Babylon to be punished is near.
Its days are numbered.
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Isaiah 13: NIrV
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Isaiah 13
13
Prophecies about Babylon
1The [mournful, inspired] oracle (#I.e. an urgent message the prophet is under compulsion to proclaim.a burden to be carried) concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw [in a prophetic vision]:
2Lift up a signal banner on the bare mountain,
Summon them [the Medes and Persians] with a loud voice,
Wave the [beckoning] hand so that they may enter the doorways of the [Babylonian] nobles.
3I [the Lord] have commanded My consecrated ones,
I have even called My great warriors,
My proudly exulting ones [the Medes and the Persians who triumph for My honor]—
To execute My anger.
4A sound of tumult on the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A sound of the uproar of the kingdoms,
Of nations gathered together!
The Lord of hosts is mustering an army for battle.
5They are coming from a distant country,
From the end of heaven [the farthest horizon]—
The Lord and the weapons of His indignation—
To destroy the whole land.
Judgment on the Day of the Lord
6Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand!
It will come as #Shod in Hebrew, forming a word play with Shaddai.destruction from the #Heb Shaddai.Almighty (All Sufficient One—Invincible God)!
7Therefore #Babylon was taken by surprise on the night of Belshazzar’s sacrilegious feast when Belshazzar was killed, and Darius the Mede was made king over Babylonia, the realm of the Chaldeans (Dan 5:30). The Chaldeans became the dominant people in Babylonia when Merodach-baladan declared himself king of Babylon. The words “Chaldean” and “Babylonian” are used interchangeably.all hands will fall limp,
And every man’s heart will melt.
8They [of Babylon] will be shocked and terrified,
Pains and anguish will grip them;
They will be in pain like a woman in childbirth.
They will stare aghast and horrified at one another,
Their faces aflame [from the effects of the unprecedented warfare].
9Listen carefully, the day of the Lord is coming,
Cruel, with wrath and raging anger,
To make the land a horror [of devastation];
And He shall exterminate its sinners from it.
10For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash with their light;
The sun will be dark when it rises,
And the moon will not shed its light.
11In this way I will punish the world for its evil
And the wicked for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing];
I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud
And will abase the arrogance of the tyrant.
12I will make mortal man more rare than fine gold,
And mankind [scarcer] than the pure gold of Ophir.
13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
And the earth will be shaken from its place
At the wrath of the Lord of hosts
In the day of His burning anger.
14And like the hunted gazelle,
Or like sheep that no man gathers,
Each [foreign resident] will turn [and go back] to his own people,
And each one flee to his own land.
15Anyone who is found will be pierced through,
And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
16Their children also will be smashed to pieces
Before their eyes;
Their houses will be looted
And their wives ravished.
Babylon Will Fall to the Medes
17Listen carefully, I will put the Medes [in motion] against them,
Who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold [and therefore cannot be bribed].
18Their bows will cut down the young men [of Babylon];
They will take no pity on the fruit of the womb,
Their eyes will not look with compassion on the children.
19And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the #The Chaldeans dominated and ruled Babylonia from 625 b.c., until their empire fell in 539 b.c., but they were known as early as 1000 b.c. as an aggressive, tribal people in the southern region of Babylonia. They were highly skilled in both the science of astronomy and the pseudo-science of astrology. They kept meticulous records of celestial motion and correctly calculated the length of a year to within just a few minutes. Babylon, their capital city, was the center of trade and learning in the western part of Asia. The classical literature of the Chaldeans was written in cuneiform, but the common language, both written and spoken in Babylon, was Akkadian that was increasingly influenced by Aramaic.Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.
20Babylon will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation;
Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there,
Nor will the shepherds let their sheep lie down there.
21But desert creatures will lie down there,
And their houses will be full of owls;
Ostriches also will live there, and #Another possibility is goat demons.wild goats will dance there.
22 # This prophecy was written well over a century before Babylon’s downfall in 539 b.c. Hyenas will howl in their castles,
And jackals in their luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s time has nearly come,
And her days will not be prolonged.
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