Read Amplified Bible, 2015 Isaiah 13 Bible Online

Isaiah 13 - Amplified Bible, 2015 bible

Isaiah 13

¹The [mournful, inspired] oracle ([1] 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.

⁶Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as[2] destruction from the[3] Almighty (All Sufficient One—Invincible God)!

⁷Therefore[4] 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.

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[5] 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[6] wild goats will dance there.

²²[7] 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.