13 This is the vision God showed Isaiah (son of Amoz) concerning Babylon’s doom.
2 See the flags waving as their enemy attacks. Shout to them, O Israel, and wave them on as they march against Babylon to destroy the palaces of the rich and mighty. 3 I, the Lord, have set apart these armies for this task; I have called those rejoicing in their strength to do this work, to satisfy my anger. 4 Hear the tumult on the mountains! Listen as the armies march! It is the tumult and the shout of many nations. The Lord Almighty has brought them here, 5 from countries far away. They are his weapons against you, O Babylon. They carry his anger with them and will destroy your whole land.
6 Scream in terror, for the Lord’s time has come, the time for the Almighty to crush you. 7 Your arms lie paralyzed with fear; the strongest hearts melt 8 and are afraid. Fear grips you with terrible pangs, like those of a woman in labor. You look at one another, helpless, as the flames of the burning city reflect upon your pallid faces. 9 For see, the day of the Lord is coming, the terrible day of his wrath and fierce anger. The land shall be destroyed and all the sinners with it. 10 The heavens will be black above them. No light will shine from stars or sun or moon.
11 And I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sin; I will crush the arrogance of the proud man and the haughtiness of the rich. 12 Few will live when I have finished up my work.
Men will be as scarce as gold—of greater value than the gold of Ophir. 13 For I will shake the heavens in my wrath and fierce anger, and the earth will move from its place in the skies.
14 The armies of Babylon will run until exhausted, fleeing back to their own land like deer chased by dogs, wandering like sheep deserted by their shepherd. 15 Those who don’t run will be butchered. 16 Their little children will be dashed to death against the pavement right before their eyes; their homes will be sacked and their wives raped by the attacking hordes. 17 For I will stir up the Medes against Babylon, and no amount of silver or gold will buy them off. 18 The attacking armies will have no mercy on the young people of Babylon or the babies or the children.
19 And so Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms, the flower of Chaldean culture, will be as utterly destroyed as Sodom and Gomorrah were when God sent fire from heaven; 20 Babylon will never rise again. Generation after generation will come and go, but the land will never again be lived in.[a] The nomads will not even camp there. The shepherds won’t let their sheep stay overnight. 21 The wild animals of the desert will make it their home. The houses will be haunted by howling creatures. Ostriches will live there, and the demons will come there to dance. 22 Hyenas and jackals will den within the palaces. Babylon’s days are numbered; her time of doom will soon be here.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 13:20 the land will never again be lived in. Babylon, in Iraq, still lies in utter ruin today.