Isaiah 13:1-12

The Lord Will Judge Babylon

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

13:2 On a bare hill raise a signal flag,

shout to them,

wave your hand,

so they might enter the gates of the princes!

13:3 I have given orders to my chosen soldiers;

I have summoned the warriors through whom I will vent my anger,

my boasting, arrogant ones.

13:4 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.

13:5 They come from a distant land,

from the horizon.

It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment,

coming to destroy the whole earth.

13:6 Wail, for the Lord’s day of judgment is near;

it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge.

13:7 For this reason all hands hang limp,

every human heart loses its courage.

13:8 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.

13:9 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.

13:10 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.

13:11 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.

13:12 I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold,

and people more scarce than gold from Ophir.