Isaiah 13
Expanded Bible
God’s Message to Babylon
13 God showed Isaiah son of Amoz this ·message [oracle; T burden] about Babylon:
2 Raise a ·flag [banner; signal flag] on the bare mountain.
·Call out [Shout] to them.
·Raise [Wave] your hand to signal them
to enter through the gates ·for important people [of the nobles/princes].
3 I myself have commanded those people
·whom I have separated as mine [or my holy/sanctified/chosen ones].
I have ·called [summoned] those warriors to carry out my anger.
They rejoice ·and are glad to do my will [or in my triumph/exaltation].
4 Listen to the loud ·noise [tumult] in the mountains,
the sound of ·many people [a great crowd/army].
Listen to the ·noise [uproar; commotion] among the kingdoms,
the sound of nations gathering together.
The Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts] is ·calling together [summoning; mustering] his army for battle.
5 They are coming from a faraway land,
from the ·edge of the horizon [or end of the heavens].
·In anger the Lord is using this army like a weapon [L The Lord and his weapons of wrath/indignation]
to destroy the whole ·country [land; or earth].
6 ·Cry [Wail], because the Lord’s day of judging is near;
the Almighty is sending destruction.
7 ·People will be weak with fear [L All hands will go limp/fail],
and ·their courage [L every human heart] will melt away.
8 Everyone will be ·afraid [terrified; dismayed].
Pain and ·hurt [anguish] will ·grab [grip; seize] them;
they will ·hurt [writhe in pain] like a woman giving birth.
They will look at each other ·in fear [aghast; or in shock/amazement],
with their faces ·red [aflame] like fire.
God’s Judgment Against Babylon
9 ·Look [T Behold], the Lord’s day of judging is coming—
a ·terrible [cruel] day, a day of ·God’s anger [L wrath and rage of anger].
He will ·destroy [desolate] the ·land [or earth]
and the sinners who live in it.
10 [L For] The stars of heaven and their constellations
will not show their light.
The sun will grow dark as it rises,
and the moon will not give its light.
11 The Lord says, “I will punish the world for its evil
and wicked people for their sins.
I will cause ·proud people [the arrogant] to lose their pride,
and I will ·destroy [humble; lay low] the pride of ·those who are cruel to others [the ruthless/tyrants].
12 People will be ·harder to find [scarcer] than pure gold;
there will be fewer people than there is fine gold in Ophir [C perhaps a region in southern Arabia].
13 I will make the ·sky [or heavens] shake,
and the earth will be ·moved [shaken] from its place
by the ·anger [wrath; fury] of the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts]
·at the time [L in the day] of his burning anger.
14 “Then the people from Babylon will run away like hunted ·deer [gazelle]
or like sheep who have no shepherd.
Everyone will turn back to his own people;
each will run back to his own land.
15 Everyone who is captured will be ·killed [stabbed; thrust through];
everyone who is caught will ·be killed with a [L fall by the] sword.
16 Their little children will be ·beaten to death [dashed to pieces] in front of them.
Their houses will be ·robbed [looted; plundered]
and their wives raped.
17 “·Look [T Behold], I will ·cause the armies of Media to attack Babylon [L stir up the Medes against them; C fulfilled by Cyrus the Great in 539 bc].
They do not care about silver
or delight in gold.
18 Their soldiers will shoot the young men with ·arrows [L bows];
they will show no mercy on ·children [L the fruit of the womb],
nor will they feel ·sorry [pity; compassion] for ·little ones [children; sons].
19 Babylon is the most beautiful of all kingdoms,
·and the Babylonians are very proud of it [L the glory and pride of the Chaldeans].
But God will destroy it
like Sodom and Gomorrah [Gen. 19:23–29].
20 No one will ever live there
or settle there ·again [from generation to generation].
No ·Arab [or bedouin; nomad] will put a tent there;
no shepherd will ·bring [bed down their] sheep there.
21 Only desert animals will live there,
and their houses will be full of ·wild dogs [or jackals; hyenas; howling creatures; or owls].
Owls will live there,
and wild goats will ·leap [skip] about in the houses.
22 ·Wolves [or Hyenas] will howl within the ·strong walls [citadels; towers],
and ·wild dogs [jackals] will bark in the ·beautiful [delightful] ·buildings [palaces].
·The end of Babylon is near [L Her time has nearly come];
·its time is almost over [L and her days will not be extended].”
Isaiah 13
King James Version
13 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
2 Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.
5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
6 Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
14 And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.
15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.
16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eyes shall not spare children.
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.