Study

Proclamation against Babylon

13

The oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw.

 

2

On a bare hill raise a signal,

cry aloud to them;

wave the hand for them to enter

the gates of the nobles.

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I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,

have summoned my warriors, my proudly exulting ones,

to execute my anger.

 

4

Listen, a tumult on the mountains

as of a great multitude!

Listen, an uproar of kingdoms,

of nations gathering together!

The L ord of hosts is mustering

an army for battle.

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They come from a distant land,

from the end of the heavens,

the L ord and the weapons of his indignation,

to destroy the whole earth.

 

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Wail, for the day of the L ord is near;

it will come like destruction from the Almighty!

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Therefore all hands will be feeble,

and every human heart will melt,

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and they will be dismayed.

Pangs and agony will seize them;

they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

They will look aghast at one another;

their faces will be aflame.

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See, the day of the L ord comes,

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

to make the earth a desolation,

and to destroy its sinners from it.

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For the stars of the heavens and their constellations

will not give their light;

the sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light.

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I will punish the world for its evil,

and the wicked for their iniquity;

I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant,

and lay low the insolence of tyrants.

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I will make mortals more rare than fine gold,

and humans than the gold of Ophir.

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Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,

and the earth will be shaken out of its place,

at the wrath of the L ord of hosts

in the day of his fierce anger.

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Like a hunted gazelle,

or like sheep with no one to gather them,

all will turn to their own people,

and all will flee to their own lands.

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Whoever is found will be thrust through,

and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

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Their infants will be dashed to pieces

before their eyes;

their houses will be plundered,

and their wives ravished.

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See, I am stirring up the Medes against them,

who have no regard for silver

and do not delight in gold.

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Their bows will slaughter the young men;

they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

their eyes will not pity children.

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And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,

the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans,

will be like Sodom and Gomorrah

when God overthrew them.

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It will never be inhabited

or lived in for all generations;

Arabs will not pitch their tents there,

shepherds will not make their flocks lie down there.

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But wild animals will lie down there,

and its houses will be full of howling creatures;

there ostriches will live,

and there goat-demons will dance.

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Hyenas will cry in its towers,

and jackals in the pleasant palaces;

its time is close at hand,

and its days will not be prolonged.