Isaiah 13:14-22

The Judgment of Babylon

14 And like a hunted gazelle,
or like sheep with none to gather them,
a each will turn to his own people,
and each will flee to his own land.
 15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
 16 b Their infants will be dashed in pieces
before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives ravished.

17 Behold, c I am stirring up the Medes against them,
who have no regard for silver
and do not delight in gold.
 18 d Their bows will slaughter 1 the young men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes will not pity children.
 19 And Babylon, e the glory of kingdoms,
the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,
will be f like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.
 20 g It will never be inhabited
or lived in for all generations;
no h Arab will pitch his tent there;
no i shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
 21 But j wild animals will lie down there,
and their houses will be full of howling creatures;
there k ostriches 2 will dwell,
and there wild goats will dance.
 22 Hyenas 3 will cry in its towers,
and l jackals in m the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
and its days will not be prolonged.

  1. Cross References
    Jeremiah 50:16
    Cut off from Babylon the sower, and the one who handles the sickle in time of harvest; because of the sword of the oppressor, every one shall turn to his own people, and every one shall flee to his own land.
    Jeremiah 51:9
    We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed. Forsake her, and let us go each to his own country, for her judgment has reached up to heaven and has been lifted up even to the skies.
    1 Kings 22:36
    And about sunset a cry went through the army, "Every man to his city, and every man to his country!
  2. Cross References
    Psalms 137:9
    Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!
    Nahum 3:10
    Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity; her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; for her honored men lots were cast, and all her great men were bound in chains.
  3. Cross References
    Isaiah 21:2
    A stern vision is told to me; the traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam; lay siege, O Media; all the sighing she has caused I bring to an end.
    Jeremiah 51:11
    Sharpen the arrows! Take up the shields! The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for his temple.
    Jeremiah 51:28
    Prepare the nations for war against her, the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies, and every land under their dominion.
    Daniel 5:28
    Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
    Daniel 5:31
    And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.
  4. Cross References
    Jeremiah 50:14
    Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around, all you who bend the bow; shoot at her, spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord.
    Jeremiah 50:29
    Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; do to her according to all that she has done. For she has proudly defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
    Jeremiah 51:3
    Let not the archer bend his bow, and let him not stand up in his armor. Spare not her young men; devote to destruction all her army.
  5. Cross References
    Isaiah 47:5
    Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms.
  6. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:9
    If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.
    Genesis 19:24
    Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.
    Jeremiah 50:40
    As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the Lord, so no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her.
    Amos 4:11
    I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me," declares the Lord.
  7. Cross References
    Jeremiah 51:37
    And Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, the haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without inhabitant.
    Jeremiah 51:43
    Her cities have become a horror, a land of drought and a desert, a land in which no one dwells, and through which no son of man passes.
  8. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:2
    Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom.
  9. Cross References
    Jeremiah 33:12
    Thus says the Lord of hosts: In this place that is waste, without man or beast, and in all of its cities, there shall again be habitations of shepherds resting their flocks.
  10. Cross References
    Isaiah 34:13 - 14
    Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches.
  11. Cross References
    Isaiah 34:13
    Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches.
    Jeremiah 50:39
    Therefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon, and ostriches shall dwell in her. She shall never again have people, nor be inhabited for all generations.
  12. Cross References
    Isaiah 35:7
    The burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
    Jeremiah 51:37
    And Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, the haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without inhabitant.
  13. Cross References
    Isaiah 25:2
    For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the foreigners' palace is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.
    Amos 3:15
    I will strike the winter house along with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall come to an end," declares the Lord.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.