The Judgment of Babylon

Isaiah 13

1 The oracle concerning f Babylon which g Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

2 On a bare hill h raise a signal;
cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for i them to enter
the gates of the nobles.
 3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
my proudly exulting ones. 1

4 The sound j of a tumult is on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together!
k The Lord of hosts is mustering
a host for battle.
 5 l They come from a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole land. 2

6 m Wail, for n the day of the Lord is near;
as destruction from the Almighty 3 it will come!
 7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every human heart o will melt.
 8 They will be dismayed:
p pangs and agony will seize them;
q they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.

9 Behold, n the day of the Lord comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
and r to destroy its sinners from it.
 10 s For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
t the sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not shed its light.
 11 I will punish u the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will v put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
w and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
 12 I will make x people more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the y gold of Ophir.
 13 Therefore z I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.
 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 4 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 5 will dwell,
and there wild goats will dance.
 22 Hyenas 6 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
    Isaiah 13:19
    And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.
    Isaiah 14:4
    You will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: "How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased!
    Isaiah 21:9
    And behold, here come riders, horsemen in pairs!" And he answered, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground.
    Isaiah 47:1
    Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no more be called tender and delicate.
    Jeremiah 51:1 - 52:1
    Thus says the Lord : "Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon, against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai.
  2. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:1
    The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
  3. Cross References
    Isaiah 5:26
    He will raise a signal for nations far away, and whistle for them from the ends of the earth; and behold, quickly, speedily they come!
  4. Cross References
    Isaiah 41:25
    I stirred up one from the north, and he has come, from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name; he shall trample on rulers as on mortar, as the potter treads clay.
  5. Cross References
    Isaiah 22:5
    For the Lord God of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains.
  6. Cross References
    Joshua 5:13 - 14
    When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?
  7. Cross References
    Isaiah 46:11
    Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.
  8. Cross References
    Isaiah 14:31
    Wail, O gate; cry out, O city; melt in fear, O ...
    Isaiah 15:2 - 3
    He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon, to ...
    Isaiah 15:8
    For a cry has gone around the land of Moab; her...
    Isaiah 16:7
    Therefore let Moab wail for Moab, let everyone ...
    Jeremiah 51:8
    Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wa...
    Ezekiel 30:2
    "Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the L...
  9. Cross References
    Isaiah 2:12
    For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up - and it shall be brought low.
    Joel 1:15
    Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
    Zephaniah 1:7
    Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.
  10. Cross References
    Joshua 2:11
    And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.
  11. Cross References
    Nahum 2:10
    Desolate! Desolation and ruin! Hearts melt and knees tremble; anguish is in all loins; all faces grow pale!
  12. Cross References
    Isaiah 26:17
    Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O Lord.
    Jeremiah 4:31
    For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor, anguish as of one giving birth to her first child, the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands, "Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.
    Jeremiah 6:24
    We have heard the report of it; our hands fall helpless; anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labor.
    Micah 4:9 - 10
    Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pain seized you like a woman in labor?
    John 16:21
    When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
  13. Cross References
    Isaiah 13:6
    Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!
  14. Cross References
    Psalms 104:35
    Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord!
  15. Cross References
    Isaiah 34:4
    All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.
  16. Cross References
    Ezekiel 32:7
    When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens a...
    Joel 2:31
    The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the mo...
    Joel 3:15
    The sun and the moon are darkened, and the star...
    Matthew 24:29
    Immediately after the tribulation of those days...
    Mark 13:24
    But in those days, after that tribulation, the ...
    Luke 21:25
    And there will be signs in sun and moon and sta...
  17. Cross References
    Isaiah 24:21
    On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth.
  18. Cross References
    Isaiah 24:4
    The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish.
  19. Cross References
    Isaiah 2:11
    The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
    Isaiah 2:17
    And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
  20. Cross References
    Isaiah 24:6
    Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left.
  21. Cross References
    1 Kings 10:11
    Moreover, the fleet of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir a very great amount of almug wood and precious stones.
    Job 28:16
    It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.
  22. Cross References
    Haggai 2:6
    For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.
  23. 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!
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
  26. 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.
  27. 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.
  28. 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.
  29. 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.
  30. 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.
  31. 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.
  32. 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.
  33. 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.
  34. 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.
  35. 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.
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