An Oracle Concerning Babylon
The aoracle concerning bBabylon which cIsaiah the son of Amoz beheld.
2 aLift up a standard on the bbare hill,
Heighten your voice at them,
cWave the hand that they may denter the doors of the nobles.
3 I have commanded My set apart ones,
I have even called My amighty warriors,
My proudly exulting ones,
To execute My anger.
4 A asound of tumult on the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A sound of the rumbling of kingdoms,
Of nations gathered together!
Yahweh of hosts is mustering the host for battle.
5 They are coming from a far country,
From the aend of the sky,
Yahweh and His instruments of bindignation,
To cwreak destruction on the whole land.
6 Wail, for the aday of Yahweh is near!
It will come as bdestruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore aall hands will fall limp,
And every man’s bheart will melt.
8 They will be aterrified,
Pains and labor pangs will take hold of them;
They will bwrithe like a woman in labor,
They will look at one another in astonishment,
Their faces aflame.
9 Behold, athe day of Yahweh is coming,
Cruel, with fury and burning anger,
To make the land a desolation;
And He will exterminate its sinners from it.
10 For the astars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash forth their light;
The bsun will be dark when it rises
And the moon will not shed its light.
11 Thus I will apunish the world for its evil
And the bwicked for their iniquity;
I will also put an end to the cpride of the arrogant
And bring low the dlofty pride of the eruthless.
12 I will make mortal man ascarcer than fine gold
And mankind than the bgold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the aheavens tremble,
And bthe earth will be shaken from its place
At the fury of Yahweh of hosts
In cthe day of His burning anger.
14 And it will be that like a hunted gazelle,
Or like asheep with none to gather them,
They will each turn to his own people,
And each one flee to his own land.
15 Anyone who is found will be apierced through,
And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
16 Their ainfants also will be dashed to pieces
Before their eyes;
Their houses will be plundered
And their wives ravished.
17 Behold, I am going to aawaken the Medes against them,
Who will not think about silver or btake pleasure in gold.
18 And their bows will dash the ayoung men to pieces,
They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,
Nor will their beye pity children.
19 And it will be that aBabylon, the bbeauty of kingdoms, the honor of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God coverthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It will anever be inhabited or dwelt in from generation to generation;
Nor will the bArab pitch his tent there,
Nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.
21 But adesert creatures will lie down there,
And their houses will be full of owls;
Ostriches also will dwell there, and shaggy goats will leap there.
22 And hyenas will howl in their fortified towers
And jackals in their luxurious apalaces.
Her fateful time also will soon come
And her days will not be prolonged.
Israel’s Restoration and Dominion
When Yahweh will ahave compassion on Jacob and again bchoose Israel, and put them in their own land, then csojourners will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 And the peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the ahouse of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of Yahweh bfor their male and female slaves; and they will take their captors captive and will have dominion over their taskmasters.
3 And it will be in the day when Yahweh gives you arest from your pain and turmoil and harsh slavery in which you have been enslaved, 4 that you will atake up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,
“How bthe taskmaster has ceased,
And how fury has ceased!
5 Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of rulers
6 aWhich used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes,
Which had dominion over the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.
7 The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
They abreak forth into shouts of joy.
8 Even the acypress trees are glad over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.’
9 aSheol from beneath trembles excitedly over you to meet you when you come;
It wakens for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.
10 aThey will all answer and say to you,
‘Even you have been made weak as we,
You have become like us.
11 Your apride and the music of your harps
Have been brought down to Sheol;
Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you
And worms are your covering.’
12 How you have afallen from heaven,
O bstar of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!
13 But you said in your heart,
‘I will aascend to heaven;
I will braise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
aI will make myself like the Most High.’
15 Nevertheless you awill be brought down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit.
16 Those who see you will gaze at you,
They will carefully consider you, saying,
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who caused kingdoms to quake,
17 Who made the world like a awilderness
And pulled down its cities,
Who bdid not allow his prisoners to go home?’
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
Each in his own place.
19 But you have been acast out of your grave
Like an abhorred branch,
Clothed with those killed who are pierced with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the bpit
Like a ctrampled corpse.
20 You will not be united with them in burial,
Because you have ruined your country,
You have killed your people.
May the aseed of evildoers not be called upon forever.
21 Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter
Because of the ainiquity of their fathers.
They must not arise and take possession of the earth
And fill the face of the world with cities.”
22 “I will rise up against them,” declares Yahweh of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon aname and remnant, boffspring and posterity,” declares Yahweh. 23 “I will also make it a possession for the ahedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of bdestruction,” declares Yahweh of hosts.