Isaiah 13-16

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

² On a bare hill raise a signal;
    cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for them to enter
    the gates of the nobles.^(B)
3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
    have summoned my warriors, my proudly exulting ones,
    to execute my anger.^[a](C)

⁴ Listen, a tumult on the mountains
    as of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar of kingdoms,
    of nations gathering together!
The Lord of hosts is mustering
    an army for battle.^(D)
5 They come from a distant land,
    from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
    to destroy the whole earth.^(E)

⁶ Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
    it will come like destruction from the Almighty!^[b](F)
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
    and every human heart will melt,^(G)
8     and they will be terrified.
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.^(H)
9 See, the day of the Lord is coming,
    cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the earth a desolation
    and to destroy its sinners from it.^(I)
10 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.^(J)
11 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.^(K)
12 I will make mortals more rare than fine gold
    and humans than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore 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.^(L)
14 Like a gazelle on the run
    or like sheep with no one to gather them,
all will turn back to their own people,
    and all will flee to their own lands.^(M)
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
    and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed to pieces
    before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
    and their wives raped.^(N)
17 See, I am stirring up the Medes against them,
    who have no regard for silver
    and do not delight in gold.^(O)
18 Their bows will slaughter the young men;
    they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
    their eyes will not pity children.^(P)
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
    the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
    when God overthrew them.^(Q)
20 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.^(R)
21 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.^(S)
22 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.^(T)

How the oppressor has ceased!
    How his insolence^[d] has ceased!^(X)
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
    the scepter of rulers,
⁶ that struck down the peoples in wrath
    with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
    with unrelenting persecution.^(Y)
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
    they break forth into singing.
⁸ The cypresses exult over you,
    the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
“Since you were laid low,
    no one comes to cut us down.”^(Z)
9 Sheol beneath is stirred up
    to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
    all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
    all who were kings of the nations.^(AA)
10 All of them will speak
    and say to you:
“You, too, have become as weak as we!
    You have become like us!”
¹¹ Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
    and the sound of your harps;
maggots are the bed beneath you,
    and worms are your covering.^(AB)

¹² How you are fallen from heaven,
    O Morning Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
    you who laid the nations low!^(AC)
13 You said to yourself,
    “I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne
    above the stars of God;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
    on the heights of Zaphon;^[e](AD)
14 I will ascend to the tops of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.”^(AE)
15 But you are brought down to Sheol,
    to the depths of the Pit.^(AF)
16 Those who see you will stare at you
    and ponder over you:
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
    who shook kingdoms,^(AG)
17 who made the world like a desert
    and overthrew its cities,
    who would not let his prisoners go home?”^(AH)
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
    each in his own tomb,
¹⁹ but you are cast out, away from your grave,
    like loathsome carrion,^[f]
clothed with the dead, those pierced by the sword,
    who go down to the stones of the Pit
    like a corpse trampled underfoot.^(AI)
20 You will not be joined with them in burial
    because you have destroyed your land;
    you have killed your people.

May the descendants of evildoers
    nevermore be named!^(AJ)
21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons
    because of the guilt of their father.^[g]
Let them never rise to possess the earth
    or cover the face of the world with cities.^(AK)

²⁹ Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
    that the rod that struck you is broken,
for from the root of the snake will come forth an adder,
    and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.^(AS)
30 In my pastures the poor^[i] will graze
    and the needy lie down in safety,
but I will make your root die of famine,
    and your remnant I^[j] will kill.^(AT)
31 Wail, O gate; cry, O city;
    melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you!
For smoke comes out of the north,
    and there is no straggler in its ranks.^(AU)

³² What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
“The Lord has founded Zion,
    and the needy among his people
    will find refuge in her.”^(AV)

Because Ar is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone;
because Kir is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone.^(AW)
2 Daughter Dibon^[k] has gone up
    to the high places to weep;
over Nebo and over Medeba
    Moab wails.
Every head is shaved;
    every beard is shorn;^(AX)
3 in the streets they bind on sackcloth;
    on the housetops and in the squares
    everyone wails and melts in tears.^(AY)
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
    their voices are heard as far as Jahaz;
therefore the loins of Moab quiver;^[l]
    his soul trembles.
⁵ My heart cries out for Moab;
    his fugitives flee to Zoar,
    to Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the ascent of Luhith
    they go up weeping;
on the road to Horonaim
    they raise a cry of destruction;^(AZ)
6 the waters of Nimrim
    are a desolation;
the grass is withered; the new growth fails;
    vegetation is no more.^(BA)
7 Therefore the abundance they have gained
    and what they have laid up
they carry away
    over the Wadi of the Willows.^(BB)
8 For a cry has gone
    around the land of Moab;
the wailing reaches to Eglaim;
    the wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
⁹ For the waters of Dibon^[m] are full of blood,
    yet I will bring upon Dibon^[n] even more—
a lion for those of Moab who escape,
    for the remnant of the land.^(BC)

16 Send lambs
    to the ruler of the land,
from Sela, by way of the desert,
    to the mount of daughter Zion.^(BD)
2 Like fluttering birds,
    like scattered nestlings,
so are the daughters of Moab
    at the fords of the Arnon.^(BE)
3 “Give counsel;
    grant justice;
make your shade like night
    at the height of noon;
hide the outcasts;
    do not betray the fugitive;^(BF)
4 let the outcasts of Moab
    settle among you;
be a refuge to them
    from the destroyer.”

When the oppressor is no more,
    and destruction has ceased,
and marauders have vanished from the land,^(BG)
5 then a throne shall be established in steadfast love
    in the tent of David,
    and on it shall sit in faithfulness
a ruler who seeks justice
    and is swift to do what is right.^(BH)

⁶ We have heard of the pride of Moab
    —how proud he is!—
of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;
    his boasts are false.^(BI)
7 Therefore let Moab wail;
    let everyone wail for Moab.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
    for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.^(BJ)

⁸ For the fields of Heshbon languish,
    and the vines of Sibmah,
whose clusters once made drunk
    the lords of the nations,
reached to Jazer
    and strayed to the desert;
their shoots once spread abroad
    and crossed over the sea.^(BK)
9 Therefore I weep as Jazer weeps
    for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
    O Heshbon and Elealeh,
for the shout over your fruit harvest
    and your grain harvest has ceased.^(BL)
10 Joy and gladness are taken away
    from the fruitful field,
and in the vineyards no exultation is heard;
    no shouts are raised;
no treader treads out wine in the presses;
    the vintage shout is hushed.^[o](BM)
11 Therefore my heart moans like a harp for Moab
    and my very soul for Kir-heres.^(BN)