13 The ^[a]burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

² Set ye up an ensign upon the bare mountain, lift up the voice unto them, wave the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. ³ I have commanded my consecrated ones, yea, I have called my mighty men for mine anger, even ^[b]my proudly exulting ones. ⁴ The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as of a great people! the noise of a tumult of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Jehovah of hosts is mustering the host for the battle. ⁵ They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even Jehovah, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.

⁶ Wail ye; for the day of Jehovah is at hand; as destruction from ^[c]the Almighty shall it come. ⁷ Therefore shall all hands be feeble, and every heart of man shall melt: ⁸ and they shall be dismayed; ^[d]pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman in travail: they shall look in amazement one at another; their faces shall be faces of flame. ⁹ Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. ¹⁰ For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine. ¹¹ And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity: and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. ¹² I will make a man more rare than fine gold, even a man than the pure gold of Ophir. ¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place, in the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. ¹⁴ And it shall come to pass, that as the chased ^[e]roe, and as sheep that no man gathereth, they shall turn every man to his own people, and shall flee every man to his own land. ¹⁵ Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is ^[f]taken shall fall by the sword. ¹⁶ Their infants also shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be rifled, and their wives ravished.

¹⁷ Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not regard silver, and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. ¹⁸ And their bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. ¹⁹ And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ²⁰ It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall shepherds make their flocks to lie down there. ²¹ But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and wild goats shall dance there. ²² And ^[g]wolves shall ^[h]cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

14 For Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the sojourner shall join himself with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. ² And the peoples shall take them, and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of Jehovah for servants and for handmaids: and they shall take them captive whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.

³ And it shall come to pass in the day that Jehovah shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy trouble, and from the hard service wherein thou wast made to serve, ⁴ that thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the ^[i]golden city ceased! ⁵ Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the sceptre of the rulers; ^6 [j]that smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, that ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that none restrained. ⁷ The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. ⁸ Yea, the fir-trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid low, no hewer is come up against us. ⁹ Sheol from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up ^[k]the dead for thee, even all the ^[l]chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. ¹⁰ All they shall answer and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? ¹¹ Thy pomp is brought down to Sheol, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and worms cover thee.

¹² How art thou fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, that didst lay low the nations! ¹³ And thou saidst in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north; ¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. ¹⁵ Yet thou shalt be brought down to Sheol, to the uttermost parts of the pit. ¹⁶ They that see thee shall gaze at thee, they shall consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; ¹⁷ that made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew the cities thereof; that let not loose his prisoners to their home? ¹⁸ All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, every one in his own house. ¹⁹ But thou art cast forth away from thy sepulchre like an abominable branch, ^[m]clothed with the slain, that are thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a dead body trodden under foot. ²⁰ Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people; the seed of evil-doers shall not be named for ever.

²¹ Prepare ye ^[n]slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers, that they rise not up, and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities. ²² And I will rise up against them, saith Jehovah of hosts, and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son, saith Jehovah. ²³ I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith Jehovah of hosts.

²⁴ Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: ²⁵ that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulder. ²⁶ This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. ²⁷ For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who shall annul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

²⁸ In the year that king Ahaz died was this ^[o]burden.

²⁹ Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of thee, because the rod that smote thee is broken; for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth an adder, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. ³⁰ And the first-born of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety; and I will kill thy root with famine, and thy remnant shall be slain. ³¹ Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou art melted away, O Philistia, all of thee; for there cometh a smoke out of the north, and ^[p]there is no straggler in his ranks.

³² What then shall one answer the messengers of the nation? That Jehovah hath founded Zion, and in her shall the afflicted of his people take refuge.

3 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall ^[a]bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, ² I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment upon them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations: and they have parted my land, ³ and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink. ⁴ Yea, and what are ye to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? ^[b]will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your ^[c]recompense upon your own head. ⁵ Forasmuch as ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly precious things, ⁶ and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem unto the sons of the Grecians, that ye may remove them far from their border; ⁷ behold, I will stir them up out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your ^[d]recompense upon your own head; ⁸ and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the men of Sheba, to a nation far off: for Jehovah hath spoken it.

⁹ Proclaim ye this among the nations; ^[e]prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. ¹⁰ Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. ^11 [f]Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Jehovah. ¹² Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of ^[g]Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. ¹³ Put ye in the sickle; for the ^[h]harvest is ripe: come, ^[i]tread ye; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

¹⁴ Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision. ¹⁵ The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. ¹⁶ And Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but Jehovah will be a refuge unto his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel. ¹⁷ So shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling in Zion my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

¹⁸ And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall flow with waters; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of Jehovah, and shall water ^[j]the valley of Shittim. ¹⁹ Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. ²⁰ But Judah shall ^[k]abide for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. ²¹ And I will ^[l]cleanse their blood, that I have not cleansed: for Jehovah dwelleth in Zion.