Isaiah 13

1 An oracle concerning Babylon; a vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz.
2 Upon the bare mountains set up a signal; cry out to them, Wave for them to enter the gates of the volunteers.
3 I have commanded my dedicated soldiers, I have summoned my warriors, eager and bold to carry out my anger.
4 Listen! the rumble on the mountains: that of an immense throng! Listen! the noise of kingdoms, nations assembled! The LORD of hosts is mustering an army for battle.
5 They come from a far-off country, and from the end of the heavens, The LORD and the instruments of his wrath, to destroy all the land.
6 Howl, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
7 Therefore all hands fall helpless, the bows of the young men fall from their hands. Every man's heart melts
8 in terror. Pangs and sorrows take hold of them, like a woman in labor they writhe; They look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.
9 Lo, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and burning anger; To lay waste the land and destroy the sinners within it!
10 The stars and constellations of the heavens send forth no light; The sun is dark when it rises, and the light of the moon does not shine.
11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their guilt. I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, the insolence of tyrants I will humble.
12 I will make mortals more rare than pure gold, men, than gold of Ophir.
13 For this I will make the heavens tremble and the earth shall be shaken from its place, At the wrath of the LORD of hosts on the day of his burning anger.
14 Like a hunted gazelle, or a flock that no one gathers, Every man shall turn to his kindred and flee to his own land.
15 Everyone who is caught shall be run through; to a man, they shall fall by the sword.
16 Their infants shall be dashed to pieces in their sight; their houses shall be plundered and their wives ravished.
17 I am stirring up against them the Medes, who think nothing of silver and take no delight in gold.
18 The fruit of the womb they shall not spare, nor shall they have eyes of pity for children.
19 And Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory and pride of the Chaldeans, Shall be overthrown by God like Sodom and like Gomorrah.
20 She shall never be inhabited, nor dwelt in, from age to age; The Arab shall not pitch his tent there, nor shepherds couch their flocks.
21 But wildcats shall rest there and owls shall fill the houses; There ostriches shall dwell, and satyrs shall dance.
22 Desert beasts shall howl in her castles, and jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is near at hand and her days shall not be prolonged.

Isaiah 14

1 When the LORD has pity on Jacob and again chooses Israel and settles them on their own soil, the aliens will join them and be counted with the house of Jacob.
2 The house of Israel will take them and bring them along to its place, and possess them as male and female slaves on the Lord's soil, making captives of its captors and ruling over its oppressors.
3 On the day the LORD relieves you of sorrow and unrest and the hard service in which you have been enslaved,
4 you will take up this taunt-song against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has reached his end! how the turmoil is stilled!
5 The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked, the staff of the tyrants
6 That struck the peoples in wrath relentless blows; That beat down the nations in anger, with oppression unchecked.
7 The whole earth rests peacefully, song breaks forth;
8 The very cypresses rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon: Now that you are laid to rest, there will be none to cut us down.
9 The nether world below is all astir preparing for your coming; It awakens the shades to greet you, all the leaders of the earth; It has the kings of all nations rise from their thrones.
10 All of them speak out and say to you, You too have become weak like us, you are the same as we.
11 Down to the nether world your pomp is brought, the music of your harps. The couch beneath you is the maggot, your covering, the worm.
12 How have you fallen from the heavens, O morning star, son of the dawn! How are you cut down to the ground, you who mowed down the nations!
13 You said in your heart: I will scale the heavens; Above the stars of God I will set up my throne; I will take my seat on the Mount of Assembly, in the recesses of the North.
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will be like the Most High!
15 Yet down to the nether world you go to the recesses of the pit!
16 When they see you they will stare, pondering over you: Is this the man who made the earth tremble, and kingdoms quake?
17 Who made the world a desert, razed its cities, and gave his captives no release?
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb;
19 But you are cast forth without burial, loathsome and corrupt, Clothed as those slain at sword-point, a trampled corpse. Going down to the pavement of the pit,
20 you will never be one with them in the grave. For you have ruined your land, you have slain your people! Let him not be named forever, that scion of an evil race!
21 Make ready to slaughter his sons for the guilt of their fathers; Lest they rise and possess the earth, and fill the breadth of the world with tyrants.
22 I will rise up against them, says the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, progeny and offspring, says the LORD.
23 I will make it a haunt of hoot owls and a marshland; I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the LORD of hosts.
24 The LORD of hosts has sworn: As I have resolved, so shall it be; As I have proposed, so shall it stand:
25 I will break the Assyrian in my land and trample him on my mountains; Then his yoke shall be removed from them, and his burden from their shoulder.
26 This is the plan proposed for the whole earth, and this the hand outstretched over all nations.
27 The LORD of hosts has planned; who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out; who can turn it back?
28 In the year that King Ahaz died, there came this oracle:
29 Rejoice not, O Philistia, not a man of you, that the rod which smote you is broken; For out of the serpent's root shall come an adder, its fruit shall be a flying saraph.
30 In my pastures the poor shall eat, and the needy lie down in safety; But I will kill your root with famine that shall slay even your remnant.
31 Howl, O gate; cry out, O city! Philistia, all of you melts away! For there comes a smoke from the north, without a straggler in the ranks.
32 What will one answer the messengers of the nation? The LORD has established Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.

Isaiah 15

1 Oracle on Moab: Laid waste in a night, Ar of Moab is destroyed; Laid waste in a night, Kir of Moab is destroyed.
2 Up goes daughter Dibon to the high places to weep; Over Nebo and over Medeba Moab wails. Every head is shaved, every beard sheared off.
3 In the streets they wear sackcloth, lamenting and weeping; On the rooftops and in the squares everyone wails.
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, they are heard as far as Jahaz. At this the loins of Moab tremble, his soul quivers within him;
5 The heart of Moab cries out, his fugitives reach Zoar (Eglath-shelishiyah). The ascent of Luhith they climb weeping; On the way to Horonaim they utter rending cries.
6 The waters of Nimrim have become a waste; The grass is withered, new growth is gone, nothing is green.
7 So now whatever they have acquired or stored away they carry across the Gorge of the Poplars,
8 For the cry has gone round the land of Moab; As far as Eglaim the wailing, and to Beer-elim, the wail.
9 The waters of Dimon are filled with blood, but I will bring still more upon Dimon: Lions for those who are fleeing from Moab and for those who remain in the land!

Isaiah 16

1 Send them forth, hugging the earth like reptiles, from Sela across the desert, to the mount of daughter Zion.
2 Like flushed birds, like startled nestlings, Are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.
3 Offer counsel, take their part: at high noon let your shadow be like the night, To hide the outcasts, to conceal the fugitives.
4 Let the outcasts of Moab live with you, be their shelter from the destroyer. When the struggle is ended, the ruin complete, and they have done with trampling the land,
5 A throne shall be set up in mercy, and on it shall sit in fidelity (in David's tent) A judge upholding right and prompt to do justice.
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab, how very proud he is, With his haughty, arrogant insolence that his empty words do not match.
7 Therefore Moab wails for Moab, everywhere they wail; For the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth they sigh, stricken with grief.
8 The terraced slopes of Heshbon languish, the vines of Sibmah, Whose clusters overpowered the lords of nations, While they reached as far as Jazer and scattered over the desert, And whose branches spread forth and extended over the sea.
9 Therefore I weep with Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I water you with tears, Heshbon and Elealeh; For on your summer fruits and harvests the battle cry has fallen.
10 From the orchards are taken away joy and gladness, In the vineyards there is no singing, no shout of joy; In the wine presses no one treads grapes, the vintage shout is stilled.
11 Therefore for Moab my breast moans like a lyre, and my heart for Kir-hareseth.
12 When Moab grows weary on the high places, he shall enter his sanctuary to pray, but it shall avail him nothing.
13 This is the word the LORD spoke against Moab in times past.
14 But now the LORD has spoken: In three years, like those of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be degraded despite all its great multitude; there shall be a remnant, very small and weak.