_The fall of the Babylonian empire,
and the destruction of Babylon._--CHAPS. XIII., XIV.
XIII.--1. The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw.
2. Upon a bare hill, set up a signal, raise the voice to them, wave
the hand, and let them enter the gates of the nobles. 3. I (Myself)
have given command to My consecrated. Yes, I have called (forth) My
mighty ones for (the execution of) My wrath, My proud exulters.
4. The voices of a multitude in the mountains! the likeness of much
people! the sound of a tumult of kingdoms of nations gathered!
Jehovah of hosts mustering a host of battle! 5. Coming from a distant
land, from the end of the heavens, Jehovah and the instruments of
His wrath, to lay waste the whole land. 6. Howl, for the day of
Jehovah is near! like might from the Almighty it shall come.
7. Therefore all hands shall sink and every heart of man shall melt.
8. And they shall be confounded, pangs and throes shall seize (them),
like the travailing (woman) they shall writhe, each at his neighbour,
they shall wander, faces of flames their faces. 9. Behold the day of
Jehovah cometh, terrible, and wrath and heat of anger, to make the
land a waste, and its survivors He will destroy from it.
10. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not
shed their light, the sun is darkened in his going forth, and the
moon shall not cause its light to shine. 11. And I will visit upon
the world (its) iniquity, and upon the wicked their iniquity, and I
will cause to cease the arrogance of presumptuous sinners, and the
pride of tyrants I will humble. 12. And I will make man more scarce
than pure gold, and a human being than the ore of Ophir.
13. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth shall
shake out of its place in the wrath of Jehovah of hosts and in the
day of the heat of His anger. 14. And it shall be that like a roe
chased, and like sheep, with none to gather them--each to his people,
they shall turn--and each to his country they shall flee. 15. Every
one found shall be stabbed, and every one joined shall fall by the
sword. 16. And their children shall be dashed to pieces before their
eyes, their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished.
17. Behold, I (am) stirring up the Madai who will not regard silver,
and (as for) gold they will not take pleasure in it. 18. And bows
shall dash boys in pieces, and the fruit of the womb they shall not
pity; on children their eye shall not have mercy.
19. And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the ornament, the pride of
the Chaldees, shall be like God's overthrowing Sodom and Gomorrah.
20. It shall not be inhabited for ever, and it shall not be dwelt in
from generation to generation, neither shall the Arab pitch tent
there, neither shall shepherds cause their flocks to lie there.
21. But there shall lie down desert creatures, and their houses shall
be filled with howls (or yells), and there shall dwell the daughters
of the ostrich, and shaggy beasts shall gambol there. 22. And wolves
shall howl in his palaces, and jackals in the temples of pleasure.
And near to come is her time, and her days shall not be prolonged.
XIV.--1. For Jehovah will pity Jacob, and will still choose Israel
and cause them to rest on their (own) land, and the stranger shall be
joined to them, and they shall be attached to the house of Jacob.
2. And nations shall take them and bring them to their place, and the
house of Israel shall take possession of them on Jehovah's land for
male and female servants--and (thus) they shall be captors of their
captors, and rule over their oppressors. 3. And it shall be in the
day of Jehovah's causing thee to rest from thy toil, and from thy
commotion, and from the hard service which was wrought by thee,
4. that thou shalt raise this song over the king of Babylon, and say--
How hath the oppressor ceased, and the golden (city) ceased!
5. Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the
rulers, 6. smiting nations in anger by a stroke without cessation,
ruling nations in wrath by a rule without restraint. 7. At rest,
quiet, is the whole earth. They burst forth into singing. 8. And the
cypresses rejoice with respect to thee, the cedars of Lebanon
(saying), Now that thou art fallen, the feller shall not come up
against us.
9. Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming;
it rouses for thee the giants, all the chief ones of the earth; it
raises from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 10. All of
them shall answer and say to thee, Thou also art made weak as we, to
us are likened! 11. Down to the grave is brought thy pride, the music
of thy harps: under thee is spread the worm, thy covering is vermin.
12. How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning!
felled to the ground, thou that didst lord it over the nations!
13. And (yet) thou hadst said in thy heart, The heavens will I mount;
above the stars of God will I raise my throne; and I will sit in the
mount of meeting, in the sides of the north; 14. I will mount above
the cloud-heights; I will make myself like the Most High. 15. But
thou shalt only be brought down to hell, to the depths of the pit.
16. Those seeing thee shall gaze at thee, they shall look at thee
attentively, (and say), Is this the man that made the earth shake,
that made kingdoms tremble, 17. made a world like a desert, destroyed
its cities, and its captives did not set free homewards? 18. All
kings of nations, all of them, lie in state, each in his house;
19. and thou art cast out from thy grave--like a despised branch, the
raiment of the slain, pierced with the sword, going down to the
stones of the pit, like a trampled carcass. 20. Thou shalt not be
joined with them in burial, because thy land thou hast destroyed, thy
people thou hast slain. Let the seed of evil-doers be named no more
for ever.
21. Prepare for his sons a slaughter, for the iniquity of their
fathers. Let them not arise and possess the earth, and fill the face
of the world with cities. 22. And I (Myself) will rise up against
them, saith Jehovah of hosts, and will cut off from Babylon name, and
remnant, and progeny, and offspring, saith Jehovah. 23. And I will
render it a possession of the porcupine, and pools of water, and will
sweep it with the broom of destruction.
24. Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have planned, it
shall come to pass, and as I have devised it shall stand; 25. to
break Assyria in My land, and on My mountains I will trample him; and
his yoke shall depart from off them, and his burden from off his back
shall depart. 26. This is the purpose that is purposed upon all the
earth, and this the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.
27. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who shall annul? And His
hand the one stretched out, and who shall turn it back?