A Warning About Babylon
This is Isaiah son of Amoz’s prophecy—a warning about Babylon.
God’s Army Marches
Raise a signal flag on the high mountain. Shout the orders! Wave them forward—send them charging through the gates of the powerful. 'I’ve called my chosen warriors—summoned my champions to carry out my judgment. They march with confidence, eager to display my power.'
Listen—a roar in the mountains, like a massive army on the move! It’s the thunder of kingdoms, nations gathering together. The Lord Almighty is assembling his forces for war. They come from distant lands, from the farthest reaches of the sky—the Lord and his instruments of fury, ready to devastate the entire land.
The Day of the Lord
Cry out in terror! The Lord’s day of reckoning is here—destruction unleashed by the Almighty himself.
Everyone’s courage will drain away. Every heart will melt with fear. They’ll be gripped by panic. Pain and anguish will seize them like a woman in labor. They’ll stare at each other in shock, faces flushed and burning.
Look—the Lord’s day is coming, fierce and furious. He’ll turn the land into a wasteland and wipe out every sinner in it. The stars and constellations will go dark. The sun will be black when it rises, and the moon won’t shine.
'I’ll punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their crimes. I’ll crush the arrogance of the proud and humble those who terrorize others.' 'I’ll make people scarcer than pure gold—rarer than the finest gold from Ophir.' 'That’s why I’ll shake the heavens, and the earth will be torn from its place—this is the fury of the Lord Almighty on his day of burning anger.'
Like a hunted deer, like sheep with no shepherd—everyone will run back to their own people, flee to their own homeland. Anyone caught will be stabbed through. Anyone who joins the wicked will die by the sword. Their children will be smashed to death before their eyes. Their homes will be plundered, their wives violated.
The Medes Will Strike
'I’m going to stir up the Medes against them—warriors who care nothing for silver and gold, who can’t be bribed.' Their arrows will cut down young men. They’ll show no mercy to babies, no compassion for children.
Babylon’s Total Destruction
And Babylon—jewel of all kingdoms, pride of the Chaldeans—will end up like Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them.
It will never be lived in again. No one will settle there, generation after generation. No nomad will pitch a tent there. No shepherd will rest his flock there. Only desert creatures will live there. The houses will fill with owls. Wild goats will leap among the ruins. Hyenas will howl in the abandoned fortresses, jackals in the once-beautiful palaces. Babylon’s time is running out—her days are numbered. I’ll destroy her quickly. I’ll show mercy to my people, but the wicked will perish.'
Influences
- 23:2 — Isaiah 13:2 (KJV)Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
- 23:3 — Isaiah 13:3 (KJV)I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
- 23:4 — Isaiah 13:4 (KJV)The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.
- 23:5 — Isaiah 13:5 (KJV)They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
- 23:6 — Isaiah 13:6 (KJV)Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
- 23:8 — Isaiah 13:8 (KJV)And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
- 23:9 — Isaiah 13:9 (KJV)Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
- 23:10 — Isaiah 13:10 (KJV)For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
- 23:11 — Isaiah 13:11 (KJV)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.
- 23:12 — Isaiah 13:12 (KJV)I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
- 23:13 — Isaiah 13:13 (KJV)Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
- 23:14 — Isaiah 13:14 (KJV)And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.
- 23:15 — Isaiah 13:15 (KJV)Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.
- 23:16 — Isaiah 13:16 (KJV)Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
- 23:17 — Isaiah 13:17 (KJV)Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
- 23:18 — Isaiah 13:18 (KJV)Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
- 23:19 — Isaiah 13:19 (KJV)And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
- 23:20 — Isaiah 13:20 (KJV)It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
- 23:21 — Isaiah 13:21 (KJV)But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
- 23:22 — Isaiah 13:22 (KJV)And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.