Isaiah 13; Isaiah 14; Isaiah 15; Isaiah 16; Isaiah 17

Isaiah 13

1 God showed Isaiah son of Amoz this message about Babylon:

2 Raise a flag on the bare mountain. Call out to the men. Raise your hand to signal them to enter through the gates for important people.

3 I myself have commanded those people whom I have separated as mine. I have called those warriors to carry out my anger. They rejoice and are glad to do my will.

4 Listen to the loud noise in the mountains, the sound of many people. Listen to the noise among the kingdoms, the sound of nations gathering together. his army together for battle.

5 This army is coming from a faraway land, from the edge of the horizon. to destroy the whole country.

6 Cry, because the Lord's day of judging is near; the Almighty is sending destruction.

7 People will be weak with fear, and their courage will melt away.

8 Everyone will be afraid. Pain and hurt will grab them; they will hurt like a woman giving birth to a baby. They will look at each other in fear, with their faces red like fire.

9 Look, the Lord's day of judging is coming -- a terrible day, a day of God's anger. He will destroy the land and the sinners who live in it.

10 The stars will not show their light; the skies will be dark. The sun will grow dark as it rises, and the moon will not give its light.

11 The Lord says, "I will punish the world for its evil and wicked people for their sins. I will cause proud people to lose their pride, and I will destroy the pride of those who are cruel to others.

12 People will be harder to find than pure gold; there will be fewer people than there is fine gold in Ophir.

13 I will make the sky shake, and the earth will be moved from its place by the anger of the Lord All-Powerful at the time of his burning anger.

14 "Then the people from Babylon will run away like hunted deer or like sheep who have no shepherd. Everyone will turn back to his own people; each will run back to his own land.

15 Everyone who is captured will be killed; everyone who is caught will be killed with a sword.

16 Their little children will be beaten to death in front of them. Their houses will be robbed and their wives raped.

17 "Look, I will cause the armies of Media to attack Babylon. They do not care about silver or delight in gold.

18 Their soldiers will shoot the young men with arrows; they will show no mercy on children, nor will they feel sorry for little ones.

19 Babylon is the most beautiful of all kingdoms, and the Babylonians are very proud of it. like Sodom and Gomorrah.

20 No one will ever live there or settle there again. No Arab will put a tent there; no shepherd will bring sheep there.

21 Only desert animals will live there, and their houses will be full of wild dogs. Owls will live there, and wild goats will leap about in the houses.

22 Wolves will howl within the strong walls, and wild dogs will bark in the beautiful buildings. The end of Babylon is near; its time is almost over."

Isaiah 14

1 The Lord will show mercy to the people of Jacob, and he will again choose the people of Israel. He will settle them in their own land. Then non-Israelite people will join the Israelites and will become a part of the family of Jacob.

2 Nations will take the Israelites back to their land. Then those men and women from the other nations will become slaves to Israel in the Lord's land. In the past the Israelites were their slaves, but now the Israelites will defeat those nations and rule over them.

3 The Lord will take away the Israelites' hard work and will comfort them. They will no longer have to work hard as slaves.

4 On that day Israel will sing this song about the king of Babylon: The cruel king who ruled us is finished; his angry rule is finished!

5 The Lord has broken the scepter of evil rulers and taken away their power.

6 The king of Babylon struck people in anger again and again. He ruled nations in anger and continued to hurt them.

7 But now, the whole world rests and is quiet. Now the people begin to sing.

8 Even the pine trees are happy, and the cedar trees of Lebanon rejoice. They say, "The king has fallen, so no one will ever cut us down again."

9 The place of the dead is excited to meet you when you come. It wakes the spirits of the dead, the leaders of the world. It makes kings of all nations stand up from their thrones to greet you.

10 All these leaders will make fun of you and will say, "Now you are weak, as we are. Now you are just like us."

11 Your pride has been sent down to the place of the dead. The music from your harps goes with it. Flies are spread out like your bed beneath you, and worms cover your body like a blanket.

12 King of Babylon, morning star, you have fallen from heaven, even though you were as bright as the rising sun! In the past all the nations on earth bowed down before you, but now you have been cut down.

13 You told yourself, "I will go up to heaven. I will put my throne above God's stars. I will sit on the mountain of the gods, on the slopes of the sacred mountain.

14 I will go up above the tops of the clouds. I will be like God Most High."

15 But you were brought down to the grave, to the deep places where the dead are.

16 Those who see you stare at you. They think about what has happened to you and say, "Is this the same man who caused great fear on earth, who shook the kingdoms,

17 who turned the world into a desert, who destroyed its cities, who captured people in war and would not let them go home?"

18 Every king of the earth has been buried with honor, each in his own grave.

19 But you are thrown out of your grave, like an unwanted branch. You are covered by bodies that died in battle, by bodies to be buried in a rocky pit. You are like a dead body other soldiers walk on.

20 You will not be buried with those bodies, because you ruined your own country and killed your own people. The children of evil people will never be mentioned again.

21 Prepare to kill his children, because their father is guilty. They will never again take control of the earth; they will never again fill the world with their cities.

22 The Lord All-Powerful says this: "I will fight against those people; I will destroy Babylon and its people, its children and their descendants," says the Lord.

23 "I will make Babylon fit only for owls and for swamps. destruction," says the Lord All-Powerful.

24 The Lord All-Powerful has made this promise: "These things will happen exactly as I planned them; they will happen exactly as I set them up.

25 I will destroy the king of Assyria in my country; I will trample him on my mountains. He placed a heavy load on my people, but that weight will be removed.

26 "This is what I plan to do for all the earth. And this is the hand that I have raised over all nations."

27 When the Lord All-Powerful makes a plan, no one can stop it. When the Lord raises his hand to punish people, no one can stop it.

28 This message was given in the year that King Ahaz died:

29 Country of Philistia, don't be happy that the king who struck you is now dead. He is like a snake that will give birth to another dangerous snake. The new king will be like a quick, dangerous snake to bite you.

30 Even the poorest of my people will be able to eat safely, and people in need will be able to lie down in safety. But I will kill your family with hunger, and all your people who are left will die.

31 People near the city gates, cry out! Philistines, be frightened, because a cloud of dust comes from the north. It is an army, full of men ready to fight.

32 What shall we tell the messengers from Philistia? and that his poor people will go there for safety.

Isaiah 15

1 This is a message about Moab: In one night armies took the wealth from Ar in Moab, and it was destroyed. In one night armies took the wealth from Kir in Moab, and it was destroyed.

2 The people of Dibon go to the places of worship to cry. The people of Moab cry for the cities of Nebo and Medeba. Every head and beard has been shaved to show how sad Moab is.

3 In the streets they wear rough cloth to show their sadness. On the roofsn and in the public squares, they are crying loudly.

4 People in the cities Heshbon and Elealeh cry out loud. You can hear their voices far away in the city Jahaz. Even the soldiers are frightened; they are shaking with fear.

5 My heart cries with sorrow for Moab. Its people run away to Zoar for safety; they run to Eglath Shelishiyah. People are going up the mountain road to Luhith, crying as they go. People are going on the road to Horonaim, crying over their destruction.

6 But the water of Nimrim has dried up. The grass has dried up, and all the plants are dead; nothing green is left.

7 So the people gather up what they have saved and carry it across the Ravine of the Poplars.

8 Crying is heard everywhere in Moab. Their crying is heard as far away as the city Eglaim; it is heard as far away as Beer Elim.

9 The water of the city Dibon is full of blood, and I, the Lord, will bring even more troubles to Dibon. the enemy, but I will send lions to kill them.

Isaiah 16

1 Send the king of the land the payment he demands. to the mountain of Jerusalem.

2 The women of Moab try to cross the river Arnon like little birds that have fallen from their nest.

3 They say: "Help us. Tell us what to do. Protect us from our enemies as shade protects us from the noon sun. Hide us, because we are running for safety! Don't give us to our enemies.

4 Let those of us who were forced out of Moab live in your land. Hide us from our enemies." The robbing of Moab will stop. The enemy will be defeated; those who hurt others will disappear from the land.

5 Then a new loyal king will come; this faithful king will be from the family of David. He will judge fairly and do what is right.

6 We have heard that the people of Moab are proud and very conceited. They are very proud and angry, but their bragging means nothing.

7 So the people of Moab will cry; they will all be sad. They will moan and groan for the raisin cakes they had in Kir Hareseth.

8 But the fields of Heshbon and the vines of Sibmah cannot grow grapes; foreign rulers have destroyed the grapevines. The grapevines once spread as far as the city of Jazer and into the desert; they had spread as far as the sea.

9 I cry with the people of Jazer for the grapevines of Sibmah. I will cry with the people of Heshbon and Elealeh. There will be no shouts of joy, because there will be no harvest or ripe fruit.

10 There will be no joy and happiness in the orchards and no songs or shouts of joy in the vineyards. No one makes wine in the winepresses, because I have put an end to shouts of joy.

11 My heart cries for Moab like a harp playing a funeral song; I am very sad for Kir Hareseth.

12 The people of Moab will go to their places of worship and will try to pray. But when they go to their temple to pray, they will not be able.

13 Earlier the Lord said these things about Moab.

14 Now the Lord says, "In three years all those people and what they take pride in will be hated. (This is three years as a hired helper would count time.) There will be a few people left, but they will be weak."

Isaiah 17

1 This is a message about Damascus: "The city of Damascus will be destroyed; only ruins will remain.

2 People will leave the cities of Aroer. Flocks will wander freely in those empty towns, and there will be no one to bother them.

3 The strong, walled cities of Israel will be destroyed. The government in Damascus will end. like the glory of Israel," says the Lord All-Powerful.

4 "At that time Israel's wealth will all be gone. Israel will be like someone who has lost much weight from sickness.

5 That time will be like the grain harvest in the Valley of Rephaim. The workers cut the wheat. Then they cut the heads of grain from the plants and collect the grain.

6 That time will also be like the olive harvest, when a few olives are left. Two or three olives are left in the top branches. Four or five olives are left on full branches," says the Lord, the God of Israel.

7 At that time people will look to God, their Maker; their eyes will see the Holy One of Israel.

8 They will not trust the altars they have made, nor will they trust what their hands have made, not even the Asherah idols and altars.

9 In that day all their strong cities will be empty. They will be like the cities the Hivites and the Amorites left when the Israelites came to take the land. Everything will be ruined.

10 You have forgotten the God who saves you; you have not remembered that God is your place of safety. You plant the finest grapevines and grapevines from faraway places.

11 You plant your grapevines one day and try to make them grow, and the next day you make them blossom. But at harvest time everything will be dead; a sickness will kill all the plants.

12 Listen to the many people! Their crying is like the noise from the sea. Listen to the nations! Their crying is like the crashing of great waves.

13 The people roar like the waves, but when God speaks harshly to them, they will run away. They will be like chaff on the hills being blown by the wind, or like tumbleweeds blown away by a storm.

14 At night the people will be very frightened. Before morning, no one will be left. So our enemies will come to our land, but they will become nothing.