The Anselm Project

1The oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. 2Raise a banner upon a bare mountain; lift up a voice to them; wave a hand so that the entrances of nobles may come. 3I myself have commanded my consecrated ones; I have also called my mighty men for my anger, the jubilant ones of my pride. 4A voice of a crowd in the mountains, the likeness of a numerous people; a voice of the roar of kingdoms, of nations being gathered—the LORD of Hosts is mustering an army for battle. 5They are coming from a land of distance, from the end of the heavens—the LORD and the vessels of his indignation—to destroy all the earth. 6Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; like violence from the Almighty it will come. 7Therefore every hand grows slack, and every human heart melts. 8Pangs and pains will seize them; they will tremble like a woman bearing; each man will stare at his neighbor—their faces are flames. 9Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. 10For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will darken at its going out, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. 11I will reckon upon the world for distress, and upon the wicked for their iniquity; I will cause the pride of the arrogant to cease, and the pride of the ruthless I will abase. 12I will make people scarcer than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir. 13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts and on the day of his fierce anger. 14It will be like a banished gazelle, and like a flock with no one gathering; each man will turn to his people, and each man will flee to his land. 15Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. 16Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered, and their women will be ravished. 17Behold, I am stirring up Madai against them, who do not regard silver and take no delight in gold. 18Their bows will strike down the young men; they will show no pity on the fruit of the womb, and their eye will not spare children. 19And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. 20It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; no Arab will pitch his tent there, and no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there. 21But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there wild goats will dance. 22Wild beasts will dwell in its desolate places, and jackals in its temples of delight; its time is near to come, and its days will not be drawn out.

Chapter 14

1For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel and will set them at rest in their own land; sojourners will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2Peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as male and female servants in the LORD's land; they will take captive those who took them captive and will rule over their oppressors. 3When the LORD gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and from the hard service with which you were made to serve, 4you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon and say, "How the oppressor has ceased, how his insolence has ceased!" 5The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers. 6That struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows, that ruled the nations in anger with relentless persecution. 7The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing. 8The cypresses also rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, "Since you were laid low, no one comes up to cut us down." 9Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 10They will all answer and say to you, "You too have become as weak as we; you have become like us." 11Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are the bed beneath you, and worms are your covering. 12How you have fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, one weakening the nations. 13You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north." 14I will ascend upon the high places of a cloud; I will resemble the Most High. 15But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. 16Those who see you stare at you and ponder over you: "Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms?" 17He made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities; he did not let his prisoners go home. 18All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb. 19But you have been thrown from your grave like an abhorred branch, clothed with the slain who are pierced by a sword, those going down to the stones of a pit, like a trampled corpse. 20You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people; the offspring of evildoers will nevermore be named. 21Prepare slaughter for his sons because of the guilt of their fathers, lest they rise and possess the land and fill the face of the world with cities. 22I will rise up against them, declares the LORD of Hosts, and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and posterity, declares the LORD.

Babylon's Doom and the Day of the Lord (part 1)

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