Isaiah 13:1

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

The Lord Will Judge Babylon This is an oracle about Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

מַשָּׂ֖א בָּבֶ֑ל אֲשֶׁ֣ר חָזָ֔ה יְשַׁעְיָ֖הוּ בֶּן־אָמֽוֹץ׃

Transliteration

Maśśāʾ Bāḇel which ḥāzāh Yəšaʿyāhû son-of-ʾĀmôṣ

Grammar Details

• *Maśśāʾ*: noun, masculine, singular, construct - burden/oracle/pronouncement
• *Bāḇel*: proper noun, location - Babylon
• *ʾăšer*: relative pronoun - which/that
• *ḥāzāh*: verb, Qal perfect, 3rd masculine singular - saw/envisioned/received as vision
• *Yəšaʿyāhû*: proper noun, personal name - Isaiah
• *ben*: noun, masculine, singular, construct - son of
• *ʾĀmôṣ*: proper noun, personal name - Amoz

Word Meanings

• *Maśśāʾ*: burden/oracle/pronouncement/utterance
• *ḥāzāh*: saw/envisioned/received in vision/prophetically perceived

Referenced Verses

• Isa 1:1 : 1 ¶ Heading Here is the message about Judah and Jerusalem that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz during the time when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah reigned over Judah.
• Isa 14:28 : 28 The Lord Will Judge the Philistines This oracle came in the year that King Ahaz died:
• Isa 15:1 : 1 The Lord Will Judge Moab This is an oracle about Moab: Indeed, in a night it is devastated, Ar of Moab is destroyed! Indeed, in a night it is devastated, Kir of Moab is destroyed!
• Isa 47:1-9 : 1 Babylon Will Fall“Fall down! Sit in the dirt, O virgin daughter Babylon! Sit on the ground, not on a throne, O daughter of the Babylonians! Indeed, you will no longer be called delicate and pampered. 2 Pick up millstones and grind flour! Remove your veil, strip off your skirt, expose your legs, cross the streams! 3 Let your naked body be exposed! Your shame will be on display! I will get revenge; I will not have pity on anyone,” 4 says our protector– the LORD of Heaven’s Armies is his name, the Holy One of Israel. 5 “Sit silently! Go to a hiding place, O daughter of the Babylonians! Indeed, you will no longer be called‘Queen of kingdoms.’ 6 I was angry at my people; I defiled my special possession and handed them over to you. You showed them no mercy; you even placed a very heavy burden on old people. 7 You said,‘I will rule forever as permanent queen!’ You did not think about these things; you did not consider how it would turn out. 8 So now, listen to this, O one who lives so lavishly, who lives securely, who says to herself,‘I am unique! No one can compare to me! I will never have to live as a widow; I will never lose my children.’ 9 Both of these will come upon you suddenly, in one day! You will lose your children and be widowed. You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, despite your many incantations and your numerous amulets. 10 You were complacent in your evil deeds; you thought,‘No one sees me.’ Your self-professed wisdom and knowledge lead you astray, when you say,‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’ 11 Disaster will overtake you; you will not know how to charm it away. Destruction will fall on you; you will not be able to appease it. Calamity will strike you suddenly, before you recognize it. 12 Persist in trusting your amulets and your many incantations, which you have faithfully recited since your youth! Maybe you will be successful– maybe you will scare away disaster. 13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. Let them take their stand– the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make monthly predictions– let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! 14 Look, they are like straw, which the fire burns up; they cannot rescue themselves from the heat of the flames. There are no coals to warm them, no firelight to enjoy. 15 They will disappoint you, those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. Each strays off in his own direction, leaving no one to rescue you.”
• Jer 23:33-38 : 33 The LORD said to me,“Jeremiah, when one of these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you,‘What burdensome message do you have from the LORD?’Tell them,‘You are the burden, and I will cast you away. I, the LORD, affirm it! 34 I will punish any prophet, priest, or other person who says“The LORD’s message is burdensome.” I will punish both that person and his whole family.’” 35 So I, Jeremiah, tell you,“Each of you people should say to his friend or his relative,‘How did the LORD answer? Or what did the LORD say?’ 36 You must no longer say that the LORD’s message is burdensome. For what is‘burdensome’ really pertains to what a person himself says. You are misrepresenting the words of our God, the living God, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 37 Each of you should merely ask the prophet,‘What answer did the LORD give you? Or what did the LORD say?’ 38 But just suppose you continue to say,‘The message of the LORD is burdensome.’ Here is what the LORD says will happen:‘I sent word to you that you must not say,“The LORD’s message is burdensome.” But you used the words“The LORD’s message is burdensome” anyway.
• Jer 25:12-26 : 12 “‘But when the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation for their sins. I will make the land of Babylon an everlasting ruin. I, the LORD, affirm it! 13 I will bring on that land everything that I said I would. I will bring on it everything that is written in this book. I will bring on it everything that Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14 For many nations and great kings will make slaves of the king of Babylon and his nation too. I will repay them for all they have done!’” 15 Judah and the Nations Will Experience God’s Wrath So the LORD, the God of Israel, spoke to me in a vision.“Take this cup from my hand. It is filled with the wine of my wrath. Take it and make the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 When they have drunk it, they will stagger to and fro and act insane. For I will send wars sweeping through them.” 17 So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand. I made all the nations to whom he sent me drink the wine of his wrath. 18 I made Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its officials drink it. I did it so Judah would become a ruin. I did it so Judah, its kings, and its officials would become an object of horror and of hissing scorn, an example used in curses. Such is already becoming the case! 19 I made all of these other people drink it: Pharaoh, king of Egypt; his attendants, his officials, his people, 20 the foreigners living in Egypt; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines, the people of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, the people who had been left alive from Ashdod; 21 all the people of Edom, Moab, Ammon; 22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon; all the kings of the coastlands along the sea; 23 the people of Dedan, Tema, Buz, all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples; 24 all the kings of Arabia who live in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri; all the kings of Elam; all the kings of Media; 26 all the kings of the north, whether near or far from one another; and all the other kingdoms which are on the face of the earth. After all of them have drunk the wine of the LORD’s wrath, the king of Babylon must drink it.
• Jer 50:1-51:64 : 1 Judgment Against Babylon The LORD spoke concerning Babylon and the land of Babylonia through the prophet Jeremiah. 2 “Announce the news among the nations! Proclaim it! Signal for people to pay attention! Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say:‘Babylon will be captured. Bel will be put to shame. Marduk will be dismayed. Babylon’s idols will be put to shame. Her disgusting images will be dismayed. 3 For a nation from the north will attack Babylon. It will lay her land waste. People and animals will flee out of it. No one will inhabit it.’ 4 “When that time comes,” says the LORD,“the people of Israel and Judah will return to the land together. They will come back with tears of repentance as they seek the LORD their God. 5 They will ask the way to Zion; they will turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten. 6 “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have allowed them to go astray. They have wandered around in the mountains. They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another. They have forgotten their resting place. 7 All who encountered them devoured them. Their enemies who did this said,‘We are not liable for punishment! For those people have sinned against the LORD, their true pasture. They have sinned against the LORD in whom their ancestors trusted.’ 8 “People of Judah, get out of Babylon quickly! Leave the land of Babylonia! Be the first to depart! Be like the male goats that lead the herd. 9 For I will rouse into action and bring against Babylon a host of mighty nations from the land of the north. They will set up their battle lines against her. They will come from the north and capture her. Their arrows will be like a skilled soldier who does not return from the battle empty-handed. 10 Babylonia will be plundered. Those who plunder it will take all they want,” says the LORD. 11 “People of Babylonia, you plundered my people. That made you happy and glad. You frolic about like calves in a pasture. Your joyous sounds are like the neighs of a stallion. 12 But Babylonia will be put to great shame. The land where you were born will be disgraced. Indeed, Babylonia will become the least important of all nations. It will become a dry and barren desert. 13 After I vent my wrath on it Babylon will be uninhabited. It will be totally desolate. All who pass by will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it. 14 “Take up your battle positions all around Babylon, all you soldiers who are armed with bows. Shoot all your arrows at her! Do not hold any back! For she has sinned against the LORD. 15 Shout the battle cry from all around the city. She will throw up her hands in surrender. Her towers will fall. Her walls will be torn down. Because I, the LORD, am wreaking revenge, take out your vengeance on her! Do to her as she has done! 16 Kill all the farmers who sow the seed in the land of Babylon. Kill all those who wield the sickle at harvest time. Let all the foreigners return to their own people. Let them hurry back to their own lands to escape destruction by that enemy army. 17 “The people of Israel are like scattered sheep which lions have chased away. First the king of Assyria devoured them. Now last of all King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has gnawed their bones. 18 So I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, say:‘I will punish the king of Babylon and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria. 19 But I will restore the flock of Israel to their own pasture. They will graze on Mount Carmel and the land of Bashan. They will eat until they are full on the hills of Ephraim and the land of Gilead. 20 When that time comes, no guilt will be found in Israel. No sin will be found in Judah. For I will forgive those of them I have allowed to survive. I, the LORD, affirm it!’” 21 The LORD says,“Attack the land of Merathaim and the people who live in Pekod! Pursue, kill, and completely destroy them! Do just as I have commanded you! 22 The noise of battle can be heard in the land of Babylonia. There is the sound of great destruction. 23 Babylon hammered the whole world to pieces. But see how that‘hammer’ has been broken and shattered! See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations! 24 I set a trap for you, Babylon; you were caught before you knew it. You fought against me. So you were found and captured. 25 I have opened up the place where my weapons are stored. I have brought out the weapons for carrying out my wrath. For I, the Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies, have work to carry out in the land of Babylonia. 26 Come from far away and attack Babylonia! Open up the places where she stores her grain! Pile her up in ruins! Destroy her completely! Do not leave anyone alive! 27 Kill all her soldiers! Let them be slaughtered! They are doomed, for their day of reckoning has come, the time for them to be punished.” 28 Listen! Fugitives and refugees are coming from the land of Babylon. They are coming to Zion to declare there how the LORD our God is getting revenge, getting revenge for what they have done to his temple. 29 “Call for archers to come against Babylon! Summon against her all who draw the bow! Set up camp all around the city! Do not allow anyone to escape! Pay her back for what she has done. Do to her what she has done to others. For she has proudly defied me, the Holy One of Israel. 30 So her young men will fall in her city squares. All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,” says the LORD. 31 “Listen! I am opposed to you, you proud city,” says the Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies.“Indeed, your day of reckoning has come, the time when I will punish you. 32 You will stumble and fall, you proud city; no one will help you get up. I will set fire to your towns; it will burn up everything that surrounds you.” 33 The LORD of Heaven’s Armies says,“The people of Israel are oppressed. So too are the people of Judah. All those who took them captive are holding them prisoners. They refuse to set them free. 34 But the one who will rescue them is strong. His name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. He will strongly champion their cause. As a result he will bring peace and rest to the earth, but trouble and turmoil to the people who inhabit Babylonia. 35 “Destructive forces will come against the Babylonians,” says the LORD.“They will come against the people who inhabit Babylonia, against her leaders and her men of wisdom. 36 Destructive forces will come against her false prophets; they will be shown to be fools! Destructive forces will come against her soldiers; they will be filled with terror! 37 Destructive forces will come against her horses and her chariots. Destructive forces will come against all the foreign troops within her; they will be as frightened as women! Destructive forces will come against her treasures; they will be taken away as plunder! 38 A drought will come upon her land; her rivers and canals will be dried up. All of this will happen because her land is filled with idols. Her people act like madmen because of those idols they fear. 39 Therefore desert creatures and jackals will live there. Ostriches will dwell in it too. But no people will ever live there again. No one will dwell there for all time to come. 40 I will destroy Babylonia just like I did Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns. No one will live there. No human being will settle in it,” says the LORD. 41 “Look! An army is about to come from the north. A mighty nation and many kings are stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth. 42 Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears. They are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride forth on their horses. Lined up in formation like men going into battle, they are coming against you, fair Babylon! 43 The king of Babylon will become paralyzed with fear when he hears news of their coming. Anguish will grip him, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. 44 “A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it. So too I will chase the Babylonians off of their land. Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose. For there is no one like me. There is no one who can call me to account. There is no ruler that can stand up against me. 45 So listen to what I, the LORD, have planned against Babylon, what I intend to do to the people who inhabit the land of Babylonia. Their little ones will be dragged off. I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done. 46 The people of the earth will quake when they hear Babylon has been captured. Her cries of anguish will be heard by the other nations.” 1 The LORD says,“I will cause a destructive wind to blow against Babylon and the people who inhabit Babylonia. 2 I will send people to winnow Babylonia like a wind blowing away chaff. They will winnow her and strip her land bare. This will happen when they come against her from every direction, when it is time to destroy her. 3 Do not give her archers time to string their bows or to put on their coats of armor. Do not spare any of her young men. Completely destroy her whole army. 4 Let them fall slain in the land of Babylonia, mortally wounded in the streets of her cities. 5 “For Israel and Judah will not be forsaken by their God, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. For the land of Babylonia is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. 6 Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people. Flee to save your lives. Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins. For it is time for the LORD to wreak his revenge. He will pay Babylonia back for what she has done. 7 Babylonia had been a gold cup in the LORD’s hand. She had made the whole world drunk. The nations had drunk from the wine of her wrath. So they have all gone mad. 8 But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. Cry out in mourning over it! Get medicine for her wounds! Perhaps she can be healed! 9 Foreigners living there will say,‘We tried to heal her, but she could not be healed. Let’s leave Babylonia and each go back to his own country. For judgment on her will be vast in its proportions. It will be like it is piled up to heaven, stacked up into the clouds.’ 10 The exiles from Judah will say,‘The LORD has brought about a great deliverance for us! Come on, let’s go and proclaim in Zion what the LORD our God has done!’ 11 “Sharpen your arrows! Fill your quivers! The LORD will arouse a spirit of hostility in the kings of Media. For he intends to destroy Babylonia. For that is how the LORD will get his revenge– how he will get his revenge for the Babylonians’ destruction of his temple. 12 Give the signal to attack Babylon’s wall! Bring more guards! Post them all around the city! Put men in ambush! For the LORD will do what he has planned. He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon. 13 “You who live along the rivers of Babylon, the time of your end has come. You who are rich in plundered treasure, it is time for your lives to be cut off. 14 The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has solemnly sworn,‘I will fill your land with enemy soldiers. They will swarm over it like locusts. They will raise up shouts of victory over it.’ 15 He is the one who by his power made the earth. He is the one who by his wisdom fixed the world in place, by his understanding he spread out the heavens. 16 When his voice thunders, the waters in the heavens roar. He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons. He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain. He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it. 17 All idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made. For the image he forges is merely a sham. There is no breath in any of those idols. 18 They are worthless, objects to be ridiculed. When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed. 19 The LORD, who is the portion of the descendants of Jacob, is not like them. For he is the one who created everything, including the people of Israel whom he claims as his own. His name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 20 “Babylon, you are my war club, my weapon for battle. I used you to smash nations. I used you to destroy kingdoms. 21 I used you to smash horses and their riders. I used you to smash chariots and their drivers. 22 I used you to smash men and women. I used you to smash old men and young men. I used you to smash young men and young women. 23 I used you to smash shepherds and their flocks. I used you to smash farmers and their teams of oxen. I used you to smash governors and leaders.” 24 “But I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wicked things they did in Zion right before the eyes of you Judeans,” says the LORD. 25 The LORD says,“Beware! I am opposed to you, Babylon! You are like a destructive mountain that destroys all the earth. I will unleash my power against you; I will roll you off the cliffs and make you like a burned-out mountain. 26 No one will use any of your stones as a cornerstone. No one will use any of them in the foundation of his house. For you will lie desolate forever,” says the LORD. 27 “Raise up battle flags throughout the lands. Sound the trumpets calling the nations to do battle. Prepare the nations to do battle against Babylonia. Call for these kingdoms to attack her: Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander to lead the attack. Send horses against her like a swarm of locusts. 28 Prepare the nations to do battle against her. Prepare the kings of the Medes. Prepare their governors and all their leaders. Prepare all the countries they rule to do battle against her. 29 The earth will tremble and writhe in agony. For the LORD will carry out his plan. He plans to make the land of Babylonia a wasteland where no one lives. 30 The soldiers of Babylonia will stop fighting. They will remain in their fortified cities. They will lose their strength to do battle. They will be as frightened as women. The houses in her cities will be set on fire. The gates of her cities will be broken down. 31 One runner after another will come to the king of Babylon. One messenger after another will come bringing news. They will bring news to the king of Babylon that his whole city has been captured. 32 They will report that the fords have been captured, the reed marshes have been burned, the soldiers are terrified. 33 For the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel says,‘Fair Babylon will be like a threshing floor which has been trampled flat for harvest. The time for her to be cut down and harvested will come very soon.’ 34 “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon devoured me and drove my people out. Like a monster from the deep he swallowed me. He filled his belly with my riches. He made me an empty dish. He completely cleaned me out.” 35 The person who lives in Zion says,“May Babylon pay for the violence done to me and to my relatives.” Jerusalem says,“May those living in Babylonia pay for the bloodshed of my people.” 36 Therefore the LORD says,“I will stand up for your cause. I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done to you. I will dry up their sea. I will make their springs run dry. 37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins. Jackals will make their home there. It will become an object of horror and of hissing scorn, a place where no one lives. 38 The Babylonians are all like lions roaring for prey. They are like lion cubs growling for something to eat. 39 When their appetites are all stirred up, I will set out a banquet for them. I will make them drunk so that they will pass out, they will fall asleep forever, they will never wake up,” says the LORD. 40 “I will lead them off to be slaughtered like lambs, rams, and male goats.” 41 “See how Babylon has been captured! See how the pride of the whole earth has been taken! See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations! 42 The sea has swept over Babylon. She has been covered by a multitude of its waves. 43 The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins. She has become a dry and barren desert. No one lives in those towns any more. No one even passes through them. 44 I will punish the god Bel in Babylon. I will make him spit out what he has swallowed. The nations will not come streaming to him any longer. Indeed, the walls of Babylon will fall.” 45 “Get out of Babylon, my people! Flee to save your lives from the fierce anger of the LORD! 46 Do not lose your courage or become afraid because of the reports that are heard in the land. For a report will come in one year. Another report will follow it in the next. There will be violence in the land with ruler fighting against ruler.” 47 “So the time will certainly come when I will punish the idols of Babylon. Her whole land will be put to shame. All her mortally wounded will collapse in her midst. 48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will sing for joy over Babylon. For destroyers from the north will attack it,” says the LORD. 49 “Babylon must fall because of the Israelites she has killed, just as the earth’s mortally wounded fell because of Babylon. 50 You who have escaped the sword, go, do not delay. Remember the LORD in a faraway land. Think about Jerusalem. 51 ‘We are ashamed because we have been insulted. Our faces show our disgrace. For foreigners have invaded the holy rooms in the LORD’s temple.’ 52 Yes, but the time will certainly come,” says the LORD,“when I will punish her idols. Throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan. 53 Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky and fortifies her elevated stronghold, I will send destroyers against her,” says the LORD. 54 Cries of anguish will come from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians. 55 For the LORD is ready to destroy Babylon, and put an end to her loud noise. Their waves will roar like turbulent waters. They will make a deafening noise. 56 For a destroyer is attacking Babylon. Her warriors will be captured; their bows will be broken. For the LORD is a God who punishes; he pays back in full. 57 “I will make her officials and wise men drunk, along with her governors, leaders, and warriors. They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,” says the King whose name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 58 This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says,“Babylon’s thick wall will be completely demolished. Her high gates will be set on fire. The peoples strive for what does not satisfy. The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed.” 59 This is the order Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went to King Zedekiah of Judah in Babylon during the fourth year of his reign.(Seraiah was a quartermaster.) 60 Jeremiah recorded on one scroll all the judgments that would come upon Babylon– all these prophecies written about Babylon. 61 Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah,“When you arrive in Babylon, make sure you read aloud all these prophecies. 62 Then say,‘O LORD, you have announced that you will destroy this place so that no people or animals live in it any longer. Certainly it will lie desolate forever!’ 63 When you finish reading this scroll aloud, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River. 64 Then say,‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I am ready to bring upon her; they will grow faint.’”The prophecies of Jeremiah end here.
• Ezek 12:10 : 10 Say to them,‘This is what the Sovereign LORD has said: The prince will raise this burden in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel within it.’
• Dan 5:6 : 6 Then all the color drained from the king’s face and he became alarmed. The joints of his hips gave way, and his knees began knocking together.
• Dan 5:28 : 28 As for peres– your kingdom is divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”
• Nah 1:1 : 1 ¶ Introduction This is an oracle about Nineveh; the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:
• Hab 1:1 : 1 ¶ Habakkuk Complains to the Lord This is the oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw:
• Zech 9:1 : 1 The Coming of the True King This is an oracle, the LORD’s message concerning the land of Hadrach, with its focus on Damascus: The eyes of all humanity, especially of the tribes of Israel, are toward the LORD,
• Zech 12:1 : 1 The Repentance of Judah This is an oracle, the LORD’s message concerning Israel: The LORD– he who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth, who forms the human spirit within a person– says,
• Mal 1:1 : 1 ¶ Introduction and God’s Election of Israel This is an oracle, the LORD’s message to Israel through Malachi:
• Rev 17:1-9 : 1 The Great Prostitute and the Beast Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me.“Come,” he said,“I will show you the condemnation and punishment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality and the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality.” 3 So he carried me away in the Spirit to a wilderness, and there I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 Now the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality. 5 On her forehead was written a name, a mystery:“Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth.” 6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of those who testified to Jesus. I was greatly astounded when I saw her. 7 But the angel said to me,“Why are you astounded? I will interpret for you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with the seven heads and ten horns that carries her. 8 The beast you saw was, and is not, but is about to come up from the abyss and then go to destruction. The inhabitants of the earth– all those whose names have not been written in the book of life since the foundation of the world– will be astounded when they see that the beast was, and is not, but is to come. 9 (This requires a mind that has wisdom.) The seven heads are seven mountains the woman sits on. They are also seven kings: 10 five have fallen; one is, and the other has not yet come, but whenever he does come, he must remain for only a brief time. 11 The beast that was, and is not, is himself an eighth king and yet is one of the seven, and is going to destruction. 12 The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but will receive ruling authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 13 These kings have a single intent, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those accompanying the Lamb are the called, chosen, and faithful.” 15 Then the angel said to me,“The waters you saw(where the prostitute is seated) are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages. 16 The ten horns that you saw, and the beast– these will hate the prostitute and make her desolate and naked. They will consume her flesh and burn her up with fire. 17 For God has put into their minds to carry out his purpose by making a decision to give their royal power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. 18 As for the woman you saw, she is the great city that has sovereignty over the kings of the earth.”
• Isa 17:1 : 1 The Lord Will Judge Damascus This is an oracle about Damascus:“Look, Damascus is no longer a city, it is a heap of ruins!
• Isa 19:1 : 1 The Lord Will Judge Egypt This is an oracle about Egypt: Look, the LORD rides on a swift-moving cloud and approaches Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him; the Egyptians lose their courage.
• Isa 21:1-9 : 1 The Lord Will Judge Babylon This is an oracle about the wilderness by the Sea: Like strong winds blowing in the south, one invades from the wilderness, from a land that is feared. 2 I have received a distressing message:“The deceiver deceives, the destroyer destroys. Attack, you Elamites! Lay siege, you Medes! I will put an end to all the groaning!” 3 For this reason my stomach churns; cramps overwhelm me like the contractions of a woman in labor. I am disturbed by what I hear, horrified by what I see. 4 My heart palpitates, I shake in fear; the twilight I desired has brought me terror. 5 Arrange the table, lay out the carpet, eat and drink! Get up, you officers, smear oil on the shields! 6 For this is what the Lord has told me:“Go, post a guard! He must report what he sees. 7 When he sees chariots, teams of horses, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, he must be alert, very alert.” 8 Then the guard cries out:“On the watchtower, O Lord, I stand all day long; at my post I am stationed every night. 9 Look what’s coming! A charioteer, a team of horses.” When questioned, he replies,“Babylon has fallen, fallen! All the idols of her gods lie shattered on the ground!” 10 O my downtrodden people, crushed like stalks on the threshing floor, what I have heard from the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, I have reported to you. 11 Bad News for Seir This is an oracle about Dumah: Someone calls to me from Seir,“Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?”
• Isa 21:13 : 13 The Lord Will Judge Arabia This is an oracle about Arabia: In the thicket of Arabia you spend the night, you Dedanite caravans.
• Isa 22:1 : 1 The Lord Will Judge Jerusalem This is an oracle about the Valley of Vision: What is the reason that all of you go up to the rooftops?
• Isa 22:25-23:1 : 25 “At that time,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,“the peg fastened into a solid place will come loose. It will be cut off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken. 1 The Lord Will Judge Tyre This is an oracle about Tyre: Wail, you large ships, for the port is too devastated to enter! From the land of Cyprus this news is announced to them.
• Isa 43:14 : 14 The Lord Will Do Something New This is what the LORD says, your protector, the Holy One of Israel:“For your sake I send to Babylon and make them all fugitives, turning the Babylonians’ joyful shouts into mourning songs.
• Isa 44:1-2 : 1 The Lord Will Renew Israel“Now, listen, Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen!” 2 This is what the LORD, the one who made you, says– the one who formed you in the womb and helps you:“Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen!
• Isa 13:19 : 19 Babylon, the most admired of kingdoms, the Chaldeans’ source of honor and pride, will be destroyed by God just as Sodom and Gomorrah were.
• Isa 14:4-9 : 4 you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words:“Look how the oppressor has met his end! Hostility has ceased! 5 The LORD has broken the club of the wicked, the scepter of rulers. 6 It furiously struck down nations with unceasing blows. It angrily ruled over nations, oppressing them without restraint. 7 The whole earth rests and is quiet; they break into song. 8 The evergreens also rejoice over your demise, as do the cedars of Lebanon, singing,‘Since you fell asleep, no woodsman comes up to chop us down!’ 9 Sheol below is stirred up about you, ready to meet you when you arrive. It rouses the spirits of the dead for you, all the former leaders of the earth; it makes all the former kings of the nations rise from their thrones. 10 All of them respond to you, saying:‘You too have become weak like us! You have become just like us! 11 Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol, as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. You lie on a bed of maggots, with a blanket of worms over you. 12 Look how you have fallen from the sky, O shining one, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O conqueror of the nations! 13 You said to yourself,“I will climb up to the sky. Above the stars of El I will set up my throne. I will rule on the mountain of assembly on the remote slopes of Zaphon. 14 I will climb up to the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High!” 15 But you were brought down to Sheol, to the remote slopes of the Pit. 16 Those who see you stare at you, they look at you carefully, thinking:“Is this the man who shook the earth, the one who made kingdoms tremble? 17 Is this the one who made the world like a wilderness, who ruined its cities, and refused to free his prisoners so they could return home?”’ 18 As for all the kings of the nations, all of them lie down in splendor, each in his own tomb. 19 But you have been thrown out of your grave like a shoot that is thrown away. You lie among the slain, among those who have been slashed by the sword, among those headed for the stones of the Pit, as if you were a mangled corpse. 20 You will not be buried with them, because you destroyed your land and killed your people. The offspring of the wicked will never be mentioned again. 21 Prepare to execute his sons for the sins their ancestors have committed. They must not rise up and take possession of the earth, or fill the surface of the world with cities.” 22 “I will rise up against them,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.“I will blot out all remembrance of Babylon and destroy all her people, including the offspring she produces,” says the LORD. 23 “I will turn her into a place that is overrun with wild animals and covered with pools of stagnant water. I will get rid of her, just as one sweeps away dirt with a broom,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.