Isaiah 13 - Easy To Read Version

¹ God showed Isaiah son of Amoz this sad message about Babylon.

² \{God said:\}

³ \{God said:\}

⁴ “There is a loud noise in the mountains.\par Listen to the noise!\par It sounds like many, many people.\par People from many kingdoms\par are gathering together.\par The Lord All-Powerful is calling\par his army together.\par

⁵ The Lord and this army\par are coming from a faraway land.\par They are coming from beyond the horizon.\par The Lord will use this army like a weapon\par to show his anger.\par This army will destroy the whole country.”\par

⁶ The Lord’s special day is near. So cry and be sad for yourselves. A time is coming when the enemy will steal your wealth. God All-Powerful will make that happen. {\cf2\super [142]}

⁷ People will lose their courage. Fear will make the people weak.

⁸ Every person will be afraid. Their fear will cause their stomachs to hurt like a woman giving birth to a baby. Their faces will become red like fire. The people will be amazed because this look of fear will be on all their neighbors’ faces.

⁹ Look, the Lord’s special day is coming! It will be a terrible day. God will become very angry, and he will destroy the country. God will force all people that sin to leave the country.

¹⁰ The skies will be dark. The sun, the moon, and the stars will not shine.

¹¹ \{God says,\} “I will cause bad things to happen to the world. I will punish the evil people for their sin. I will cause the proud people to lose their pride. I will stop the bragging of the people that are mean to others.

¹² There will be only a few people left. There will not be many, the same as gold is hard to find. And these people will be worth much more than pure gold.

¹³ With my anger, I will make the sky shake. And the earth will be moved from its place.”

¹⁴ Then the people from Babylon will run away, like wounded deer. They will run like sheep that have no shepherd. Every person will turn and run back to his own country and people.

¹⁵ \{But the enemy will chase the people of Babylon. And when the enemy\} catches a person, the enemy will kill that person with a sword.

¹⁶ Everything in their houses will be stolen. Their wives will be raped. And their little children will be beaten to death while the people are watching.

¹⁷ \{God says,\} “Look, I will cause the armies of Media to attack Babylon. \{The armies of Media will not stop attacking,\} even if they are paid silver and gold.

¹⁸ The soldiers will attack and kill the young men of Babylon. The soldiers will not show mercy to the babies. The soldiers will not be kind to the children. Babylon will be destroyed—it will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. {\cf2\super [143]} God will cause this destruction, and there will be nothing left.

¹⁹ “Babylon is the most beautiful of all kingdoms. The Babylonian {\cf2\super [144]} people are very proud of their city.

²⁰ But Babylon will not continue to be beautiful. People will not continue to live there in the future. Arabs will not put their tents there. Shepherds will not bring their sheep to let them eat there.

²¹ The only animals living there will be wild animals from the desert. People will not be living in their houses in Babylon. The houses will be full of owls and large birds. Wild goats {\cf2\super [145]} will play in the houses.

²² Wild dogs and wolves will howl in the great and beautiful buildings of Babylon. Babylon will be finished. The end of Babylon is near. I will not let Babylon’s destruction wait until later.”