CHAPTER X.

23:1 The¹ burden of Babylon,
which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
23:2 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 I have commanded my sanctified ones,
I have also called my mighty ones,
for mine anger is not upon them that rejoice in my highness.
23:4 The noise of the 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 host² of the battle.
23:5 They come from a far country,
from the end of heaven,
yea, the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole land.
23:6 Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand;
it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
23:7 Therefore shall all hands be faint,
every man’s heart shall melt;
23:8 And they shall be afraid;
pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them;
they shall be amazed one at another;
their faces shall be as flames.
23:9 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 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof
shall not give their light;
the sun shall be darkened in his³ going forth,
and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
23:11 And I will punish the world for evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease,
and will lay down the haughtiness of the terrible.
23:12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold;
even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
23:13 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 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 Every one that is proud shall be thrust through;
yea, and every one that is joined to the wicked shall fall by the sword.
23:16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
their houses shall be spoiled and their wives ravished.
23:17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them,
which shall not regard silver and gold,
nor they shall not delight in it.
23:18 Their bows shall also dash the young men to pieces;
and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes shall not spare children.
23:19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency,
shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
23:20 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 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 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 day shall not be prolonged.
For I will destroy her speedily;
yea, for I will be merciful unto my people,
but the wicked shall perish.
 
24:1 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel,
and set them in their own land;
and the strangers shall be joined with them,
and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.
24:2 And the people shall take them and bring them to their place; 
yea, from far unto the ends of the earth;
and they shall return to their lands of promise.
And the house of Israel shall possess them,
and the land of the Lord shall be for servants and handmaids;
and they shall take them captives unto whom they were captives;
and they shall rule over their oppressors.
24:3 And it shall come to pass that⁴ in that day
that the Lord shall give thee rest,
from thy sorrow, and from thy fear,
and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve.
24:4 And it shall come to pass in that day,
that thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say:
How hath the oppressor ceased,
the golden city ceased!
24:5 The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked,
the sceptres of the rulers.
24:6 He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke,
he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.
24:7 The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet;
they break forth into singing.
24:8 Yea, the fir-trees rejoice at thee,
and also the cedars of Lebanon, saying:
Since thou art laid down no feller is come up against us.
24:9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming;
it stirreth up the dead for thee,
even all the chief ones of the earth;
it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
24:10 All they shall speak and say unto thee:
Art thou also become weak as we?
Art thou become like unto us?
24:11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave;
the noise of thy viols is not heard;
the worm is spread under thee,
and the worms cover thee.
24:12 How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
Art thou cut down to the ground,
which did weaken the nations!
24:13 For thou hast said in thy heart:
I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation,
in the sides of the north;
24:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will be like the Most High.
24:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
24:16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee,
and shall consider thee, and shall say:
Is this the man that made the earth to tremble,
that did shake kingdoms?
24:17 And made the world as a wilderness,
and destroyed the cities thereof,
and opened not the house of his prisoners?
24:18 All the kings of the nations,
yea, all of them, lie in glory,
every one of them in his own house.
24:19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch,
and the remnant⁵ of those that are slain,
thrust through with a sword,
that go down to the stones of the pit;
as a carcase⁶ trodden under feet.
24:20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial,
because thou hast destroyed thy land and slain thy people;
the seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned.
24:21 Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquities of their fathers,
that they do not rise, nor possess the land,
nor fill the face of the world with cities.
24:22 For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of Hosts,
and cut off from Babylon the name,
and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the Lord.
24:23 I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water;
and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of Hosts.
24:24 The Lord of Hosts hath sworn, saying:
Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass;
and as I have purposed, so shall it stand—
24:25 That I will break⁷ the Assyrian in my land,
and upon my mountains tread him under foot;
then shall his yoke depart from off them,
and his burden depart from off their shoulders.
24:26 This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth;
and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all nations.
24:27 For the Lord of Hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul?
And his hand stretched out,
and who shall turn it back?
24:28 In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.
24:29 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina,
because the rod of him that smote thee is broken;
for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice,
and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
24:30 And the first-born of the poor shall feed,
and the needy shall lie down in safety;
and I will kill thy root with famine,
and he shall slay thy remnant.
24:31 Howl, O gate; cry, O city;
thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved;
for there shall come from the north a smoke,
and none shall be alone in his appointed times.
24:32 What shall then answer the messengers of the nations?
That the Lord hath founded Zion,
and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

NOTES