Isaiah13

¹A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

²Raise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles.

³I have commanded those I prepared for battle; I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath— those who rejoice in my triumph.

⁴Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together! The Lord Almighty is mustering an army for war.

⁵They come from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens— the Lord and the weapons of his wrath— to destroy the whole country.

⁶Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.

⁷Because of this, all hands will go limp, every heart will melt with fear.

⁸Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.

⁹See, the day of the Lord is coming —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger— to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.

¹⁰The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.

¹¹I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.

¹²I will make people scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir.

¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.

¹⁴Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd, they will all return to their own people, they will flee to their native land.

¹⁵Whoever is captured will be thrust through; all who are caught will fall by the sword.

¹⁶Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives violated.

¹⁷See, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold.

¹⁸Their bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants, nor will they look with compassion on children.

¹⁹Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the pride and glory of the Babylonians, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.

²⁰She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; there no nomads will pitch their tents, there no shepherds will rest their flocks.

²¹But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about.

²²Hyenas will inhabit her strongholds, jackals her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.