Isaiah 13

¹The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw .

²On a bare hill raise a signal ; cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles .

³I myself have commanded my consecrated ones , and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger , my proudly exulting ones .

⁴The sound of a tumult is on the mountains as of a great multitude ! The sound of an uproar of kingdoms , of nations gathering together ! The Lord of hosts is mustering a host for battle .

⁵They come from a distant land , from the end of the heavens , the Lord and the weapons of his indignation , to destroy the whole land .

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

⁷Therefore all hands will be feeble , and every human heart will melt .

⁸They will be dismayed : pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor . They will look aghast at one another ; their faces will be aflame .

⁹Behold , the day of the Lord comes , cruel , with wrath and fierce anger , to make the land 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 be dark at its rising , and the moon will not shed its light .

¹¹I will punish the world for its evil , and the wicked for their iniquity ; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant , and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless .

¹²I will make people more rare 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 in the day of his fierce anger .

¹⁴And like a hunted gazelle , or like sheep with none to gather them, each will turn to his own people , and each will flee to his own 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 wives ravished .

¹⁷Behold , I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold .

¹⁸Their bows will slaughter the young men ; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb ; their eyes will not pity children .

¹⁹And Babylon , the glory of kingdoms , the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans , will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.

²⁰It will never be inhabited or lived in for all generations ; no Arab will pitch his tent there ; 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 .

²²Hyenas will cry in its towers , and jackals in the pleasant palaces ; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged .