Proclamation against Babylon

1The oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah 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,

have summoned my warriors, my proudly exulting ones,

to execute my anger.

4Listen, a tumult on the mountains

as of a great multitude!

Listen, an uproar of kingdoms,

of nations gathering together!

The LORD of hosts is mustering

an army 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 earth.

6Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;

it will come like destruction from the Almighty!13.6 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai

7Therefore all hands will be feeble,

and every human heart will fail,

8and they will be dismayed.

Pangs and agony will seize them;

they will be in anguish like a woman in labour.

They will look aghast at one another;

their faces will be aflame.

9See, the day of the LORD comes,

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

to make the earth 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 pride of the arrogant,

and lay low the insolence of tyrants.

12I will make mortals more rare than fine gold,

and humans 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

on the day of his fierce anger.

14Like a hunted gazelle,

or like sheep with no one to gather them,

all will turn to their own people,

and all will flee to their own lands.

15Whoever is found will be thrust through,

and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

16Their infants will be dashed to pieces

before their eyes;

their houses will be plundered,

and their wives ravished.

17See, 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 splendour and pride of the Chaldeans,

will be like Sodom and Gomorrah

when God overthrew them.

20It will never be inhabited

or lived in for all generations;

Arabs will not pitch their tents there,

shepherds will not make their flocks lie down there.

21But wild animals will lie down there,

and its houses will be full of howling creatures;

there ostriches will live,

and there goat-demons 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.