1This is the divine revelation which Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw about Babylon.

2Raise a banner on the bare mountaintop. Call loudly to them. Signal them with your hand to enter the nobles' gates.

3I've commanded my holy ones. I've called my mighty men to carry out my anger. They find joy in my triumphs.

4Listen to the noise on the mountains. It is like the sound of a large army. It is the sound of kingdoms and nations gathering together. The LORD of Armies is assembling his army for battle.

5His army is coming from a distant land, from the ends of heaven. The LORD is coming with the weapons of his fury to destroy the whole world.

6Cry loudly, for the day of the LORD is near. It will come like destruction from the Almighty.

7That is why every hand will hang limp, and everyone's courage will fail.

8They'll be terrified. Pain and anguish will seize them. They'll writhe like a woman giving birth to a child. They'll look at one another in astonishment. Their faces will be burning red.

9The day of the LORD is going to come. It will be a cruel day with fury and fierce anger. He will make the earth desolate. He will destroy its sinners.

10The stars in the sky and their constellations won't show their light anymore. The sun will be dark when it rises. The moon won't shine.

11I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their wrongdoing. I will put an end to arrogant people and humble the pride of tyrants.

12I will make people harder to find than pure gold and human beings more rare than gold from Ophir.

13I will make heaven tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place when the LORD of Armies is angry. At that time he will be very angry.

14They'll be like hunted gazelle and like sheep with no one to gather them. Everyone will return to his own people and flee to his own land.

15Whoever is found will be stabbed to death. Whoever is captured will be executed.

16Their little children will be smashed to death right before their eyes. Their houses will be looted and their wives raped.

17I'm going to stir up the Medes against them. They don't care for silver and aren't happy with gold.

18But their bows will smash the youth. They'll have no compassion for babies, nor will they look with pity on children.

19Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the proud beauty of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them.

20It will never be inhabited again, and no one will live in it for generations. Arabs won't pitch their tents there. Shepherds won't let their flocks rest there.

21Desert animals will lie down there. Their homes will be full of owls. Ostriches will live there, and wild goats will skip about.

22Hyenas will howl in Babylon's strongholds, and jackals will howl in its luxurious palaces. Its time has almost come. Its days will not be extended.