DOOM OF BABYLON

Set ye up an ensign upon the bare mountain, lift up the voice unto them, wave the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. I have commanded my consecrated ones, yea, I have called my mighty men for mine anger, even them that exult in my majesty.

The noise of a multitude in the mountains,
Like as of a great people!
The noise of a tumult
Of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together!

The LORD of HOSTS
Mustereth the HOST for the battle;
They come from a far country,
From the uttermost part of heaven:

Even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation,
To destroy the whole land.
Howl ye, for the Day of the LORD is at hand:
As destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Therefore shall all hands be feeble, and every heart of man shall melt: and they shall be dismayed; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman in travail; they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be faces of flame.

Behold, the Day of the LORD cometh,
Cruel, with wrath and fierce anger;
To make the land a desolation,
And to destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more rare than fine gold, even a man than the pure gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. And it shall come to pass, that as the chased roe, and as sheep that no man gathereth, they shall turn every man to his own people, and shall flee every man to his own land. Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is taken shall fall by the sword. Their infants also shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver, and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. And their bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

And BABYLON,
The glory of kingdoms,
The beauty of the Chaldeans' pride,
Shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

It shall never be inhabited,
Neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there;
Neither shall shepherds make their flocks to lie down there.

But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there;
And their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; And ostriches shall dwell there,
And satyrs shall dance there.

And wolves shall cry in their castles,
And jackals in the pleasant palaces:
And her time is near to come,
And her days shall not be prolonged.

For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the stranger shall join himself with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the peoples shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and for handmaids; and they shall take them captive, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy trouble, and from the hard service wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say:

How hath the oppressor ceased!
The golden city ceased!
The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked,
The sceptre of the rulers;
He that smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, That ruled the nations in anger,
Is persecuted,
And none hindereth!
The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet:
They break forth into singing:
Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee,
And the cedars of Lebanon:
'Since thou art laid down,
No feller is come up against us.'

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, All they shall answer and say unto thee:
'Art thou also become weak as we?
Art thou become like unto us?'
Thy pomp is brought down to hell,
And the noise of thy viols:
The worm is spread under thee,
And worms cover thee.

How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of the morning
How art thou cut down to the ground,
Which didst lay low the nations!
And thou saidst in thine heart, 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
And I will sit upon the mount of congregation,
In the uttermost parts of the north:
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will be like the Most High.'
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell,
To the uttermost parts of the pit.

They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee,
They shall consider thee:
'Is this the man that made the earth to tremble,
That did shake kingdoms;
That made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew the cities thereof, That let not loose his prisoners to their home?'
All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, Every one in his own house:
But thou art cast forth away from thy sepulchre,
Like an abominable branch,
As the raiment of those that are slain,
That are thrust through with the sword,
That go down to the stones of the pit;
As a carcase trodden under foot.

Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people; the seed of evil-doers shall not be named for ever. Prepare ye slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they rise not up, and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities. And I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son's son, saith the LORD. I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.