An Oracle Concerning Babylon

1The [†]oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz beheld.

2Lift up a standard on the [†]bare hill,

Heighten your voice at them,

Wave the hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles.

3I have commanded My set apart ones,

I have even called My mighty warriors,

My [†]proudly exulting ones,

To execute My anger.

4A sound of tumult on the mountains,

Like that of many people!

A sound of the rumbling of kingdoms,

Of nations gathered together!

Yahweh of hosts is mustering the host for battle.

5They are coming from a far country,

From the end of the sky,

Yahweh and His instruments of indignation,

To wreak destruction on the whole land.

6Wail, for the day of Yahweh is near!

It will come as destruction from [†]the Almighty.

7Therefore all hands will fall limp,

And every man’s heart will melt.

8They will be terrified,

Pains and labor pangs will take hold of them;

They will writhe like a woman in labor,

They will look at one another in astonishment,

Their faces aflame.

9Behold, the day of Yahweh is coming,

Cruel, with fury and burning anger,

To make the land a desolation;

And He will exterminate its sinners from it.

10For the stars of heaven and their constellations

Will not flash forth their light;

The sun will be dark when it rises

And the moon will not shed its light.

11Thus I will punish the world for its evil

And the wicked for their iniquity;

I will also put an end to the pride of the arrogant

And bring low the lofty pride of the [†]ruthless.

12I will make mortal man [†]scarcer than fine gold

And mankind than the gold of Ophir.

13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,

And the earth will be shaken from its place

At the fury of Yahweh of hosts

In the day of His burning anger.

14And it will be that like a hunted gazelle,

Or like sheep with none to gather them,

They will each turn to his own people,

And each one flee to his own land.

15Anyone who is found will be pierced through,

And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.

16Their infants also will be dashed to pieces

Before their eyes;

Their houses will be plundered

And their wives ravished.

17Behold, I am going to awaken the Medes against them,

Who will not think about silver or take pleasure in gold.

18And their bows will dash the young men to pieces,

They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,

Nor will their eye pity [†]children.

19And it will be that Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the [†]honor of the Chaldeans’ pride,

Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

20It will never be inhabited or dwelt in from generation to generation;

Nor will the [†]Arab pitch his tent there,

Nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.

21But desert creatures will lie down there,

And their houses will be full of [†]owls;

Ostriches also will dwell there, and [†]shaggy goats will leap there.

22[†]And hyenas will howl in their fortified towers

And jackals in their luxurious palaces.

Her fateful time also [†]will soon come

And her days will not be prolonged.