| Holman Christian Standard Bible | NET Bible |
| 1An oracle against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw: | 1This is a message about Babylon that God revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz: |
| 2Lift up a banner on a barren mountain. Call out to them. Wave your hand, and they will go through the gates of the nobles. | 2On a bare hill raise a signal flag, shout to them, wave your hand, so they might enter the gates of the princes! |
| 3I have commanded My chosen ones; I have also called My warriors, who exult in My triumph, to execute My wrath. | 3I have given orders to my chosen soldiers; I have summoned the warriors through whom I will vent my anger, my boasting, arrogant ones. |
| 4Listen, a tumult on the mountains, like that of a mighty people! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations being gathered together! The LORD of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war. | 4There is a loud noise on the mountains--it sounds like a large army! There is great commotion among the kingdoms--nations are being assembled! The LORD who commands armies is mustering forces for battle. |
| 5They are coming from a far land, from the distant horizon-- the LORD and the weapons of His wrath-- to destroy the whole country. | 5They come from a distant land, from the horizon. It is the LORD with his instruments of judgment, coming to destroy the whole earth. |
| 6Wail! For the day of the LORD is near. It will come like destruction from the Almighty. | 6Wail, for the LORD's day of judgment is near; it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge. |
| 7Therefore everyone's hands will become weak, and every man's heart will melt. | 7For this reason all hands hang limp, every human heart loses its courage. |
| 8They will be horrified; pain and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look at each other, their faces flushed with fear. | 8They panic--cramps and pain seize hold of them like those of a woman who is straining to give birth. They look at one another in astonishment; their faces are flushed red. |
| 9Look, the day of the LORD is coming-- cruel, with rage and burning anger-- to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners on it. | 9Look, the LORD's day of judgment is coming; it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger, destroying the earth and annihilating its sinners. |
| 10Indeed, the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shine. | 10Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations no longer give out their light; the sun is darkened as soon as it rises, and the moon does not shine. |
| 11I will bring disaster on the world, and their own iniquity, on the wicked. I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant and humiliate the insolence of tyrants. | 11I will punish the world for its evil, and wicked people for their sin. I will put an end to the pride of the insolent, I will bring down the arrogance of tyrants. |
| 12I will make man scarcer than gold, and mankind more rare than the gold of Ophir. | 12I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold, and people more scarce than gold from Ophir. |
| 13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will shake from its foundations at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts, on the day of His burning anger. | 13So I will shake the heavens, and the earth will shake loose from its foundation, because of the fury of the LORD who commands armies, in the day he vents his raging anger. |
| 14Like wandering gazelles and like sheep without a shepherd, each one will turn to his own people, each one will flee to his own land. | 14Like a frightened gazelle or a sheep with no shepherd, each will turn toward home, each will run to his homeland. |
| 15Whoever is found will be stabbed, and whoever is caught will die by the sword. | 15Everyone who is caught will be stabbed; everyone who is seized will die by the sword. |
| 16Their children will be smashed to death before their eyes; their houses will be looted, and their wives raped. | 16Their children will be smashed to pieces before their very eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives raped. |
| 17Look! I am stirring up the Medes against them, who cannot be bought off with silver and who have no desire for gold. | 17Look, I am stirring up the Medes to attack them; they are not concerned about silver, nor are they interested in gold. |
| 18Their bows will cut young men to pieces. They will have no compassion on little ones; they will not look with pity on children. | 18Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; they have no compassion on a person's offspring, they will not look with pity on children. |
| 19And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. | 19Babylon, the most admired of kingdoms, the Chaldeans' source of honor and pride, will be destroyed by God just as Sodom and Gomorrah were. |
| 20It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; a nomad will not pitch his tent there, and shepherds will not let their flocks rest there. | 20No one will live there again; no one will ever reside there again. No bedouin will camp there, no shepherds will rest their flocks there. |
| 21But desert creatures will lie down there, and owls will fill the houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about. | 21Wild animals will rest there, the ruined houses will be full of hyenas. Ostriches will live there, wild goats will skip among the ruins. |
| 22Hyenas will howl in the fortresses, and jackals, in the luxurious palaces. Babylon's time is almost up; her days are almost over. | 22Wild dogs will yip in her ruined fortresses, jackals will yelp in the once-splendid palaces. Her time is almost up, her days will not be prolonged. |
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