The Burden against Babylon

¹ This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:

² Raise a banner on a barren hilltop;

call aloud to them.

Wave^* your hand,

that they may enter the gates of the nobles.

³ I have commanded My sanctified ones;

I have even summoned My warriors

to execute My wrath

and exult in My triumph.^*

⁴ Listen, a tumult on the mountains,

like that of a great multitude!

Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,

like nations gathered together!

The LORD of Hosts is mobilizing

an army for war.

⁵ They are coming from faraway lands,

from the ends of the heavens—

the LORD and the weapons of His wrath—

to destroy the whole country.

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

it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

⁷ Therefore all hands will fall limp,

and every man’s heart will melt.

⁸ Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them;

they will writhe like a woman in labor.

They will look at one another,

their faces flushed with fear.

⁹ Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming—

cruel, with fury and burning anger—

to make the earth a desolation

and to destroy the sinners within it.

¹⁰ For the stars of heaven and their constellations

will not give their light.

The rising sun will be darkened,

and the moon will not give its light.

¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil

and the wicked for their iniquity.

I will end the haughtiness of the arrogant

and lay low the pride of the ruthless.

¹² I will make man scarcer than pure gold,

and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.

¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,

and the earth will be shaken from its place

at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts

on the day of His burning anger.

¹⁴ Like a hunted gazelle,

like a sheep without a shepherd,

each will return to his own people,

each will flee to his native land.

¹⁵ Whoever is caught will be stabbed,

and whoever is captured^* will die by the sword.

¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed to pieces

before their eyes,

their houses will be looted,

and their wives will be ravished.

¹⁷ Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes,

who have no regard for silver

and no desire for gold.

¹⁸ Their bows will dash young men to pieces;

they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

they will not look with pity on the children.

¹⁹ And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,

the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans,

will be overthrown by God

like Sodom and Gomorrah.

²⁰ She will never be inhabited

or settled from generation to generation;

no nomad will pitch his tent there,

no shepherd will rest his flock there.

²¹ But desert creatures will lie down there,

and howling creatures will fill her houses.

Ostriches will dwell there,

and wild goats^* will leap about.

²² Hyenas will howl in her fortresses

and jackals in her luxurious palaces.

Babylon’s time is at hand,

and her days will not be prolonged.