Isaiah 13

¹ The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

² On a bare hill raise a signal, cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles.

³ I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones.

⁴ Hark, a tumult on the mountains as of a great multitude! Hark, an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together! The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle.

⁵ They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole earth.

⁶ Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!

⁷ Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every man's heart will melt,

⁸ and they will be dismayed. Pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in travail. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.

⁹ Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.

¹⁰ For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light.

¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless.

¹² I will make men more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir.

¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.

¹⁴ And like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, every man will turn to his own people, and every man will flee to his own land.

¹⁵ Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.

¹⁷ Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold.

¹⁸ Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children.

¹⁹ And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.

²⁰ It will never be inhabited or dwelt in for all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.

²¹ But wild beasts will lie down there, and its houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there satyrs will dance.

²² Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.