The Burden against Babylon

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

2Raise a banner on a barren hilltop;

call aloud to them.

Wave your hand,

that they may enter the gates of the nobles.

3I have commanded My sanctified ones;

I have even summoned My warriors

to execute My wrath

and exult in My triumph.

4Listen, 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.

5They are coming from faraway lands,

from the ends of the heavens—

the LORD and the weapons of His wrath—

to destroy the whole country.

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

it will come as destruction from the Almighty.a

7Therefore all hands will fall limp,

and every man’s heart will melt.

8Terror, 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.

9Behold, 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.

10For 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.

11I 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.

12I will make man scarcer than pure gold,

and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.

13Therefore 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.

14Like a hunted gazelle,

like a sheep without a shepherd,

each will return to his own people,

each will flee to his native land.

15Whoever is caught will be stabbed,

and whoever is captured will die by the sword.

16Their infants will be dashed to pieces

before their eyes,

their houses will be looted,

and their wives will be ravished.

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

who have no regard for silver

and no desire for gold.

18Their 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.

19And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,

the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans,

will be overthrown by God

like Sodom and Gomorrah.

20She will never be inhabited

or settled from generation to generation;

no nomad will pitch his tent there,

no shepherd will rest his flock there.

21But desert creatures will lie down there,

and howling creatures will fill her houses.

Ostrichesb will dwell there,

and wild goats will leap about.

22Hyenas will howl in her fortresses

and jackalsc in her luxurious palaces.

Babylon’s time is at hand,

and her days will not be prolonged.