| Berean Study Bible | NET Bible |
| 1This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received: | 1This is a message about Babylon that God revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz: |
| 2Raise a banner on a barren hilltop; call aloud to them. Wave your hand, that they may enter 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 sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph. | 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 great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations 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 faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens—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 as 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 all hands will fall limp, and every man’s heart will melt. | 7For this reason all hands hang limp, every human heart loses its courage. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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 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. | 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 pure gold, and mankind rarer 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 be shaken from its place 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 a hunted gazelle, like a sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land. | 14Like a frightened gazelle or a sheep with no shepherd, each will turn toward home, each will run to his homeland. |
| 15Whoever is caught will be stabbed, and whoever is captured will die by the sword. | 15Everyone who is caught will be stabbed; everyone who is seized 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. | 16Their children will be smashed to pieces before their very eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives raped. |
| 17Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who have no regard for silver and 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 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. | 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 overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. | 19Babylon, the most admired of kingdoms, the Chaldeans' source of honor and pride, will be destroyed by God just as Sodom and Gomorrah were. |
| 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. | 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 howling creatures will fill her 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 her fortresses and jackals in her luxurious palaces. Babylon’s time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged. | 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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