| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. | 1This is a message about Babylon that God revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz: |
| 2On a bare hill raise a signal; cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to 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 myself have commanded my consecrated ones, and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones. | 3I have given orders to my chosen soldiers; I have summoned the warriors through whom I will vent my anger, my boasting, arrogant ones. |
| 4The sound of a tumult is on the mountains as of a great multitude! The sound of an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together! The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle. | 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 come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. | 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; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! | 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 be feeble, and every human heart will melt. | 7For this reason all hands hang limp, every human heart loses its courage. |
| 8They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame. | 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 comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from 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 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. | 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 put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous 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 people more rare than fine gold, and mankind 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 out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce 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. |
| 14And like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, each will turn to his own people, and each 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 thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. | 15Everyone who is caught will be stabbed; everyone who is seized will die by the sword. |
| 16Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished. | 16Their children will be smashed to pieces before their very eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives raped. |
| 17Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in 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 slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity 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 glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp 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 for all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there; no shepherds will make their flocks lie down 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 wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there wild goats will dance. | 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 cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its 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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