1 T he mournful, inspired prediction (a burden to be lifted up) concerning Babylon which Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

2 R aise up a signal banner upon the high and bare mountain, summon them with loud voice and beckoning hand that they may enter the gates of the nobles.

3 I Myself have commanded My designated ones and have summoned My mighty men to execute My anger, even My proudly exulting ones —those who are made to triumph for My honor.

4 H ark, the uproar of a multitude in the mountains, like that of a great people! The noise of the tumult of the kingdoms of the nations gathering together! The Lord of hosts is mustering the host for the battle.

5 T hey come from a distant country, from the uttermost part of the heavens —even the Lord and the weapons of His indignation—to seize and destroy the whole land.

6 W ail, for the day of the Lord is at hand; as destruction from the Almighty and Sufficient One will it come!

7 T herefore will all hands be feeble, and every man’s heart will melt.

8 A nd they shall be dismayed and terrified, pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman in childbirth. They will gaze stupefied and aghast at one another, their faces will be aflame.

9 B ehold, the day of the Lord is coming!—fierce, with wrath and raging anger—to make the land and the earth a desolation and to destroy out of it its sinners.

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

11 A nd I, the Lord, will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their guilt and iniquity; I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible and the boasting of the violent and ruthless.

12 I will make a man more rare than fine gold, and mankind scarcer than the pure gold of Ophir.

13 T herefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth shall be shaken out of its place at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of His fierce anger.

14 A nd like the chased roe or gazelle, and like sheep that no man gathers, each will turn to his own people, and each will flee to his own land.

15 E veryone who is found will be thrust through, and everyone who is connected with the slain and is caught will fall by the sword.

16 T heir infants also will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.

17 B ehold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold.

18 T heir bows will cut down the young men; and they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb, their eyes will not spare children.

19 A nd Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, shall be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.

20 s hall never be inhabited or dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arab pitch his tent there, nor shall the shepherds make their sheepfolds there.

21 B ut wild beasts of the desert will lie down there, and the people’s houses will be full of dolefully howling creatures; and ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will dance there.

22 A nd wolves and howling creatures will cry and answer in the deserted castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. And time has nearly come, and her days will not be prolonged.