1 T he burden against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

2 “ Lift up a banner on the high mountain, Raise your voice to them; Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.

3 I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have also called My mighty ones for My anger— Those who rejoice in My exaltation.”

4 T he noise of a multitude in the mountains, Like that of many people! A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together! The Lord of hosts musters The army for battle.

5 T hey come from a far country, From the end of heaven— The Lord and His weapons of indignation, To destroy the whole land.

6 W ail, for the day of the Lord is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.

7 T herefore all hands will be limp, Every man’s heart will melt,

8 A nd they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them; They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth; They will be amazed at one another; Their faces will be like flames.

9 B ehold, the day of the Lord comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it.

10 F or the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to shine.

11 “ I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

12 I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.

13 T herefore I will shake the heavens, And the earth will move out of her place, In the wrath of the Lord of hosts And in the day of His fierce anger.

14 I t shall be as the hunted gazelle, And as a sheep that no man takes up; Every man will turn to his own people, And everyone will flee to his own land.

15 E veryone who is found will be thrust through, And everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.

16 T heir children also will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered And their wives ravished.

17 “ Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, Who will not regard silver; And as for gold, they will not delight in it.

18 A lso their bows will dash the young men to pieces, And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; Their eye will not spare children.

19 A nd Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

20 I t will never be inhabited, Nor will it be settled from generation to generation; Nor will the Arabian pitch tents there, Nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there.

21 B ut wild beasts of the desert will lie there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches will dwell there, And wild goats will caper there.

22 T he hyenas will howl in their citadels, And jackals in their pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, And her days will not be prolonged.”