8. They will all be terrified and overcome with pain, like the pain of a woman in labour. They will look at each other in fear, and their faces will burn with shame.
9. The day of the Lord is coming — that cruel day of his fierce anger and fury. The earth will be made a wilderness, and every sinner will be destroyed.
10. Every star and every constellation will stop shining, the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will give no light.
11. The Lord says, “I will bring disaster on the earth and punish all wicked people for their sins. I will humble everyone who is proud and punish everyone who is arrogant and cruel.
12. Those who survive will be scarcer than gold.
13. I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place on that day when I, the Lord Almighty, show my anger.
14. “The foreigners living in Babylon will run away to their own countries, scattering like deer escaping from hunters, like sheep without a shepherd.
15. Anyone who is caught will be stabbed to death.
16. While they look on helplessly, their babies will be battered to death, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be raped.”
17. The Lord says, “I am stirring up the Medes to attack Babylon. They care nothing for silver and are not tempted by gold.
18. With their bows and arrows they will kill the young men. They will show no mercy to babies and take no pity on children.
19. Babylonia is the most beautiful kingdom of all; it is the pride of its people. But I, the Lord, will overthrow Babylon as I did Sodom and Gomorrah!
20. No one will ever live there again. No wandering Arab will ever pitch his tent there, and no shepherd will ever pasture his flock there.