1. The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:
2. Lift up a banner on a bare mountain, raise a voice to them, wave a hand, so that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
3. I have commanded My consecrated ones, yes, I have called My mighty ones, My proud exulting ones, for My fury.
4. A sound of tumult in the mountains like that of many people! A sound of uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathered! Adonai-Tzva’ot is mustering the army for battle.
5. They are coming from a far country— from the end of the heavens— Adonai and the weapons of His wrath, to destroy the whole land.
6. Wail, for the day of Adonai is near! it will come as destruction from Shaddai.
7. Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man’s heart will melt.
8. They will be terrified; pain and anguish will take hold of them; they will writhe as a woman in labor; they will look aghast at one another— their faces aflame!
9. Behold, the day of Adonai comes, cruel, full of wrath and fierce fury, to make the earth a desolation, and destroy its sinners from it.
10. For 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.
11. I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud, and abase the insolence of tyrants.
12. I will make people scarcer than gold, even than the pure gold of Ophir.
13. Therefore I will make heaven tremble, and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of Adonai-Tzva’ot, in the day of His fierce fury.
14. It will be like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with no one gathering. Each will return to his own people, each will flee to his own country.
15. Everyone found will be thrust through. Everyone caught will fall by the sword.
16. Their babes will be dashed in pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be plundered, and their wives ravished.
17. Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who will not value silver and will take no delight in gold.
18. Their bows will cut down the young men, with no pity on the fruit of the womb, nor will their eye spare children.
19. So Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of Chaldean pride, will be just as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20. It will never be inhabited, nor will it be dwelt in from generation to generation, nor will an Arab pitch a tent there, nor will shepherds let flocks lie there.
21. But desert creatures will lie there. Their houses will be full of owls. Ostriches will dwell there, and goat-demons will dance there.
22. Hyenas will howl in their citadels and jackals in their pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come— her days will not drag on long.