Isaiah 13:1–22

¹ This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received: ² Raise a banner on a barren hilltop; call aloud to them. Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles. ³ I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph. ⁴ Listen, a tumult on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations gathered together! The LORD of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war. ⁵ They are coming from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens— the LORD and the weapons of His wrath— to destroy the whole country. ⁶ Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty. ⁷ Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man’s heart will melt. ⁸ Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another, their faces flushed with fear. ⁹ Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming— cruel, with fury and burning anger— to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners within 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 its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. I will end the haughtiness of the arrogant and lay low the pride of the ruthless. ¹² I will make man scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir. ¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts on the day of His burning anger. ¹⁴ Like a hunted gazelle, like a sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land. ¹⁵ Whoever is caught will be stabbed, and whoever is captured will die by the sword. ¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be ravished. ¹⁷ Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who have no regard for silver and no desire for gold. ¹⁸ Their bows will dash young men to pieces; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; they will not look with pity on the children. ¹⁹ And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. ²⁰ She will never be inhabited or settled from generation to generation; no nomad will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flock there. ²¹ But desert creatures will lie down there, and howling creatures will fill her houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about. ²² Hyenas will howl in her f…