The burden concerning Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:

Upon a bare mountain raise up a standard; Lift up your voice to them. Wave your hand that they may enter The gates of the nobles.

I Myself have commanded My sanctified ones; I have also called My mighty ones to My wrath, Those who exult in My majesty.

The sound of a tumult in the mountains, Like that of many peoples! The sound of an uproar of the kingdoms, Of nations gathered together! Jehovah of hosts is mustering An army for battle.

They are coming from a distant land, From the ends of heaven-Jehovah and the instruments of His indignation-To ruin all the land.

Howl, for the day of Jehovah has drawn near! As destruction from the Almighty, it will come.

Because of this all the hands will drop, And every human heart will melt;

And people will be dismayed. Pangs and anguish will seize them; Like a woman giving birth, they will writhe. Each man will look toward his neighbor dumbfounded; Their faces are inflamed.

Now the day of Jehovah is coming-Cruel and with overflowing wrath and burning anger-To make the land a desolation; And He will destroy its sinners off of it.

For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not shine forth their light; The sun will be dark at its rising, And the moon will not let its light shine.

And I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will stop the arrogance of the proud, And the haughtiness of the terrible I will abase.

I will make mortal man rarer than pure gold, And mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.

Hence, I will make the heavens shake, And the earth will quake out of its place, At the overflowing wrath of Jehovah of hosts, In the day of His burning anger.

And like the hunted gazelle And sheep without someone to gather them, Each man will turn to his own people, And each will flee to his own land.

Everyone found will be pierced through, And everyone caught will fall by the sword.

And their little ones will be dashed to pieces Before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered, And their wives will be attacked.

Now I rouse up the Medes against them, Who will not esteem silver highly, Nor take delight in gold.

Their bows will shatter the young men; And they will not have compassion on the fruit of the womb: Their eyes will have no pity on children.

And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, The glory of the Chaldeans' majesty, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah:

It will not be inhabited forever; It will not be dwelt in from generation to generation. And the Arab will not set up his tent there, Nor will the shepherds make their flocks lie down there.

But desert animals will lie down there, And their houses will be full of wild dogs; There ostriches will dwell, And wild goats will prance there;

Hyenas will respond in their citadels, And jackals in their exquisite palaces. Her time is about to come, And her days will not be prolonged.