Read the Bible

² Hoist a banner on a high mountain,
shout to [the invaders];
beckon them to enter the Nobles' Gate.
³ "I have ordered my holy ones,
summoned my heroes, eager and bold,
to execute my anger."
⁴ Listen! A tumult on the mountains —
it sounds like a vast multitude!
Listen! The uproar of the kingdoms
of the nations gathering together!
Adonai-Tzva'ot is mustering
an army for war.
⁵ They come from a distant land,
from beyond the horizon.
It's Adonai, with the weapons of his rage,
to lay waste to all the earth.
⁶ Howl! for the Day of Adonai is at hand,
destruction coming from Shaddai.
⁷ This is why every arm will hang limp
and everyone's courage melt away.
⁸ They will be gripped by panic,
seized with pain and agony,
writhing like a woman in labor,
looking aghast at each other, faces aflame.
⁹ Here comes the Day of Adonai,
full of cruelty, rage and hot fury,
to desolate the earth
and destroy the sinners in it.
¹⁰ For the stars, the constellations in the sky,
will no longer give their light;
the sun will be dark when it rises;
and the moon will no longer shine.

¹¹ "I will punish the world for its evil
and the wicked for their iniquity.
I will end the arrogance of the proud
and humble the insolence of tyrants.
¹² I will make humans rarer than gold,
scarcer than Ofir's pure gold.
¹³ This is why I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken from its place
at the wrath of Adonai-Tzva'ot
on the day of his fierce anger.
¹⁴ Then, like a hunted gazelle,
like sheep with no one to gather them,
everyone will head back to his own people;
everyone will flee to his own land.
¹⁵ Anyone found will be pierced through;
anyone caught will fall by the sword,
¹⁶ their babies dashed to pieces before their eyes,
their houses looted, their wives raped.
¹⁷ I will stir up against them the Medes,
who cannot be tempted by silver
or bought off with gold.
¹⁸ Their bows will tear young men to pieces,
they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb,
their eye will not spare children."

¹⁹ Thus Bavel, that jewel of kingdoms,
the pride and glory of the Kasdim,
will be like S'dom and ‘Amora
when overthrown by God.
²⁰ It will never again be inhabited,
never lived in through all generations.
Arabs will not pitch tents there
nor shepherds bring their flocks.
²¹ But wildcats will lie there,
their houses will be full of owls,
ostriches will live there,
and wild goats will dance there.
²² Jackals will howl in their palaces
and wild dogs in their temples of delight.
Its time is close at hand,
its days will not last long.