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¹ The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.² On a bare hill raise a signal, cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles.³ I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones.⁴ Hark, a tumult on the mountains as of a great multitude! Hark, an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together! The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle.⁵ They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole earth.

⁶ Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!⁷ Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every man's heart will melt,⁸ and they will be dismayed. Pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in travail. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.⁹ Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.¹⁰ For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light.¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless.¹² I will make men more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir.¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.¹⁴ And like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, every man will turn to his own people, and every man will flee to his own land.¹⁵ Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.¹⁷ Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold.¹⁸ Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children.

¹⁹ And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chalde'ans, will be like Sodom and Gomor'rah when God overthrew them.²⁰ It will never be inhabited or dwelt in for all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.²¹ But wild beasts will lie down there, and its houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there satyrs will dance.²² Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.