The Holy Bible

A Proclamation against Babylon

oracle against Babylon that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:

2 “Lift up a banner on a bare hill,
shout to them; wave your hand, and they will enter
through the gates of the nobles. 3 I have commanded My consecrated ones;
I have summoned My warriors to execute My wrath— those who rejoice in My triumph.”

4 Listen, a tumult on the mountains,
like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,
like nations massing together! The Lord of Hosts is mustering
an army for battle. 5 They are coming 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;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty. 7 Therefore all hands will go limp,
and every man’s heart will melt. 8 They will be dismayed;
pangs and agony will take hold of them; they will be in travail like a woman in labour. They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.

9 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming—
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation,
and to destroy the 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 humiliate the insolence of tyrants. 12 I will make man more rare than fine gold,
and mankind rarer 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,
on the day of His burning anger.

14 “Like a hunted gazelle,
like sheep with no one to gather them, every man will turn to his own people,
and each one will flee to his own land. 15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
and whoever is caught will die by the sword. 16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered, and their wives ravished.

17 “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them,
who do not care for silver, and who have no desire for gold. 18 Their bows will cut down their young men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children.

19 “Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms,
the glory and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them. 20 It will never be inhabited
or lived in from generation to generation; Arabs will not pitch their tents there,
no shepherd will rest his flocks there. 21 But wild animals of the desert will lie down there,
and owls will fill the houses; ostriches will dwell there,
and wild goats will leap about there. 22 Hyenas will howl in their fortresses,
and jackals in their luxurious palaces. Babylon’s time is nearly up,
and her days will not be prolonged.”