Babylon falls

¹An oracle about Babylon, which Isaiah, Amoz’s son, saw.

²On a bare mountain raise a signal;

cry aloud to them;

wave a hand;

let them enter the officials’ gates.

³I have commanded my holy ones;

I have called my warriors,

my proud, jubilant ones,

to execute my wrath.

⁴Listen! A roar on the mountains like that of a great crowd.[#13.4 Heb lacks]

Listen! An uproar of kingdoms,

of nations coming together.

The LORD of heavenly forces is mustering an army for battle.

⁵They are coming from a distant land,

the LORD and the instruments of his fury, to destroy the whole land.

⁶Wail, for the day of the LORD is near.

Like destruction from the Almighty it will come.

⁷Then all hands will fall limp;

every human heart will melt,

⁸and they will be terrified.

Like a woman writhing in labor,

they will be seized by spasms and agony.

They will look at each other aghast,

their faces blazing.

⁹Look, the day of the LORD is coming with cruel rage and burning anger,

making the earth a ruin,

and wiping out its sinners.

¹⁰Heaven’s stars and constellations won’t show their light.

The sun will be dark when it rises;

the moon will no longer shine.

¹¹I will bring disaster upon the world for its evil,

and bring their own sin upon the wicked.

I will end the pride of the insolent,

and the conceit of tyrants I will lay low.

¹²I will make humans scarcer than fine gold;

people rarer than the gold of Ophir.

¹³I will rattle the heavens;

the earth will shake loose from its place—because of the rage

of the LORD of heavenly forces

¹⁴They will be like hunted gazelles, like sheep without a shepherd;

all will turn to their own people

and flee to their own lands.

¹⁵Whoever is found will be stabbed;

whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

¹⁶Their infants will be crushed before their eyes;

their houses plundered, their women raped.

¹⁷Look! I’m rousing the Medes against them;

the Medes pay no mind to silver, no desire for gold.

¹⁸Their bows will smash youths;

they will be merciless to newborns, pitiless to children.

¹⁹So Babylon, a jewel among kingdoms,

the Chaldeans’ splendor and pride,

will be like Sodom and Gomorrah,

²⁰No one will ever resettle

or live there for generations.

No Arab will camp there;

no shepherds will rest flocks there.

²¹Wildcats will rest there;

houses will be filled with owls.

Ostriches will live there,

and goat demons will dance there.

²²Hyenas will howl in its strongholds,

and jackals in its luxurious palaces.

Babylon’s time is coming soon;

its days won’t drag on.