A Word Over Babylon
13 1 The oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw.
2 Raise a banner on a bare hilltop; call out to them, beckon with your hand that they may enter the gates of the nobles. 3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones; I have summoned my warriors to carry out my anger — those who exult in my majesty.
4 Listen — an uproar on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen — the roar of kingdoms, of nations massing together! The Father of heaven's armies is mustering an army for battle. 5 They come from a far-off land, from the ends of the heavens — our Father and the weapons of his wrath — to destroy the whole earth. 6 Wail, for the day of our Father is near; it comes as devastation from the Almighty. a a v6 The 'day of the LORD' is the prophets' name for our Father's day of reckoning. His judgment flows from the same heart that loves his children — defending them, ending what destroys them. 7 Because of this every hand goes limp, and every human heart melts. 8 They are gripped with terror; pangs and agony seize them; they writhe like a woman in labor. They stare at one another in horror, their faces aflame. 9 Look — the day of our Father is coming, cruel, with fury and burning anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners on it. 10 The stars of the heavens and their constellations will give no light; the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shed its glow.
11 I will bring judgment upon the world for its evil, and upon the wicked for their guilt; I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of tyrants. 12 I will make people rarer than pure gold, mankind scarcer than the gold of Ophir. 13 So I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will shake from its place, at the wrath of the Father of heaven's armies, in the day of his burning anger.
14 Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep with no one to gather them, each will turn back to his own people, each will flee to his own land. 15 Whoever is found will be run through, and whoever is captured will fall by the sword. 16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives raped.
17 Look — I am stirring up the Medes against them, who care nothing for silver and take no delight in gold. b b v17 The Medes were a powerful ancient empire from northwest Iran, later allied with Persia to conquer Babylon. 18 Their bows will cut down the young men; they will show no mercy to infants; they will have no pity for the children.
19 And Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when our Father overthrew them. 20 It will never be inhabited or settled through all generations; no Arab will camp there, no shepherds will bed down their flocks there. 21 But desert creatures will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling beasts; there ostriches will dwell, and wild goats will leap about. 22 Hyenas will howl in its strongholds, and jackals in its luxurious palaces. Her time is near, and her days will not last long.