(This is) the burden against Babylon that Isaiah - son of Amoz received :
Raise a banner on a barren hilltop ; call aloud Wave your hand , that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
I have commanded My sanctified ones ; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath (and) exult in My triumph.
Listen , a tumult on the mountains , like that of a great multitude ! Listen , an uproar among the kingdoms , like nations gathered together ! The LORD of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war.
They are coming from faraway lands , from the ends of the heavens — the LORD and the weapons of His wrath — to destroy the whole country.
Wail , for the Day of the LORD is near ; it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
Therefore ... all hands will fall limp , and every man’s heart will melt.
Terror , pain , and anguish will seize them ; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another , their faces flushed ... with fear.
Behold , the Day of the LORD is coming — cruel , with fury and burning anger ... — to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners within it.
For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The rising sun will be darkened , and the moon will not give its light.
I will punish - the world (for its) evil and the wicked for their iniquity. I will end the haughtiness of the arrogant and lay low the pride of the Ruth -less.
{I will make} man scarcer than pure gold , and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.
Therefore ... I will make the heavens tremble , and the earth will be shaken from its place at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts on the day of His burning anger ....
- Like a hunted gazelle , like a sheep without a shepherd , each will return to his own people , each will flee to his native land.
Whoever is caught will be stabbed , and whoever is captured will die by the sword.
Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes , their houses will be looted , and their wives will be ravished.
Behold , I will stir up against them the Medes - , who have no regard for silver and no desire for gold.
Their bows {will dash} young men to pieces ; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb ; they will not look with pity ... on the children.
And Babylon , the jewel of the kingdoms , the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans , will be overthrown by God - like Sodom - and Gomorrah.
She will never ... be inhabited or settled from generation to generation ; no nomad will pitch his tent there , no shepherd will rest his flock there.
But desert creatures will lie down there , and howling creatures will fill her houses. vvv Ostriches will dwell there , and wild goats will leap about ....
Hyenas will howl in her fortresses and jackals in her luxurious palaces. (Babylon’s) time is at hand ... , and her days will not be prolonged.