Isaiah 13:1-22 GW

[1] This is the divine revelation which Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw about Babylon. [2] Raise a banner on the bare mountaintop. Call loudly to them. Signal them with your hand to enter the nobles' gates. [3] I've commanded my holy ones. I've called my mighty men to carry out my anger. They find joy in my triumphs. [4] Listen to the noise on the mountains. It is like the sound of a large army. It is the sound of kingdoms and nations gathering together. The LORD of Armies is assembling his army for battle. [5] His army is coming from a distant land, from the ends of heaven. The LORD is coming with the weapons of his fury to destroy the whole world. [6] Cry loudly, for the day of the LORD is near. It will come like destruction from the Almighty. [7] That is why every hand will hang limp, and everyone's courage will fail. [8] They'll be terrified. Pain and anguish will seize them. They'll writhe like a woman giving birth to a child. They'll look at one another in astonishment. Their faces will be burning red. [9] The day of the LORD is going to come. It will be a cruel day with fury and fierce anger. He will make the earth desolate. He will destroy its sinners. [10] The stars in the sky and their constellations won't show their light anymore. The sun will be dark when it rises. The moon won't shine. [11] I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their wrongdoing. I will put an end to arrogant people and humble the pride of tyrants. [12] I will make people harder to find than pure gold and human beings more rare than gold from Ophir. [13] I will make heaven tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place when the LORD of Armies is angry. At that time he will be very angry. [14] They'll be like hunted gazelle and like sheep with no one to gather them. Everyone will return to his own people and flee to his own land. [15] Whoever is found will be stabbed to death. Whoever is captured will be executed. [16] Their little children will be smashed to death right before their eyes. Their houses will be looted and their wives raped. [17] I'm going to stir up the Medes against them. They don't care for silver and aren't happy with gold. [18] But their bows will smash the youth. They'll have no compassion for babies, nor will they look with pity on children. [19] Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the proud beauty of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them. [20] It will never be inhabited again, and no one will live in it for generations. Arabs won't pitch their tents there. Shepherds won't let their flocks rest there. [21] Desert animals will lie down there. Their homes will be full of owls. Ostriches will live there, and wild goats will skip about. [22] Hyenas will howl in Babylon's strongholds, and jackals will howl in its luxurious palaces. Its time has almost come. Its days will not be extended.