Isaiah 13:1-22 CEB

[1] An oracle about Babylon, which Isaiah, Amoz’s son, saw. [2] On a bare mountain raise a signal; cry aloud to them; wave a hand; let them enter the officials’ gates. [3] I have commanded my holy ones; I have called my warriors, my proud, jubilant ones, to execute my wrath. [4] Listen! A roar on the mountains like that of a great crowd. Listen! An uproar of kingdoms, of nations coming together. The LORD of heavenly forces is mustering an army for battle. [5] They are coming from a distant land, from the faraway heavens, the LORD and the instruments of his fury, to destroy the whole land. [6] Wail, for the day of the LORD is near. Like destruction from the Almighty it will come. [7] Then all hands will fall limp; every human heart will melt, [8] and 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. [9] Look, the day of the LORD is coming with cruel rage and burning anger, making the earth a ruin, and wiping out its sinners. [10] Heaven’s stars and constellations won’t show their light. The sun will be dark when it rises; the moon will no longer shine. [11] I 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. [12] I will make humans scarcer than fine gold; people rarer than the gold of Ophir. [13] I will rattle the heavens; the earth will shake loose from its place—because of the rage of the LORD of heavenly forces on the day his anger burns. [14] They will be like hunted gazelles, like sheep without a shepherd; all will turn to their own people and flee to their own lands. [15] Whoever is found will be stabbed; whoever is caught will fall by the sword. [16] Their infants will be crushed before their eyes; their houses plundered, their women raped. [17] Look! I’m rousing the Medes against them; the Medes pay no mind to silver, no desire for gold. [18] Their bows will smash youths; they will be merciless to newborns, pitiless to children. [19] So Babylon, a jewel among kingdoms, the Chaldeans’ splendor and pride, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed by God. [20] No one will ever resettle or live there for generations. No Arab will camp there; no shepherds will rest flocks there. [21] Wildcats will rest there; houses will be filled with owls. Ostriches will live there, and goat demons will dance there. [22] Hyenas will howl in its strongholds, and jackals in its luxurious palaces. Babylon’s time is coming soon; its days won’t drag on.