1This is a message about Babylon that Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw:
2Raise a banner on the bare mountain! Shout to them! Wave your hand so they will go into the gates of the nobles.
3I have given orders to my chosen warriors; yes, I have called my mighty men, those who celebrate proudly, to carry out my anger.
4Listen! A noise of many people in the mountains, like a great nation. Listen! The roar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together! Yahweh of Armies is assembling an army for battle.
5They come from a distant land, from the farthest reaches of heaven—Yahweh and the weapons of his anger—to destroy the whole land.
6Cry out in sorrow, because the day of Yahweh is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
7Therefore, all hands will become weak, and every heart will lose courage.
8They will be terrified. Pain and sorrow will grab hold of them. They will be in agony like a woman giving birth. They will look at each other in shock, their faces burning with fear.
9Look, the day of Yahweh is coming—a cruel day, filled with his furious anger—to make the land a wasteland and to destroy its sinners.
10For the stars of the sky and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shine.
11I will punish the world for their evil deeds and the wicked for their wrongdoing. I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant and bring down the haughtiness of violent people.
12I will make people scarcer than rare gold, even more so than the pure gold of Ophir.
13Because of this, I will make the heavens shake, and the earth will be moved from its place by the wrath of Yahweh of Armies, on the day of his fierce anger.
14Then, like a hunted gazelle or sheep that no one gathers, each person will turn to their own people and flee to their own land.
15Everyone who is found will be stabbed, and everyone who is captured will die by the sword.
16Their babies will be smashed to pieces right before their eyes. Their houses will be looted, and their wives raped.
17Look, I will send the Medes against them. They will not care about silver or enjoy gold.
18Their arrows will cut down young men; they will have no pity on unborn babies. They will not spare children.
19Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms, the Chaldeans' beautiful and proud city, will be destroyed just as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20It will never be lived in again, nor will anyone live there for generations. Arabs will not pitch their tents there, and shepherds will not let their sheep rest there.
21Instead, wild animals of the desert will live there, and their houses will be full of jackals. Ostriches will live there, and wild goats will leap around there.
22Wolves will howl in their fortresses, and jackals in their luxurious palaces. Babylon's end is near, and its days will not be extended.