13:1 An oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

13:2 Raise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles.

13:3 I have commanded my holy ones; I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath--those who rejoice in my triumph.

13:4 Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together! The LORD Almighty is mustering an army for war.

13:5 They come from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens--the LORD and the weapons of his wrath--to destroy the whole country.

13:6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.

13:7 Because of this, all hands will go limp, every man's heart will melt.

13:8 Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.

13:9 See, the day of the LORD is coming--a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger--to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.

13:10 The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.

13:11 I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.

13:12 I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir.

13:13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.

13:14 Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land.

13:15 Whoever is captured will be thrust through; all who are caught will fall by the sword.

13:16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives ravished.

13:17 See, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold.

13:18 Their bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants nor will they look with compassion on children.

13:19 Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians' pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.

13:20 She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there.

13:21 But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about.

13:22 Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.