Isaiah 13

¹ Oracle on Babylon, seen by Isaiah son of Amoz.

² On a bare hill hoist a signal, sound the war cry. Beckon them to come to the Nobles’ Gate.

³ I, for my part, issue orders to my sacred warriors, I summon my knights to serve my anger, my proud champions.

⁴ Listen! A rumbling in the mountains like a great crowd. Listen! The din of kingdoms of nations mustering. It is Yahweh Sabaoth marshalling the troops for battle.

⁵ They come from a distant country, from the far horizons, Yahweh and the instruments of his fury to lay the whole earth waste.

⁶ Howl! For the day of Yahweh is near, bringing devastation from Shaddai.

⁷ At this, every arm falls limp…The heart of each man fails him,

⁸ they are terrified, pangs and pains seize them, they writhe like a woman in labour. They look at one another with feverish faces.

⁹ The day of Yahweh is coming, merciless, with wrath and fierce anger, to reduce the earth to desert and root out the sinners from it.

¹⁰ For the stars of the sky and Orion shall not let their light shine; the sun shall be dark when it rises, and the moon not shed her light.

¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil-doing, and the wicked for their crimes, to put an end to the pride of arrogant men and humble the pride of despots.

¹² I will make men scarcer than pure gold, human life scarcer than the gold of Ophir.

¹³ This is why I am going to shake the heavens – and make the earth reel from its place, before the wrath of Yahweh Sabaoth, the day when his anger flares.

¹⁴ Then like a startled gazelle, like sheep that no one shepherds, each man will return to his people, each take flight to his native land.

¹⁵ All those caught are slaughtered, all those captured fall by the sword,

¹⁶ their babies are dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses plundered, their wives raped.

¹⁷ See now, I stir up against them the Medes, who think nothing of silver, who take no pleasure in gold.

¹⁸ The baby boys all cut to pieces, the baby girls all crushed. They have no mercy on the fruit of the womb, no pity in their eyes for children.

¹⁹ Babylon, that pearl of kingdoms, the jewel and boast of Chaldaeans, like Sodom and Gomorrah shall be overthrown by God.

²⁰ Never more will anyone live there or be born there from generation to generation. No Arab will pitch his tent there, nor shepherds feed their flocks.

²¹ But beasts of the desert will lie there, and owls fill its houses. Ostriches will make their home there and satyrs have their dances there.

²² Hyenas will call to each other in its keeps, jackals in the luxury of its palaces…Its time is almost up, its days will not last long.