Isaiah
13 The oracle on Babylon,—of which Isaiah son of Amoz had vision:—
2 Upon a bare mountain lift ye up a standard, Raise high the voice to them,—Wave the hand, That they may enter the doors of nobles.
3 I myself have given charge to my hallowed ones,—Yea I have called My heroes in showing mine anger, My proudly exulting ones.
4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, A resemblance of many people,—The noise of a tumult of kingdoms, Nations gathered together, Yahweh of hosts, mustering a host for battle!
5 They are coming in From a land far away, From the utmost bound of the heavens,—Yahweh—with his weapons of indignation, To destroy the land.
6 Howl ye! for at hand is the day of Yahweh,—As a veritable destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
7 For this cause—All hands shall hang down,—and Every mortal heart melt.
8 And they shall be in distress—Writhings and pains shall lay hold, As a woman in childbirth shall they be in pangs,—Every one at his neighbour shall look in amazement, Faces of flames their faces!
9 Lo! the day of Yahweh coming in, Fierce and overflowing and burning with anger,—To devote the earth to desolation, And her sinners will he destroy out of it.
10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not flash forth their light,—Obscured shall be the sun in his going forth, And the moon shall not shed her light.
11 And I will visit upon the inhabited earth calamity, And upon the lawless their punishment,—And will quiet the arrogance of the proud, And the loftiness of tyrants will I lay low.
12 I will cause a man to be more precious than fine gold,—Even a son of earth than the finest gold of Ophir.
13 For this cause the heavens will I disturb, And the earth shall tremble out of her place,—In the wrath of Yahweh of hosts, And in the day of the glow of his anger.
14 And it shall be—Like a gazelle that is chased, And like a sheep with none to lift it up,—Each to his own people will they turn, And each to his own land will they flee:
15 Every one found shall be thrust through,—And every one taken shall fall by the sword;
16 And their infants shall be dashed to the ground before their eyes,—Plundered shall be their houses, and their wives ravished.
17 Behold me! stirring up against them the Medes,—Who of silver shall take no account, And as for gold they shall not delight in it;
18 And bows shall dash the young to pieces,—And on the fruit of the womb will they have no pity, Over children will their eye throw no shield.
19 Thus shall Babylon—The most lovely of kingdoms, The majestic beauty of the Chaldees—Become as in the divine overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It shall not be dwelt in for ever, Neither shall it be inhabited from generation to generation,—Neither shall encamp there an Arab, Nor shepherds fold their flocks there.
21 Then shall lie down there wild beasts, And filled shall be their houses with owls,—Then shall inhabit there the ostrich, And shaggy creatures shall dance there.
22 And jackals shall answer in their citadels, And wild dogs in their voluptuous palaces,—And near to come is her time, And her days shall not be delayed.