1. The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
2. On a bare hill raise a signal;cry aloud to them;wave the hand for them to enterthe gates of the nobles.
3. I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,my proudly exulting ones.
4. The sound of a tumult is on the mountainsas of a great multitude!The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,of nations gathering together! The Lord of hosts is musteringa host for battle.
5. They come from a distant land,from the end of the heavens,the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,to destroy the whole land.
6. Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;as destruction from the Almighty it will come!
7. Therefore all hands will be feeble,and every human heart will melt.
8. They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.They will look aghast at one another;their faces will be aflame.
9. Behold, the day of the Lord comes,cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,to make the land a desolationand to destroy its sinners from it.
10. For the stars of the heavens and their constellationswill not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising,and the moon will not shed its light.
11. I will punish the world for its evil,and the wicked for their iniquity;I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
12. I will make people more rare than fine gold,and mankind than the gold of Ophir.
13. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,and the earth will be shaken out of its place,at the wrath of the Lord of hostsin the day of his fierce anger.