10. The stars in the sky and their constellationswon’t show their light anymore.The sun will be dark when it rises.The moon won’t shine.
11. I will punish the world for its eviland the wicked for their wrongdoing.I will put an end to arrogant peopleand humble the pride of tyrants.
12. I will make people harder to find than pure goldand human beings more rare than gold from Ophir.
13. I will make heaven tremble,and the earth will be shaken from its placewhen the Lord of Armies is angry.At that time he will be very angry.
14. They’ll be like hunted gazelleand like sheep with no one to gather them.Everyone will return to his own peopleand flee to his own land.
15. Whoever is found will be stabbed to death.Whoever is captured will be executed.
16. Their little children will be smashed to death right before their eyes.Their houses will be looted and their wives raped.
17. I’m going to stir up the Medes against them.They don’t care for silver and aren’t happy with gold.
18. But their bows will smash the youth.They’ll have no compassion for babies,nor will they look with pity on children.
19. Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,the proud beauty of the Chaldeans,will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them.
20. It will never be inhabited again,and no one will live in it for generations.Arabs won’t pitch their tents there.Shepherds won’t let their flocks rest there.
21. Desert animals will lie down there.Their homes will be full of owls.Ostriches will live there,and wild goats will skip about.
22. Hyenas will howl in Babylon’s strongholds,and jackals will howl in its luxurious palaces.Its time has almost come.Its days will not be extended.