The first of a series of oracles against the nations: Isaiah foretells the fall of Babylon on the day of the LORD, when the stars will not give their light and Babylon will be overthrown like Sodom and Gomorrah.
1 The burden of Babylon , which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see .
2 Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain , exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand , that they may go into the gates of the nobles .
3 I have commanded my sanctified ones , I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger , even them that rejoice in my highness .
4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains , like as of a great people ; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together : the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle .
5 They come from a far country , from the end of heaven , even the LORD , and the weapons of his indignation , to destroy the whole land .
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand ; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty .
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint , and every man's heart shall melt :
8 And they shall be afraid : pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth : they shall be amazed one at another ; their faces shall be as flames .
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh , cruel both with wrath and fierce anger , to lay the land desolate : and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light : the sun shall be darkened in his going forth , and the moon shall not cause her light to shine .
11 And I will punish the world for their evil , and the wicked for their iniquity ; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease , and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible .
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold ; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir .
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens , and the earth shall remove out of her place , in the wrath of the LORD of hosts , and in the day of his fierce anger .
14 And it shall be as the chased roe , and as a sheep that no man taketh up : they shall every man turn to his own people , and flee every one into his own land .
15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through ; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword .
16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes ; their houses shall be spoiled , and their wives ravished .
17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver ; and as for gold , they shall not delight in it.
18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces ; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb ; their eye shall not spare children .
19 And Babylon , the glory of kingdoms , the beauty of the Chaldees ' excellency , shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah .
20 It shall never be inhabited , neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation : neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures ; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses , and dragons in their pleasant palaces : and her time is near to come , and her days shall not be prolonged .