| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. | 1Isaiah son of Amoz received this message concerning the destruction of Babylon: |
| 2On a bare hill raise a signal; cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles. | 2“Raise a signal flag on a bare hilltop. Call up an army against Babylon. Wave your hand to encourage them as they march into the palaces of the high and mighty. |
| 3I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones. | 3I, the LORD, have dedicated these soldiers for this task. Yes, I have called mighty warriors to express my anger, and they will rejoice when I am exalted.” |
| 4The sound of a tumult is on the mountains as of a great multitude! The sound of an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together! The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle. | 4Hear the noise on the mountains! Listen, as the vast armies march! It is the noise and shouting of many nations. The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has called this army together. |
| 5They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. | 5They come from distant countries, from beyond the farthest horizons. They are the LORD’s weapons to carry out his anger. With them he will destroy the whole land. |
| 6Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! | 6Scream in terror, for the day of the LORD has arrived— the time for the Almighty to destroy. |
| 7Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt. | 7Every arm is paralyzed with fear. Every heart melts, |
| 8They 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. | 8and people are terrified. Pangs of anguish grip them, like those of a woman in labor. They look helplessly at one another, their faces aflame with fear. |
| 9Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. | 9For see, the day of the LORD is coming— the terrible day of his fury and fierce anger. The land will be made desolate, and all the sinners destroyed with it. |
| 10For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. | 10The heavens will be black above them; the stars will give no light. The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will provide no light. |
| 11I 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. | 11“I, the LORD, will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their sin. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of the mighty. |
| 12I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir. | 12I will make people scarcer than gold— more rare than the fine gold of Ophir. |
| 13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger. | 13For I will shake the heavens. The earth will move from its place when the LORD of Heaven’s Armies displays his wrath in the day of his fierce anger.” |
| 14And like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, each will turn to his own people, and each will flee to his own land. | 14Everyone in Babylon will run about like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd. They will try to find their own people and flee to their own land. |
| 15Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. | 15Anyone who is captured will be cut down— run through with a sword. |
| 16Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished. | 16Their little children will be dashed to death before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked, and their wives will be raped. |
| 17Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold. | 17“Look, I will stir up the Medes against Babylon. They cannot be tempted by silver or bribed with gold. |
| 18Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children. | 18The attacking armies will shoot down the young men with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for children.” |
| 19And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. | 19Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms, the flower of Chaldean pride, will be devastated like Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them. |
| 20It will never be inhabited or lived in for all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there; no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there. | 20Babylon will never be inhabited again. It will remain empty for generation after generation. Nomads will refuse to camp there, and shepherds will not bed down their sheep. |
| 21But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there wild goats will dance. | 21Desert animals will move into the ruined city, and the houses will be haunted by howling creatures. Owls will live among the ruins, and wild goats will go there to dance. |
| 22Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged. | 22Hyenas will howl in its fortresses, and jackals will make dens in its luxurious palaces. Babylon’s days are numbered; its time of destruction will soon arrive. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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