| NET Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1This is a message about Babylon that God revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz: | 1A message that Amoz's son Isaiah received about Babylon: |
| 2On a bare hill raise a signal flag, shout to them, wave your hand, so they might enter the gates of the princes! | 2"Raise a banner on a bare hilltop! Cry out loud to them! Give a wave of the hand, signaling for them to enter the gates of the nobles. |
| 3I have given orders to my chosen soldiers; I have summoned the warriors through whom I will vent my anger, my boasting, arrogant ones. | 3I myself have commanded my consecrated ones; I have also summoned my warriors, those who rejoice in my triumph, to carry out my angry judgments. |
| 4There is a loud noise on the mountains--it sounds like a large army! There is great commotion among the kingdoms--nations are being assembled! The LORD who commands armies is mustering forces for battle. | 4"Listen! There's a noise on the mountains like that of a great multitude! Listen! There's an uproar among the kingdoms, like that of nations massing together! The LORD of the Heavenly Armies is mustering an army for battle. |
| 5They come from a distant land, from the horizon. It is the LORD with his instruments of judgment, coming to destroy the whole earth. | 5They're coming from a faraway land, from the distant horizon— the LORD and the weapons of his anger— to destroy the entire land." |
| 6Wail, for the LORD's day of judgment is near; it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge. | 6Wail out loud, because the Day of the LORD is near. It will come like destruction from the Almighty! |
| 7For this reason all hands hang limp, every human heart loses its courage. | 7Because of this, every hand will go limp, and every man's courage will melt. |
| 8They panic--cramps and pain seize hold of them like those of a woman who is straining to give birth. They look at one another in astonishment; their faces are flushed red. | 8They will be terrified; pain and anguish will seize them; they'll writhe like a woman in labor. They'll look aghast at one another; and their faces will be ablaze with fear. |
| 9Look, the LORD's day of judgment is coming; it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger, destroying the earth and annihilating its sinners. | 9Watch out! The Day of the LORD is coming— cruel, with wrath and fierce anger— to turn the entire inhabited earth into a desolation and to annihilate sinners from it. |
| 10Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations no longer give out their light; the sun is darkened as soon as it rises, and the moon does not shine. | 10For the stars of the heavens and their constellations won't shine their light; the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon won't shine its light. |
| 11I will punish the world for its evil, and wicked people for their sin. I will put an end to the pride of the insolent, I will bring down the arrogance of tyrants. | 11I'll punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I'll put an end to the pomposity of the arrogant, and overthrow the insolence of tyrants. |
| 12I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold, and people more scarce than gold from Ophir. | 12I'll make people scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than gold from Ophir. |
| 13So I will shake the heavens, and the earth will shake loose from its foundation, because of the fury of the LORD who commands armies, in the day he vents his raging anger. | 13Therefore I'll make the heavens tremble. The earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, at the time of his burning anger. |
| 14Like a frightened gazelle or a sheep with no shepherd, each will turn toward home, each will run to his homeland. | 14They will be like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with no one to gather them, each will turn to his own people, and each will flee to his own land. |
| 15Everyone who is caught will be stabbed; everyone who is seized will die by the sword. | 15Whoever is captured will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall dead, killed by the sword. |
| 16Their children will be smashed to pieces before their very eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives raped. | 16Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, and their houses will be looted, and their wives slept with. |
| 17Look, I am stirring up the Medes to attack them; they are not concerned about silver, nor are they interested in gold. | 17Watch out! I'm stirring up the Medes against them, who care nothing for silver and take no delight in gold. |
| 18Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; they have no compassion on a person's offspring, they will not look with pity on children. | 18Their bows will dash the young men to pieces; they'll show no pity on those not yet born, and their eyes will not spare children. |
| 19Babylon, the most admired of kingdoms, the Chaldeans' source of honor and pride, will be destroyed by God just as Sodom and Gomorrah were. | 19Babylon, that jewel of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah, when God overthrew them— |
| 20No one will live there again; no one will ever reside there again. No bedouin will camp there, no shepherds will rest their flocks there. | 20It will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Bedouin will pitch his tent there; no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there. |
| 21Wild animals will rest there, the ruined houses will be full of hyenas. Ostriches will live there, wild goats will skip among the ruins. | 21But desert beasts will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there owls will dwell, and goat-demons will dance there. |
| 22Wild dogs will yip in her ruined fortresses, jackals will yelp in the once-splendid palaces. Her time is almost up, her days will not be prolonged. | 22Hyenas will howl in its strongholds, and jackals will make their dens in its citadels. Its time is close at hand, and its days will not be extended any further. |
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