King James Version

1 The burden of Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. 2 On the mountain of Nishepheh, lift a banner, raise your voice, wave your hand, and let the gates of the nobles come in. 3 I have commanded to my sanctuary; I have also called my mighty ones for my anger, those who rejoice in my pride. 4 The voice of the tumult is in the mountains, like the sound of a great people; the voice of the shouting of kingdoms, gathered nations; the Lord of hosts is mustering an army for war. 5 The Lord comes from a distant land, from the ends of heaven, and the instruments of His wrath to destroy the whole earth. 6 Sing aloud, for the day of the Lord is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come. 7 Therefore, all hands will be weak and every heart of man will melt. 8 And the cords and the ropes will hold, like a woman in labor; each man will be amazed at his companion, the faces of the lights will be their faces. 9 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation, and He will destroy its sinners from it. 10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. 11 And I will visit evil upon the earth, and upon the wicked their sin, and I will bring down the pride of the arrogant and the haughtiness of the cruel. 12 I will honor man more than gold, and humanity more than the finest gold. 13 Therefore, the heavens will tremble and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord of hosts and on the day of His fierce anger. 14 And it will be like a chased deer and like sheep with no gatherer; each will turn to his people, and each will flee to his land. 15 All that is found shall be pierced, and all that is doomed shall fall by the sword. 16 And their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; they will plunder their houses, and their wives will be ravished. 17 Behold, I am stirring up against them the Medes, who do not value silver and do not delight in gold. 18 And the youths will spoil them, and the fruit of the womb will not have compassion; they will not have pity on the children. 19 And Babylon will be the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, like the overthrow of God of Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 You shall not dwell forever, and you shall not reside to the end of generation and generation; and no Arab shall pitch his tent there, and shepherds shall not lie down there. 21 And there the ostriches will lie down, and their homes will be filled with owls, and there the daughters of the owl will dwell, and goats will dance there. 22 And the owls will answer in her desolations, and the jackals in her palaces of delight, and close is the time of her coming, and her days will not be prolonged.