[13:1] This is a message about Babylon, which Isaiah son of Amoz received from God.
[13:2] On the top of a barren hill raise the battle flag! Shout to the soldiers and raise your arm as the signal for them to attack the gates of the proud city.
[13:3] The Lord has called out his proud and confident soldiers to fight a holy war and punish those he is angry with.
[13:4] Listen to the noise on the mountains—the sound of a great crowd of people, the sound of nations and kingdoms gathering. The Lord of Armies is preparing his troops for battle.
[13:5] They are coming from far-off countries at the ends of the earth. In his anger the Lord is coming to devastate the whole country.
[13:6] Howl in pain! The day of the Lord is near, the day when the Almighty brings destruction.
[13:7] Everyone's hands will hang limp, and everyone's courage will fail.
[13:8] They will all be terrified and overcome with pain, like the pain of a woman in labor. They will look at each other in fear, and their faces will burn with shame.
[13:9] The day of the Lord is coming—that cruel day of his fierce anger and fury. The earth will be made a wilderness, and every sinner will be destroyed.
[13:10] Every star and every constellation will stop shining, the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will give no light.
[13:11] The Lord says, “I will bring disaster on the earth and punish all wicked people for their sins. I will humble everyone who is proud and punish everyone who is arrogant and cruel.
[13:12] Those who survive will be scarcer than gold.
[13:13] I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place on that day when I, the Lord Almighty, show my anger.
[13:14] “The foreigners living in Babylon will run away to their homelands, scattering like deer escaping from hunters, like sheep without a shepherd.
[13:15] Anyone who is caught will be stabbed to death.
[13:16] While they look on helplessly, their babies will be battered to death, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be raped.”
[13:17] The Lord says, “I am stirring up the Medes to attack Babylon. They care nothing for silver and are not tempted by gold.
[13:18] With their bows and arrows they will kill the young men. They will show no mercy to babies and take no pity on children.
[13:19] Babylonia is the most beautiful kingdom of all; it is the pride of its people. But I, the Lord, will overthrow Babylon as I did Sodom and Gomorrah!
[13:20] No one will ever live there again. No wandering Arab will ever pitch a tent there, and no shepherd will ever pasture a flock there.
[13:21] It will be a place where desert animals live and where owls build their nests. Ostriches will live there, and wild goats will prance through the ruins.
[13:22] The towers and palaces will echo with the cries of hyenas and jackals. Babylon's time has come! Her days are almost over.”