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13:1  This is the divine revelation which Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw about Babylon.
13:2  Raise a banner on the bare mountaintop. Call loudly to them. Signal them with your hand to enter the nobles' gates.
13:3  I've commanded my holy ones. I've called my mighty men to carry out my anger. They find joy in my triumphs.
13:4  Listen to the noise on the mountains. It is like the sound of a large army. It is the sound of kingdoms and nations gathering together. The LORD of Armies is assembling his army for battle.
13:5  His army is coming from a distant land, from the ends of heaven. The LORD is coming with the weapons of his fury to destroy the whole world.
13:6  Cry loudly, for the day of the LORD is near. It will come like destruction from the Almighty.
13:7  That is why every hand will hang limp, and everyone's courage will fail.
13:8  They'll be terrified. Pain and anguish will seize them. They'll writhe like a woman giving birth to a child. They'll look at one another in astonishment. Their faces will be burning red.
13:9  The day of the LORD is going to come. It will be a cruel day with fury and fierce anger. He will make the earth desolate. He will destroy its sinners.
13:10  The stars in the sky and their constellations won't show their light anymore. The sun will be dark when it rises. The moon won't shine.
13:11  I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their wrongdoing. I will put an end to arrogant people and humble the pride of tyrants.
13:12  I will make people harder to find than pure gold and human beings more rare than gold from Ophir.
13:13  I will make heaven tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place when the LORD of Armies is angry. At that time he will be very angry.
13:14  They'll be like hunted gazelle and like sheep with no one to gather them. Everyone will return to his own people and flee to his own land.
13:15  Whoever is found will be stabbed to death. Whoever is captured will be executed.
13:16  Their little children will be smashed to death right before their eyes. Their houses will be looted and their wives raped.
13:17  I'm going to stir up the Medes against them. They don't care for silver and aren't happy with gold.
13:18  But their bows will smash the youth. They'll have no compassion for babies, nor will they look with pity on children.
13:19  Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the proud beauty of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them.
13:20  It will never be inhabited again, and no one will live in it for generations. Arabs won't pitch their tents there. Shepherds won't let their flocks rest there.
13:21  Desert animals will lie down there. Their homes will be full of owls. Ostriches will live there, and wild goats will skip about.
13:22  Hyenas will howl in Babylon's strongholds, and jackals will howl in its luxurious palaces. Its time has almost come. Its days will not be extended.