13 This is the heavy message about Babylon, which Amots’ son Yeshayah (Isaiah) saw:[ref]

2 Raise a banner on the bare mountain.

Call out to them and wave your hand,

and enter the gates of the princes.

3 I have commanded my sanctified ones

as well as angrily summoning warriors—

my boasting, arrogant ones.

4 There’s a loud noise from the mountains,

like that from many people.

It’s the sound of uproar from the kingdoms—

nations that are gathering.

Army commander Yahweh is mustering an army for battle.

5 They’re coming from a far country,

≈ from the end of the heavens.

They’re the instruments of Yahweh’s judgement,

≈ coming to destroy the entire country.

6 Start wailing because Yahweh’s day is close,

≈ and destruction from the powerful one will come.[ref]

7 That’s why all hands hang limp,

≈ and the heart of every person melts.

8 They’ll have pangs of dismay,

≈ and agony will seize them like a woman who writhes in labour.

They’ll stare at their neighbours in astonishment

with their faces flushed red.

9 Yes, Yahweh’s day is coming—

a cruel day with of fierce anger and rage,

to make the earth a desolate place

as sinners are destroyed from it.

10 The stars in the sky and their constellations

won’t shine their light.

The sun coming out will be dark,

≈ and the moon won’t be shining its light.[ref]

11 I will punish the world for its evil

≈ and the wicked for their disobedience.

I’ll put an end to the pride of the arrogant,

≈ and bring down the arrogance of the ruthless.

12 I’ll make humans more rare than pure gold,

≈ and people more scarce than the gold from Ofir.

13 So I’ll make the sky wobble,

and the earth will be shaken out of its place

by the fury of army commander Yahweh

on the day of his raging ≈ anger.

14 Then like a gazelle being hunted

or sheep without a shepherd,

everyone will turn to their own people group

and they’ll all flee back to their own countries.

15 Everyone who’s discovered (in Babylon) will be run through with a spear,

≈ and everyone who’s caught will be killed by the sword.

16 Their children will be smashed to pieces right in front of them.

Their homes will be looted and their wives raped.

17 Listen, I’m stirring the Medes up against them,

who don’t value silver or care about gold.

18 Their arrows will strike down the young men.

They’ll have no mercy on your infants,

≈ and won’t show any pity on your children.

19 Yes, that admirable kingdom of Babylon,[ref]

the pride of the Chaldeans,

will be destroyed by God like Sodom and Amorah (Gomorrah) were.

20 It’ll never be inhabited again,

≈ or lived in from one generation to the next.

The Arabs won’t even set up their tents there,

≈ and the shepherds won’t rest their flocks there.

21 But desert animals will live there,

≈ and jackals will live in the houses.

Ostrich chicks will grow there

≈ and wild goats will romp around there.

22 Hyenas will howl in its towers,

≈ and jackals in the nice palaces.

Her time is coming to an end,

≈ and her lifetime won’t be extended.