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.

14 Yahweh will have compassion on Yakov,

≈ and will choose Yisrael again,

and settle them on their own land.

Foreigners will join with them,

≈ and attach themselves to the Israeli people.

2 The nations will take them back to their own place,

and in Yahweh’s land, the Israelis will take them as male and female servants.

They’ll take their captors captive,

≈ and they’ll rule over their oppressors.

3 Then at the time when Yahweh gives you a break from your anguish and suffering,

≈ and from the hard labour you did as slaves,

4 then you’ll taunt Babylon’s king with this song,

“How the oppressor has stopped,

≈ and how his fury has ceased.

5 Yahweh has broken the wicked peoples’ staff,

≈ the golden rod of the rulers.

6 In your rage, you struck the people groups with never-ending blows,

≈ ruling the nations in anger—persecuting them without restraint.

7 Now the whole world is in restful peace.

People have broken out with a shout of celebration.

8 Even the cypress trees are happy about your demise,

≈ as as the cedars in Lebanon.

Now that you’re powerless,

→ no one comes up to cut us down.

9 ◙ 10 ◙ 11 ◙

12 [ref]◙ 13 ◙ 14 ◙ 15 ◙

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18 ◙ 19 ◙ 20 ◙ 21 ◙

22 ◙ 23 ◙

50 [ref]◙