13The oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw.

2 On a bare hill raise a signal,
   cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for them to enter
   the gates of the nobles.
3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
   have summoned my warriors, my proudly exulting ones,
   to execute my anger.

4 Listen, a tumult on the mountains
   as of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar of kingdoms,
   of nations gathering together!
The Lord of hosts is mustering
   an army for battle.
5 They come from a distant land,
   from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
   to destroy the whole earth.

6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
   it will come like destruction from the Almighty!
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
   and every human heart will fail,
8   and they will be dismayed.
Pangs and agony will seize them;
   they will be in anguish like a woman in labour.
They will look aghast at one another;
   their faces will be aflame.
9 See, the day of the Lord comes,
   cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the earth a desolation,
   and to destroy its sinners from it.
10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
   will not give their light;
the sun will be dark at its rising,
   and the moon will not shed its light.
11 I will punish the world for its evil,
   and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant,
   and lay low the insolence of tyrants.
12 I will make mortals more rare than fine gold,
   and humans than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
   and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
   on the day of his fierce anger.