² Upon a barren hill raise a banner;
    cry aloud to them.
Wave your hand to them
    to enter the gates of the nobles.
³ I have commanded my consecrated soldiers
    and summoned my dedicated warriors
    to carry out my vengeance.
⁴ Listen to the great tumult on the mountains
    like that of an immense gathering.
Listen to the uproar of the kingdoms,
    of nations assembling;
the Lord of hosts is mustering
    an army for battle.
⁵ From a distant land,
    from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the instruments of his wrath
    are coming to destroy the entire earth.
⁶ Cry out in anguish,
    for the day of the Lord is near;
    it will come like devastation from the Almighty.
⁷ Therefore, every hand will hang limp
    and every man’s courage will fade;
⁸ they will all be panic-stricken,
    overcome with pangs and agony
    and writhing like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each other,
    with their faces aflame with fear.
⁹ Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
    a cruel day of wrath and burning anger,
to reduce the land to a desert waste
    and to destroy all the sinners within it.
¹⁰ The stars of the heavens and their constellations
    will no longer give forth their light.
The sun will be dark when it rises,
    and the moon will not provide its light.
¹¹ By taking this course
    I will punish the world for its wickedness
    and those who are evil for their iniquity.
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant
    and humble the insolence of tyrants.
¹² I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold,
    far more rare than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore, I am determined to make the heavens tremble
    and the earth will be shaken to its very foundations,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts,
    on the day of his blazing anger.
¹⁴ Like a gazelle fleeing from a hunter,
    or like a flock of sheep that no one gathers,
everyone will return to his own people
    and flee to his native land.
¹⁵ Any who are found will be slaughtered;
    without exception they will be slain by the sword.
¹⁶ Their infants will be smashed to pieces before their eyes;
    their houses will be plundered
    and their wives will be ravished.
¹⁷ Behold, I am stirring up against them the Medes
    who have no interest in silver
    and are not tempted by gold.^[c]
18 With their bows they will slaughter the young men,
    and they will show no pity for young children.
¹⁹ And Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms,
    the splendor and jewel of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
    when they were overthrown by God.
²⁰ It will never be inhabited;
    no future generations will ever reside there.
No Arab will ever again pitch his tent there,
    nor will shepherds rest their flocks in that land.
²¹ However, wild animals of the desert will dwell there,
    and its houses will be filled with jackals.
There ostriches will reside,
    and there wild goats^[d] will dance.
²² Hyenas will howl in her castles
    and jackals in her luxurious palaces.
Her time draws near,
    and her days will not be prolonged.