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

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.^(D)
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.^(E)

⁶ Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
    it will come like destruction from the Almighty!^[b](F)
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
    and every human heart will melt,^(G)
8     and they will be terrified.
Pangs and agony will seize them;
    they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
    their faces will be aflame.^(H)
9 See, the day of the Lord is coming,
    cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the earth a desolation
    and to destroy its sinners from it.^(I)
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.^(J)
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.^(K)
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
    in the day of his fierce anger.^(L)
14 Like a gazelle on the run
    or like sheep with no one to gather them,
all will turn back to their own people,
    and all will flee to their own lands.^(M)
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
    and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed to pieces
    before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
    and their wives raped.^(N)
17 See, I am stirring up the Medes against them,
    who have no regard for silver
    and do not delight in gold.^(O)
18 Their bows will slaughter the young men;
    they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
    their eyes will not pity children.^(P)
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
    the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
    when God overthrew them.^(Q)
20 It will never be inhabited
    or lived in for all generations;
Arabs will not pitch their tents there;
    shepherds will not make their flocks lie down there.^(R)
21 But wild animals will lie down there,
    and its houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ostriches will live,
    and there goat-demons will dance.^(S)
22 Hyenas will cry in its towers
    and jackals in the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand;
    and its days will not be prolonged.^(T)