² Lift up a banner on a barren mountain.^(C)
Call out to them.
Wave your hand, and they will go
through the gates of the nobles.
³ I have commanded My chosen ones;
I have also called My warriors,
who exult in My triumph,
to execute My wrath.^(D)
4 Listen, a tumult on the mountains,
like that of a mighty people!
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,
like nations being gathered together!
The Lord of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war.
⁵ They are coming from a far land,
from the distant horizon—
the Lord and the weapons of His wrath—
to destroy the whole country.^[a]

⁶ Wail! For the day of the Lord is near.^(E)
It will come like destruction from the Almighty.^(F)
7 Therefore everyone’s hands will become weak,
and every man’s heart will melt.
⁸ They will be horrified;
pain and agony will seize them;
they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.^(G)
They will look at each other,
their faces flushed with fear.
⁹ Look, the day^(H) of the Lord is coming—
cruel, with rage and burning anger—
to make the earth a desolation
and to destroy the sinners on it.^(I)
10 Indeed, the stars of the sky and its constellations^[b]
will not give their light.
The sun will be dark when it rises,
and the moon will not shine.^(J)
11 I will bring disaster on the world,
and their own iniquity,^(K) on the wicked.
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant^(L)
and humiliate the insolence of tyrants.
¹² I will make man scarcer than gold,
and mankind more rare than the gold of Ophir.^(M)
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will shake from its foundations^(N)
at the wrath of the Lord of Hosts,
on the day of His burning anger.
¹⁴ Like wandering gazelles
and like sheep without a shepherd,^(O)
each one will turn to his own people,
each one will flee to his own land.
¹⁵ Whoever is found will be stabbed,
and whoever is caught will die by the sword.
¹⁶ Their children will be smashed to death before their eyes;^(P)
their houses will be looted,
and their wives raped.
¹⁷ Look! I am stirring up the Medes against them,^(Q)
who cannot be bought off with^[c] silver
and who have no desire for gold.
¹⁸ Their bows will cut young men to pieces.
They will have no compassion on little ones;
they will not look with pity on children.

¹⁹ And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,
the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.^(R)
20 It will never be inhabited
or lived in from generation to generation;^(S)
a nomad will not pitch his tent there,
and shepherds will not let their flocks rest there.
²¹ But desert creatures will lie down there,
and owls will fill the houses.
Ostriches will dwell there,
and wild goats will leap about.^(T)
22 Hyenas will howl in the fortresses,
and jackals, in the luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s time is almost up;
her days are almost over.

It has fallen,^[a]
Babylon the Great has fallen!^(A)
She has become a dwelling for demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit,
a haunt for every unclean bird,
and a haunt^[b] for every unclean and despicable beast.^[c](B)
3 For all the nations have drunk^[d]
the wine of her sexual immorality,
which brings wrath.^(C)
The kings of the earth
have committed sexual immorality with her,
and the merchants of the earth
have grown wealthy from her excessive luxury.

Come out of her, My people,
so that you will not share in her sins^(D)
or receive any of her plagues.
⁵ For her sins are piled up^[e] to heaven,^(E)
and God has remembered her crimes.
⁶ Pay her back the way she also paid,^(F)
and double it according to her works.^(G)
In the cup in which she mixed,^(H)
mix a double portion for her.
⁷ As much as she glorified herself and lived luxuriously,
give her that much torment and grief,
for she says in her heart,
“I sit as a queen;
I am not a widow,
and I will never see grief.”^(I)
8 For this reason her plagues will come in one day^[f]—
death and grief and famine.
She will be burned up with fire,
because the Lord God who judges her is mighty.

Woe, woe, the great city,
Babylon, the mighty city!
For in a single hour^[g]
your judgment has come.

¹⁴ The fruit you craved has left you.
All your splendid and glamorous things are gone;
they will never find them again.

Woe, woe, the great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet,
adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls,
¹⁷ for in a single hour^[n]
such fabulous wealth was destroyed!

Woe, woe, the great city,^(M)
where all those who have ships on the sea
became rich from her wealth,
for in a single hour^[o] she was destroyed.
²⁰ Rejoice over her, heaven,
and you saints, apostles, and prophets,^(N)
because God has executed your judgment on her!^[p]

In this way, Babylon the great city
will be thrown down violently^(P)
and never be found again.^(Q)
22 The sound of harpists, musicians,
flutists, and trumpeters
will never be heard in you again;^(R)
no craftsman of any trade
will ever be found in you again;
the sound of a mill
will never be heard in you again;
²³ the light of a lamp
will never shine in you again;
and the voice of a groom and bride
will never be heard in you again.^(S)
All this will happen
because your merchants
were the nobility of the earth,
because all the nations were deceived
by your sorcery,^[q]
24 and the blood of prophets and saints,
and of all those slaughtered on earth,
was found in you.^[r](T)

Hallelujah!^(U)
Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God,
² because His judgments are true^[s] and righteous,^(V)
because He has judged the notorious prostitute
who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality;
and He has avenged the blood of His slaves
that was on her hands.^(W)

Hallelujah!
Her smoke ascends forever and ever!^(X)

Amen! Hallelujah!^(Z)

Praise our God,
all His slaves, who fear Him,
both small and great!^(AA)

Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty,
has begun to reign!
⁷ Let us be glad, rejoice, and give Him glory,^(AC)
because the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and His wife has prepared herself.
⁸ She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure.^(AD)