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

⁴ The sound ^(E)of a tumult is on the mountains
    as of a great multitude!
The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
    of nations gathering together!
^(F)The Lord of hosts is mustering
    a host for battle.
^5 (G)They come from a distant land,
    from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
    to destroy the whole land.^[b]

^6 (H)Wail, for ^(I)the day of the Lord is near;
    as destruction from the Almighty^[c] it will come!
⁷ Therefore all hands will be feeble,
    and every human heart ^(J)will melt.
⁸ They will be dismayed:
    ^(K)pangs and agony will seize them;
    ^(L)they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
    their faces will be aflame.

⁹ Behold, ^(M)the day of the Lord comes,
    cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
    and ^(N)to destroy its sinners from it.
^10 (O)For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
    will not give their light;
^(P)the sun will be dark at its rising,
    and the moon will not shed its light.
¹¹ I will punish ^(Q)the world for its evil,
    and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will ^(R)put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
    ^(S)and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
¹² I will make ^(T)people more rare than fine gold,
    and mankind than the ^(U)gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore ^(V)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.
¹⁴ And like a hunted gazelle,
    or like sheep with none to gather them,
^(W)each will turn to his own people,
    and each will flee to his own land.
¹⁵ Whoever is found will be thrust through,
    and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
^16 (X)Their infants will be dashed in pieces
    before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
    and their wives ravished.

¹⁷ Behold, ^(Y)I am stirring up the Medes against them,
    who have no regard for silver
    and do not delight in gold.
^18 (Z)Their bows will slaughter^[d] the young men;
    they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
    their eyes will not pity children.
¹⁹ And Babylon, ^(AA)the glory of kingdoms,
    the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,
will be ^(AB)like Sodom and Gomorrah
    when God overthrew them.
^20 (AC)It will never be inhabited
    or lived in for all generations;
no ^(AD)Arab will pitch his tent there;
    no ^(AE)shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
²¹ But ^(AF)wild animals will lie down there,
    and their houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ^(AG)ostriches^[e] will dwell,
    and there wild goats will dance.
²² Hyenas^[f] will cry in its towers,
    and ^(AH)jackals in ^(AI)the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
    and its days will not be prolonged.

“How the oppressor has ceased,
    ^(AR)the insolent fury^[h] ceased!
⁵ The Lord has broken the ^(AS)staff of the wicked,
    the ^(AT)scepter of rulers,
^6 (AU)that struck the peoples in wrath
    with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
    with unrelenting persecution.
⁷ The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
    ^(AV)they break forth into singing.
^8 (AW)(AX)The cypresses rejoice at you,
    ^(AY)the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low,
    no woodcutter comes up against us.’
⁹ Sheol beneath is stirred up
    to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
    all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
    all who were kings of the nations.
^10 (AZ)All of them will answer
    and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we!
    You have become like us!’
¹¹ Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
    the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
    and worms are your covers.

¹² “How ^(BA)you are fallen from heaven,
    O Day Star, ^(BB)son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
    you who laid the nations low!
¹³ You said in your heart,
    ^(BC)‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
    ^(BD)I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
    in the far reaches of the north;^[i]
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.’
^15 (BE)But you are brought down to Sheol,
    to the far reaches of the pit.
¹⁶ Those who see you will stare at you
    and ponder over you:
‘Is this ^(BF)the man who made the earth tremble,
    who shook kingdoms,
¹⁷ who made the world like a desert
    and overthrew its cities,
    ^(BG)who did not let his prisoners go home?’
¹⁸ All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
    each in his own tomb;^[j]
19 but you are cast out, away from your grave,
    like a loathed branch,
^(BH)clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,
    who go down to the stones of the pit,
    like a dead body trampled underfoot.
²⁰ You will not be joined with them in burial,
    because you have destroyed your land,
    you have slain your people.

“May ^(BI)the offspring of evildoers
    nevermore be named!
²¹ Prepare slaughter for his sons
    ^(BJ)because of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the earth,
    and fill the face of the world with cities.”

²⁶ This is the purpose that is purposed
    concerning the whole earth,
and this is ^(BR)the hand that is stretched out
    over all the nations.
^27 (BS)For the Lord of hosts has purposed,
    and who will annul it?
^(BT)His hand is stretched out,
    and who will turn it back?

^(C)As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
    it comes from the wilderness,
    from a terrible land.
² A stern vision is told to me;
    ^(D)the traitor betrays,
    and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O ^(E)Elam;
    lay siege, O ^(F)Media;
all the ^(G)sighing she has caused
    I bring to an end.
³ Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
    ^(H)pangs have seized me,
    like the pangs of a woman in labor;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;
    I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
⁴ My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;
    ^(I)the twilight I longed for
    has been turned for me into trembling.
^5 (J)They prepare the table,
    they spread the rugs,^[a]
    they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes;
    ^(K)oil the shield!
⁶ For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman;
    let him announce what he sees.
⁷ When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
    riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
    very diligently.”
⁸ Then he who saw cried out:^[b]
(L)“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
    continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
    whole nights.
⁹ And behold, here come riders,
    horsemen in pairs!”
^(M)And he answered,
    ^(N)“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
^(O)and all the carved images of her gods
    he has shattered to the ground.”
¹⁰ O ^(P)my threshed and winnowed one,
    what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
    the God of Israel, I announce to you.