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,

and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,

my proudly exulting ones.¹

4  The sound of a tumult is on the mountains

as of a great multitude!

The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,

of nations gathering together!

The Lord of hosts is mustering

a host 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 land.²

6  ^eWail, ^ffor the day of the Lord is near;

as destruction from the Almighty³ it will come!

7  Therefore all hands will be feeble,

and every human heart will melt.

8  They will be dismayed:

^gpangs 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.

9  Behold, the day of the Lord comes,

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

to make the land a desolation

and to destroy its sinners from it.

10  For the stars of the heavens and their constellations

^hwill not give their light;

the sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light.

11  I will ⁱpunish the world for its evil,

and the wicked for their iniquity;

I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,

and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

12  I will make people more rare than fine gold,

and mankind than the gold of ^jOphir.

13  Therefore I will make the ^kheavens 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,

^leach 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  Their infants will be ^mdashed in pieces

before their eyes;

their houses will be plundered

and their wives ravished.

17  Behold, I am stirring up the ⁿMedes against them,

who have no regard for silver

and do not delight in gold.

18  Their bows will slaughter⁴ the young men;

they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

their eyes will not pity children.

19  And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,

the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,

will be ^olike Sodom and Gomorrah

^pwhen God overthrew them.

20  It will never be inhabited

or lived in for all generations;

no Arab will pitch his tent there;

no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.

21  But ^qwild animals will lie down there,

and their houses will be full of howling creatures;

there ostriches⁵ will dwell,

and there wild goats will dance.

22  Hyenas⁶ will cry in its towers,

and jackals in the pleasant palaces;

its time is close at hand

and its days will not be prolonged.

“How the oppressor has ceased,

the insolent fury⁸ ceased!

5  The Lord has ^xbroken the staff of the wicked,

the scepter of rulers,

6  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;

they ^ybreak forth into singing.

8  The cypresses rejoice at you,

the cedars of Lebanon, saying,

‘Since you were laid low,

no ^zwoodcutter 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  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 you are fallen from heaven,

O Day Star, son of Dawn!

How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low!

13  You said in your heart,

‘I will ascend to heaven;

above the stars of God

I will set my throne on high;

I will sit on the mount of assembly

in the far reaches of the north;⁹

14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.’

15  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 the man who made the earth tremble,

who shook kingdoms,

17  who made the world like a desert

and overthrew its cities,

who ^adid not let his prisoners go home?’

18  All the kings of the nations lie in glory,

each in his own tomb;¹⁰

19  but you are cast out, away from your grave,

like a loathed branch,

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 the offspring of evildoers

nevermore be named!

21  Prepare slaughter for his sons

^bbecause of the guilt of their fathers,

lest they rise and possess the earth,

and fill the face of the world with cities.”

As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,

it comes from the wilderness,

from a terrible land.

2  A stern vision is told to me;

^vthe traitor betrays,

and the destroyer destroys.

Go up, O ^wElam;

lay siege, O ^xMedia;

all the sighing she has caused

I bring to an end.

3  Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;

^ypangs 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;

the twilight I longed for

has been turned for me into trembling.

5  They prepare the table,

they spread the rugs,¹

they eat, they drink.

Arise, O princes;

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:²

“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!”

And he answered,

^z“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;

and all the carved ^aimages of her gods

he has shattered to the ground.”

10  O my threshed and winnowed one,

what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,

the God of Israel, I announce to you.

1  ^pBel bows down; Nebo stoops;

their idols are on beasts and livestock;

these things you ^qcarry are borne

as burdens on weary beasts.

2  They stoop; they bow down together;

they cannot save the burden,

but themselves go into captivity.

3  “Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

all the ^rremnant of the house of Israel,

who have been ^sborne by me ^tfrom before your birth,

carried from the womb;

4  ^ueven to your old age ^vI am he,

and to gray hairs I will carry you.

I have made, and I will bear;

I will carry and will save.

5  ^w“To whom will you liken me and make me equal,

and compare me, that we may be alike?

6  Those who lavish gold from the purse,

and weigh out silver in the scales,

hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;

then they fall down and worship!

7  They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,

they set it in its place, and it stands there;

it ^xcannot move from its place.

If one ^ycries to it, it does not answer

or save him from his trouble.

8  ^z“Remember this and stand firm,

recall it to mind, you transgressors,

9  remember the former things of old;

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me,

10  ^adeclaring the end from the beginning

and from ancient times things not yet done,

saying, ^b‘My counsel shall stand,

and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

11  calling a bird of prey from the east,

the man of my counsel from a far country.

I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;

I have purposed, and I will do it.

12  “Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,

you who are far from righteousness:

13  ^cI bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,

and my salvation ^dwill not delay;

I will put salvation in Zion,

for Israel my glory.”

1  Come down and sit in the dust,

O virgin daughter of Babylon;

sit on the ground without a throne,

O daughter of the Chaldeans!

For you shall no more be called

tender and delicate.

2  Take the millstones and grind flour,

put off your veil,

strip off your robe, uncover your legs,

pass through the rivers.

3  ^eYour nakedness shall be uncovered,

and your disgrace shall be seen.

I will take vengeance,

and I will spare no one.

4  Our ^fRedeemer—^gthe Lord of hosts is his name—

is the Holy One of Israel.

5  Sit in silence, and go into darkness,

O daughter of the Chaldeans;

for you shall no more be called

the mistress of kingdoms.

6  I was angry with my people;

I profaned my heritage;

I gave them into your hand;

you showed them no mercy;

on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.

7  You said, “I shall be mistress forever,”

so that you did not lay these things to heart

or remember their end.

8  Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures,

who sit securely,

who ^hsay in your heart,

“I am, and there is no one besides me;

I shall not sit as a ⁱwidow

or know the loss of children”:

9  These two things shall come to you

in a moment, in one day;

the loss of children and widowhood

shall come upon you in full measure,

in spite of your many sorceries

and the great power of your enchantments.

10  You felt secure in your wickedness;

you said, ^j“No one sees me”;

your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,

and you said in your heart,

“I am, and there is no one besides me.”

11  But evil shall come upon you,

which you will not know how to charm away;

disaster shall fall upon you,

for which you will not be able to atone;

and ruin shall come upon you suddenly,

of which you know nothing.

12  Stand fast in your enchantments

and your many sorceries,

with which you have labored from your youth;

perhaps you may be able to succeed;

perhaps you may inspire terror.

13  You are wearied with your many counsels;

let them stand forth and save you,

those who divide the heavens,

who gaze at the stars,

who at the new moons make known

what shall come upon you.

14  Behold, they are like stubble;

the fire consumes them;

they cannot deliver themselves

from the power of the flame.

No coal for warming oneself is this,

no fire to sit before!

15  Such to you are those with whom you have labored,

who have done business with you from your youth;

they wander about, each in his own direction;

there is no one to save you.