| New King James Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1The burden against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. | 1An oracle against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw: |
| 2“Lift up a banner on the high mountain, Raise your voice to them; Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles. | 2Lift up a banner on a barren mountain. Call out to them. Wave your hand, and they will go through the gates of the nobles. |
| 3I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have also called My mighty ones for My anger— Those who rejoice in My exaltation.” | 3I have commanded My chosen ones; I have also called My warriors, who exult in My triumph, to execute My wrath. |
| 4The noise of a multitude in the mountains, Like that of many people! A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together! The LORD of hosts musters The army for battle. | 4Listen, 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. |
| 5They come from a far country, From the end of heaven— The LORD and His weapons of indignation, To destroy the whole land. | 5They are coming from a far land, from the distant horizon-- the LORD and the weapons of His wrath-- to destroy the whole country. |
| 6Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. | 6Wail! For the day of the LORD is near. It will come like destruction from the Almighty. |
| 7Therefore all hands will be limp, Every man’s heart will melt, | 7Therefore everyone's hands will become weak, and every man's heart will melt. |
| 8And they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them; They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth; They will be amazed at one another; Their faces will be like flames. | 8They will be horrified; pain and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look at each other, their faces flushed with fear. |
| 9Behold, the day of the LORD comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it. | 9Look, the day of the LORD is coming-- cruel, with rage and burning anger-- to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners on it. |
| 10For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to shine. | 10Indeed, the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shine. |
| 11“I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. | 11I will bring disaster on the world, and their own iniquity, on the wicked. I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant and humiliate the insolence of tyrants. |
| 12I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir. | 12I will make man scarcer than gold, and mankind more rare than the gold of Ophir. |
| 13Therefore I will shake the heavens, And the earth will move out of her place, In the wrath of the LORD of hosts And in the day of His fierce anger. | 13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will shake from its foundations at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts, on the day of His burning anger. |
| 14It shall be as the hunted gazelle, And as a sheep that no man takes up; Every man will turn to his own people, And everyone will flee to his own land. | 14Like wandering gazelles and like sheep without a shepherd, each one will turn to his own people, each one will flee to his own land. |
| 15Everyone who is found will be thrust through, And everyone who is captured will fall by the sword. | 15Whoever is found will be stabbed, and whoever is caught will die by the sword. |
| 16Their children also will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered And their wives ravished. | 16Their children will be smashed to death before their eyes; their houses will be looted, and their wives raped. |
| 17“Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, Who will not regard silver; And as for gold, they will not delight in it. | 17Look! I am stirring up the Medes against them, who cannot be bought off with silver and who have no desire for gold. |
| 18Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces, And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; Their eye will not spare children. | 18Their bows will cut young men to pieces. They will have no compassion on little ones; they will not look with pity on children. |
| 19And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. | 19And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. |
| 20It will never be inhabited, Nor will it be settled from generation to generation; Nor will the Arabian pitch tents there, Nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there. | 20It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; a nomad will not pitch his tent there, and shepherds will not let their flocks rest there. |
| 21But wild beasts of the desert will lie there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches will dwell there, And wild goats will caper there. | 21But desert creatures will lie down there, and owls will fill the houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about. |
| 22The hyenas will howl in their citadels, And jackals in their pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, And her days will not be prolonged.” | 22Hyenas will howl in the fortresses, and jackals, in the luxurious palaces. Babylon's time is almost up; her days are almost over. |
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