2 Lift ye up an ensign upon a bare mountain; raise (the voice) unto them, wave the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.

15. ‘violence’: or, ‘parching heat.’1. Or, ‘I will confess to thee.’1. Or, ‘oracle,’ ‘utterance, of Babylon.’

3 I, I have charged my consecrated ones, ’have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, that exult in my excellence.

4 The voice of an uproar, like as of a great people; the voice of a tumult of the kingdoms of nations gathered together; the LORD of Hosts mustereth a host of war.

5 They come from a far country, from the end of the heavens; the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole earth.

6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD ’is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

7 Therefore shall all hands be slack, and every ’s heart shall melt,

8 And they shall be dismayed: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall writhe as a travailing woman; they shall look aghast one at another: faces of ﬂame are their faces.

9 Behold, the ’day of the LORD cometh, cruel, and wrath and ﬁerce anger, to make the earth a desolation, and he will destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

10 For the stars of heaven, and the Orions thereof, shall not give forth their light; the sun shall be dark at his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

11 And I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

12 I will make a man more precious than ﬁne gold, and man- kind than the (pure) gold of. Ophir.

3 ﬁn. Or, ‘my proudly exulting ones.’5 fin. ‘earth’: or, ‘land.’6 ﬁn. ‘as Shod from Shaddai.’

13 Therefore will make the heavens tremble, and the earth shall be disquieted from her place, at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts, and in the day of the heat of his anger.

14 And it shall be as (with) a chased roe; and as sheep, and there is none that gathereth; they shall every man turn to his own people, and ﬂee everyone to his own land.

15. Everyone that is found shall be thrust through, and every- one that is taken shall fall by the sword.

16 And their infants shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.

17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.

18 And bows shall dash youths in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not have mercy on children.

19 And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldees, shall be as ’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.

20 It shall not inhabited for ever, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall shepherds make (flocks) to lie down dwarf. But desert creatures shall lie there; and their houses shall groaners ﬁll; and ostriches shall dwell there; and shaggy beasts shall dance there.

22 And wolves shall howl in their castles, and jackals in palaces ’of pleasure; and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.