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¹And on that day you will say, "I will give thanks to You, O LORD; For though You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, And You comfort me.

²"Behold, God, my salvation! I will trust and not be afraid, For the Lord God is my strength and song; Yes, He has become my salvation."

³Therefore with joy you will draw water From the springs of salvation.

⁴And in that day you will say, "Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name [in prayer]. Make His deeds known among the peoples [of the earth]; Proclaim [to them] that His name is exalted!"

⁵Sing praises to the LORD, for He has done excellent and glorious things; Let this be known throughout the earth.

⁶Rejoice and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

¹The [mournful, inspired] oracle ( a burden to be carried) concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw [in a prophetic vision]:

²Lift up a signal banner on the bare mountain, Summon them [the Medes and Persians] with a loud voice, Wave the [beckoning] hand so that they may enter the doorways of the [Babylonian] nobles.

³I [the LORD] have commanded My consecrated ones, I have even called My great warriors, My proudly exulting ones [the Medes and the Persians who triumph for My honor]— To execute My anger.

⁴A sound of tumult on the mountains, Like that of many people! A sound of the uproar of the kingdoms, Of nations gathered together! The LORD of hosts is mustering an army for battle.

⁵They are coming from a distant country, From the end of heaven [the farthest horizon]— The LORD and the weapons of His indignation— To destroy the whole land.

⁶Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty (All Sufficient One—Invincible God)!

⁷Therefore all hands will fall limp, And every man's heart will melt.

⁸They [of Babylon] will be shocked and terrified, Pains and anguish will grip them; They will be in pain like a woman in childbirth. They will stare aghast and horrified at one another, Their faces aflame [from the effects of the unprecedented warfare].

⁹Listen carefully, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with wrath and raging anger, To make the land a horror [of devastation]; And He shall exterminate its sinners from it.

¹⁰For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash with their light; The sun will be dark when it rises, And the moon will not shed its light.

¹¹In this way I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing]; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And will abase the arrogance of the tyrant.

¹²I will make mortal man more rare than fine gold, And mankind [scarcer] than the pure gold of Ophir.

¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; And the earth will be shaken from its place At the wrath of the LORD of hosts In the day of His burning anger.

¹⁴And like the hunted gazelle, Or like sheep that no man gathers, Each [foreign resident] will turn [and go back] to his own people, And each one flee to his own land.

¹⁵Anyone who is found will be pierced through, And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.

¹⁶Their children also will be smashed to pieces Before their eyes; Their houses will be looted And their wives ravished.

¹⁷Listen carefully, I will put the Medes [in motion] against them, Who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold [and therefore cannot be bribed].

¹⁸Their bows will cut down the young men [of Babylon]; They will take no pity on the fruit of the womb, Their eyes will not look with compassion on the children.

¹⁹And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, Will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.

²⁰Babylon will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there, Nor will the shepherds let their sheep lie down there.

²¹But desert creatures will lie down there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches also will live there, and wild goats will dance there.

²²Hyenas will howl in their castles, And jackals in their luxurious palaces. Babylon's time has nearly come, And her days will not be prolonged.

¹For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob (the captives in Babylon) and will again choose Israel, and will settle them in their own land. Foreigners (Gentiles) will join them [as proselytes] and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob (Israel).

²The peoples will take them along and bring them to their own place (Judea), and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the LORD as male and female servants; and they will take captive those whose captives they have been, and they will rule over their [former] oppressors.

³And it will be in the day when the LORD gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and from the harsh service in which you have been enslaved,

⁴that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say, "How the oppressor has ceased [his insolence], And how the fury has ceased!

⁵"The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of the [tyrant] rulers

⁶Which used to strike the peoples in anger with incessant blows, Which subdued and ruled the nations in wrath with unrelenting persecution.

⁷"The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; They break into shouts of joy.

⁸"Even the cypress trees rejoice over you [kings of Babylon], even the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.'

⁹" Sheol below is excited about you to meet you when you come [you tyrant of Babylon]; It stirs up the spirits of the dead [to greet you], all the leaders of the earth; It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones [in astonishment at your fall].

¹⁰"All of them will respond [tauntingly] and say to you, 'You have become as weak as we are. You have become like us.

¹¹'Your pomp and magnificence have been brought down to Sheol, Along with the music of your harps; The maggots [which prey on the dead] are spread out under you [as a bed] And worms are your covering [Babylonian rulers].'

¹²"How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning [light-bringer], son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, You who have weakened the nations [king of Babylon]!

¹³"But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of assembly In the remote parts of the north.

¹⁴'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'

¹⁵"But [in fact] you will be brought down to Sheol, To the remote recesses of the pit (the region of the dead).

¹⁶"Those who see you will gaze at you, They will consider you, saying, 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms,

¹⁷Who made the world like a wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who did not permit his prisoners to return home?'

¹⁸"All the kings of the nations, all of them lie [dead] in glorious array, Each one in his own sepulcher.

¹⁹"But you [king of Babylon] have been cast out of your tomb (denied burial) Like a rejected branch, Clothed with the slain who are pierced by the sword, Who go down to the stones of the pit [into which carcasses are thrown], Like a dead body trampled [underfoot].

²⁰"You will not be united with them in burial, Because you have destroyed your land, You have slain your people. May the descendants of evildoers never be named!

²¹"Prepare a slaughtering place for his sons Because of the wickedness [the sin, the injustice, the wrongdoing] of their fathers. They must not rise and take possession of the earth, And fill the face of the world with cities."

²²"I will rise up against them," says the LORD of hosts, "and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, and son and grandson," declares the LORD.

²³"I will also make Babylon a possession of the hedgehog and of swamps of water, and I will sweep it away with the broom of destruction," declares the LORD of hosts.

²⁴The LORD of hosts has sworn [an oath], saying, "Just as I have intended, so it has certainly happened, and just as I have planned, so it will stand—

²⁵to break the Assyrian in My land, and on My mountains I will trample him underfoot. Then the Assyrian's yoke will be removed from them (the people of Judah) and his burden removed from their shoulder.

²⁶This is the plan [of God] decided for the whole earth [regarded as conquered and put under tribute by Assyria]; and this is the hand [of God] that is stretched out over all the nations.

²⁷For the LORD of hosts has decided and planned, and who can annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?"

²⁸In the year that King Ahaz [of Judah] died this [mournful, inspired] oracle ( a burden to be carried) came:

²⁹"Do not rejoice, O Philistia, any of you, Because the rod [of Judah] that struck you is broken; For out of the serpent's root will come a viper [King Hezekiah of Judah], And its offspring will be a flying serpent.

³⁰"The firstborn of the helpless [of Judah] will feed [on My meadows], And the needy will lie down in safety; But I will kill your root with famine, And your survivors will be put to death.

³¹"Howl, O gate; cry, O city! Melt away, O Philistia, all of you; For smoke comes out of the north, And there is no straggler in his ranks and no one stands detached [in Hezekiah's battalions].

³²"Then what answer will one give the messengers of the [Philistine] nation? That the LORD has founded Zion, And the afflicted of His people will seek and find refuge in it."