Isaiah 13:15–22

¹⁵Those who are captured will have spears stuck through them.

Those who are caught will be killed with swords.

¹⁶Their babies will be smashed to pieces

right in front of their eyes.

Their houses will be robbed.

Their wives will be raped.

¹⁷The Lord will stir up the Medes to attack the Babylonians.

They aren’t interested in getting silver.

They don’t delight in gold.

¹⁸Instead, they will use their bows and arrows

to strike the young men down.

They won’t even show any mercy to babies.

They won’t take pity on children.

¹⁹The city of Babylon is the jewel of kingdoms.

It is the glory and pride of the Babylonians.

But God will destroy it

just as he did Sodom and Gomorrah.

²⁰No one will ever live in Babylon again.

No one will live there for all time to come.

Arabs will never set up their tents there.

Shepherds will never rest their flocks there.

²¹But desert creatures will lie down there.

Wild dogs will fill its houses.

Owls will live there.

Wild goats will jump around in it.

²²Hyenas will cry out in its forts.

Wild dogs will bark in its beautiful palaces.

The time for Babylon to be punished is near.

Its days are numbered.