Isaiah 13:15–22

¹⁵Anyone who is captured will be cut down—

run through with a sword.

¹⁶Their little children will be dashed to death before their eyes.

Their homes will be sacked, and their wives will be raped.

¹⁷“Look, I will stir up the Medes against Babylon.

They cannot be tempted by silver

or bribed with gold.

¹⁸The attacking armies will shoot down the young men with arrows.

They will have no mercy on helpless babies

and will show no compassion for children.”

¹⁹Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms,

the flower of Chaldean pride,

will be devastated like Sodom and Gomorrah

when God destroyed them.

²⁰Babylon will never be inhabited again.

It will remain empty for generation after generation.

Nomads will refuse to camp there,

and shepherds will not bed down their sheep.

²¹Desert animals will move into the ruined city,

and the houses will be haunted by howling creatures.

Owls will live among the ruins,

and wild goats will go there to dance.

²²Hyenas will howl in its fortresses,

and jackals will make dens in its luxurious palaces.

Babylon’s days are numbered;

its time of destruction will soon arrive.