Isaiah 13 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

The oracle concerning Babylon — what Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

On a bare hilltop, raise a signal flag. Shout to them — wave them forward through the gates of the powerful.

I myself have given orders to my chosen warriors. I have called my fierce fighters — those who celebrate my triumph.

Listen — a roar on the mountains, like a massive crowd! Listen — an uproar of kingdoms, nations gathering together! Yahweh, Commander of angel armies, is marshaling a force for war.

They come from a distant land, from the edge of the sky — Yahweh and the weapons of his fury — to devastate the entire earth.

Wail — because the day of Yahweh is near. It will come like destruction from the Almighty.

Because of this, every hand will go limp, every human heart will melt.

They will be gripped with terror. Pain and anguish will seize them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will stare at each other, faces flushed with horror.

Look — the day of Yahweh is coming, cruel, with fury and burning anger, to make the land a wasteland and to wipe its offenders from it.

The stars in the sky and their constellations will not show their light. The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shine.

I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their twisted ways. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and bring down the swagger of tyrants.

I will make people scarcer than pure gold, rarer than the gold of Ophir.

So I will make the heavens shudder, and the earth will be shaken from its place by the fury of Yahweh, Commander of angel armies, on the day his anger blazes.

Like a hunted gazelle, like a flock with no shepherd, each one will turn back to their own people, each one will flee to their homeland.

Whoever is caught will be run through; whoever is captured will fall by the sword.

Their infants will be smashed before their eyes; their houses will be looted, their wives violated.

Look — I am stirring up the Medes against them, who don't care about silver and have no desire for gold.

Their bows will cut down the young men; they will show no mercy to newborns, no compassion for children.

And Babylon — the jewel of kingdoms, the proud beauty of the Chaldeans — will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.

It will never be lived in again, never inhabited through all generations. No nomad will pitch a tent there, no shepherd will rest flocks there.

But desert creatures will lie there, and their houses will be full of owls. Ostriches will live there, and wild goats will leap about.

Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, and jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is almost here, and her days will not be extended.