i Doom of Babylon Set ye up an ensign upon the bare mountain, lift up the voice unto them, wave the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. I have commanded my consecrated ones, yea, I have called my mighty men for mine anger, even them that exult in my majesty. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, Like as of a great people! The noise of a tumult Of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! The LORD of HOSTS Mustereth the HOST for the battle; They come from a far country, From the uttermost part of heaven: Even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, Howl ye, for the Day of the LORD is at hand: As destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Therefore shall all hands be feeble, and every heart of man shall melt: and they shall be dismayed; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman in travail; they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be faces of flame. Behold, the Day of the LORD cometh, To make the land a desolation, And to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their 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. I will make a man more rare than fine gold, even a man than the pure gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. And it shall come to pass, that as the chased roe, and as sheep that no man gathereth, they shall turn every man to his own people, and shall flee every man to his own land. Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is taken shall fall by the sword. Their infants also shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver, and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. And their bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. And BABYLON, The glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, Shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, Neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; Neither shall shepherds make their flocks to lie down there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; And their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; And satyrs shall dance there. And wolves shall cry in their castles, And jackals in the pleasant palaces: And her time is near to come, And her days shall not be prolonged. For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the stranger shall join himself with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the peoples shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and for handmaids: and they shall take them captive, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy trouble, and from the hard service wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say: How hath the oppressor ceased! The golden city ceased! The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, The sceptre of the rulers; He that smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke That ruled the nations in anger, Is persecuted, And none hindereth! The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: They break forth into singing: |