A reading from the Book of Isaiah.

The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah, the son of Amaz, saw.

On a bare hill, raise a signal, cry aloud to them, wave the hand for them to enter,

the gates of the nobles. I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,

and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,

my proudly exulting ones. The sound of a tumult is on the mountains, as of a great multitude,

the sound of an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together. The Lord of hosts is mustering a

host for battle. They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens,

the Lord and the weapons of his indignation to destroy the whole land. Whale, for the day of the Lord,

is near. As destruction from the Almighty, it will come. Therefore all hands will be feeble,

and every human heart will melt. They will be dismayed. Pangs and agony will seize them.

They will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another. Their faces will

be aflame. Behold, the day of the Lord comes cruel with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land

a desolation, and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not

give their light, the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light.

I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will put an end to the

pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless. I will make people more rare than fine gold,

and mankind than the gold of ofer. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth

will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of Host, in the day of his fierce anger,

or like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, each will turn to his own people,

and each will flee to his own land. Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes, their houses will be plundered,

...