Isaiah 13:4-12

4There is a loud noise on the mountains – it sounds like a large army! There is great commotion among the kingdoms – nations are being assembled! The Lord who commands armies is mustering forces for battle.

5They come from a distant land, from the horizon. It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment, coming to destroy the whole earth.

6Wail, for the Lord’s day of judgment is near; it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge.

7For this reason all hands hang limp, every human heart loses its courage.

8They panic – cramps and pain seize hold of them like those of a woman who is straining to give birth. They look at one another in astonishment; their faces are flushed red.

9Look, the Lord’s day of judgment is coming; it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger, destroying the earth and annihilating its sinners.

10Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations no longer give out their light; the sun is darkened as soon as it rises, and the moon does not shine.

11I will punish the world for its evil, and wicked people for their sin. I will put an end to the pride of the insolent, I will bring down the arrogance of tyrants.

12I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold, and people more scarce than gold from Ophir.