이사야 Chapter 13

Translation: ESV

1

The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

Key Message

God is sovereign over all nations—no empire can escape his judgment. The LORD governs the rise and fall of every empire throughout history.

▸Isaiah 13-23 is a collection of oracles (prophetic pronouncements) concerning the nations.

Isaiah 13-23 is a collection of oracles (prophetic pronouncements) concerning the nations. It is noteworthy that this section begins with an oracle against Babylon. In Isaiah's time, Babylon was still subordinate to the Assyrian Empire, yet Isaiah prophesies that Babylon would replace Assyria as the dominant power—and then predicts its own downfall.

Related Verses

The word that the LORD spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.
2

On a bare mountain raise a signal; cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles.

Key Message

God governs even the military events of history, using other nations as instruments to judge a proud empire.

▸This describes the scene of God mustering an army to attack Babylon.

3

I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones.

Key Message

God is the Divine Warrior who governs history's battles, and there is a holy army that executes his judgment.

▸God himself commands 'my consecrated ones.

4

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.

Key Message

The LORD of hosts governs all military events in history and gathers the nations to judge a proud empire.

▸The scene depicts God mustering the armies of the nations to strike Babylon.

5

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.

Key Message

God can summon the instrument of judgment from the farthest reaches, and there is no place beyond the reach of his judgment.

▸The army coming 'from the end of the heavens' refers to the Medo-Persian army—these are the weapons of God's indignation.

6

Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!

Key Message

The day of the LORD is the day of God's judgment against all proud powers, and that day will surely come.

▸'The day of the LORD' is a term used throughout Isaiah and the prophetic books for the day when God executes judgment.

7

Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt.

Key Message

Before God's judgment even the strongest become helpless with terror, and human strength has its limits before God.

▸The Babylonians are shown losing all strength in the face of the coming judgment.

8

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.

Key Message

When God's judgment falls, nothing can stop it, and the proud will experience extreme anguish like labor pains.

▸The metaphor of a woman in labor to express extreme anguish is used frequently in Isaiah.

9

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.

Key Message

God's judgment is a righteous response to sin, and sinners will inevitably meet that judgment on the day of the LORD.

▸The day of the LORD is clearly shown to have a moral dimension.

10

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.

Key Message

God's judgment operates on a cosmic scale, and everything humanity trusts and depends upon collapses before it.

▸Cosmic imagery of catastrophe indicates the scale of judgment.

11

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.

Key Message

God will certainly judge pride and arrogance, and this is one of the fundamental reasons God intervenes in history.

▸God himself declares with 'I will' that he is the subject of judgment.

12

I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir.

Key Message

God's judgment can so thoroughly devastate a proud civilization that human beings become rarer than gold.

▸As a result of judgment, human beings will become exceedingly rare.

13

Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.

Key Message

God's wrath is powerful enough to shake the entire cosmos, and only God's kingdom will stand eternally after passing through that judgment.

▸The image of cosmic trembling—heaven and earth shaking—reappears.

14

And 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.

Key Message

When judgment falls, each scatters to their own way—this depicts the dismantling character of God's judgment.

▸This depicts foreigners held captive in Babylon fleeing in the face of judgment.

15

Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

Key Message

God's judgment returns upon a proud empire what that empire inflicted upon other peoples.

▸The cruelty of war is described directly.

16

Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.

Key Message

God's judgment operates on the principle of retribution—what was cruelly done to other nations will ultimately return upon the perpetrators.

▸The most brutal aspects of ancient warfare are described—the killing of children, the plundering of homes, the ravishing of women.

17

Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold.

Key Message

God knows and prophesies specific historical events in advance, naming particular nations as instruments of judgment.

▸God names the Medes as his instrument against Babylon.

18

Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children.

Key Message

When God's judgment is fully executed, its thoroughness does not allow even human mercy.

▸The ruthlessness of the Medes is depicted.

19

And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.

Key Message

No matter how magnificent and powerful an empire may be, it can be completely destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah before God's judgment.

▸Babylon is described as 'the glory of kingdoms.

20

It will never be inhabited or lived in for all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there; no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.

Key Message

When God's judgment is complete, its consequences are permanent, and the ruins of Babylon become an enduring testimony to God's judgment.

▸This prophesies Babylon's permanent desolation.

21

But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there wild goats will dance.

Key Message

The proud center of civilization becoming a wild wasteland is the complete reversal wrought by God's judgment.

▸The once-magnificent Babylon will become a lair of wild animals.

22

Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.

Key Message

God's judgment will certainly come and its time is near. All human glory becomes ruins before God's judgment.

▸Wild animals howling in beautiful palaces and towers creates a stark contrast between Babylon's former glory and its ruin.