Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary

Select a resource above

13. Prophecy Against Babylon

¹ A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

    ² Raise a banner on a bare hilltop,
   shout to them;
beckon to them
   to enter the gates of the nobles.
³ I have commanded those I prepared for battle;
   I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath—
   those who rejoice in my triumph.

    ⁴ Listen, a noise on the mountains,
   like that of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,
   like nations massing together!
The LORD Almighty is mustering
   an army for war.
⁵ They come from faraway lands,
   from the ends of the heavens—
the LORD and the weapons of his wrath—
   to destroy the whole country.

    ⁶ Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;
   it will come like destruction from the Almighty. Hebrew Shaddai
⁷ Because of this, all hands will go limp,
   every heart will melt with fear.
⁸ Terror will seize them,
   pain and anguish will grip them;
   they will writhe like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each other,
   their faces aflame.

    ⁹ See, the day of the LORD is coming
   —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land desolate
   and destroy the sinners within it.
¹⁰ The stars of heaven and their constellations
   will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened
   and the moon will not give its light.
¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil,
   the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
   and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
¹² I will make people scarcer than pure gold,
   more rare than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
   and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the LORD Almighty,
   in the day of his burning anger.

    ¹⁴ Like a hunted gazelle,
   like sheep without a shepherd,
they will all return to their own people,
   they will flee to their native land.
¹⁵ Whoever is captured will be thrust through;
   all who are caught will fall by the sword.
¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
   their houses will be looted and their wives violated.

    ¹⁷ See, I will stir up against them the Medes,
   who do not care for silver
   and have no delight in gold.
¹⁸ Their bows will strike down the young men;
   they will have no mercy on infants,
   nor will they look with compassion on children.
¹⁹ Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms,
   the pride and glory of the Babylonians, Or Chaldeans
will be overthrown by God
   like Sodom and Gomorrah.
²⁰ She will never be inhabited
   or lived in through all generations;
there no nomads will pitch their tents,
   there no shepherds will rest their flocks.
²¹ But desert creatures will lie there,
   jackals will fill her houses;
there the owls will dwell,
   and there the wild goats will leap about.
²² Hyenas will inhabit her strongholds,
   jackals her luxurious palaces.
Her time is at hand,
   and her days will not be prolonged.

8. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. The word צירים (tzirim) being ambiguous, the Greek translators render it ambassadors. But the comparison of a woman that travaileth, which is added immediately afterwards, sufficiently proves that it denotes pangs; for here, as if by a single word, he explains what he had previously said, that their hearts shall be melted and their hands shall be weakened; because, he says, they shall be struck with terror and dismay. Whence comes this terror? From God. This kind of terror, for which there was no apparent cause, the ancients called a panic; ²⁰²²⁰² {Bogus footnote} for they gave the name panes to apparitions and objects of this sort, by which men were terrified, even when there was no outward object that ought to have excited the terror. It was not without reason that they did so; but still they erred through gross ignorance, because they did not understand that it proceeded from God.

As a woman that travaileth. So far as relates to the inhabitants of Babylon, there was, indeed, just ground of fear, when they saw that they were attacked by valiant and warlike nations; but yet the Prophet threatens that, though they were able to resist, still they would be like men who were half dead, because through the secret operation of God they fainted and fell down. To the same purpose is what he adds, Every one shall be amazed at his neighbor; as when men are agitated and stare around them in every direction; and not only so, but when no hope of safety is to be seen, they are like men who have lost their senses, and abandon themselves to indolence.

Faces of flames their faces. ²⁰³²⁰³ {Bogus footnote} This clause, in which he attributes to them faces of flames, expresses still more strongly the violence of the terror. Some think that it denotes shame, as if he had said in a single word, They shall blush; but this is too feeble. Isaiah intended to express something greater and more dreadful; for when we are in agony the face glows, and the pressure of grief makes us burn. And, indeed, it would be treating the matter too lightly, when the calamity was so severe, to interpret these words as denoting shame; for he describes a calamity so distressing, that, on account of its severity, flames burst forth from the countenance, which usually happens when men are agonized by intense grief.

The comparison of a travailing woman denotes not only the intensity of the grief, but likewise the suddenness with which it seized them. As the calamity would be severe and violent, so Isaiah threatens that it will be sudden, and not without good reason; for the inhabitants of Babylon, protected by such strong defences, would never have thought that it was possible for any annoyance to reach or distress them.