The Lord’s Word of Hope – Isaiah 13:1-14:27
13 The oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. (2) Raise a signal on a bare hilltop. Shout to them. Beckon for them to enter the gates of the nobles. (3) I have commanded those whom I have consecrated, I have summoned my mighty warriors—my proudly exulting servants—to express my anger. (4) The sound of tumult in the mountains, like that of a great multitude. The sound of the uproar of the kingdoms of the nations as they gather together. Jehovah of hosts is mustering the army for battle. (5) They are coming from a distant country, from the farthest recess of heaven—Jehovah himself and the weapons of his indignation—to destroy the whole land.
(6) Wail, for the day of Jehovah is near; it will be a day of destruction from the Almighty. (7) Therefore, all hands will fall limp, and every man’s heart will melt. (8) They will be terrified; pain and anguish will seize them. They will writhe in pain like a woman in the labor of childbirth. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame. (9) Listen! The day of Jehovah is coming—a cruel day, with wrath and the expression of fierce anger—to make the land desolate and to exterminate its sinners. (10) The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. (11) I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will bring to an end the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. (12) I will make men scarcer than pure gold, and mankind more rare than the gold of Ophir. (13) Therefore, I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place by the wrath of Jehovah of hosts on the day his fierce anger is expressed. (14) Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd, each one will return to his own people, each one will flee to his native land. (15) Everyone who is found will be thrust through with the sword; indeed, everyone who is captured shall fall by the sword. (16) Their infants shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives will be raped. (17) See, I will stir up the Medes against them; they will not care for silver, nor will they delight in gold. (18) But their bows will mow down the young men; they will not take pity on infants, nor will they look with compassion upon children.
(19) Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will become like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. (20) It will never again be inhabited, neither will anyone live in it from generation to generation. No Arabian will pitch his tent there, nor will any shepherds rest their flocks there. (21) But wild beasts of the wilderness will lie there; their houses will be full of jackals. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will frolic there. (22) Hyenas will howl in their once fortified towers, and jackals will howl in her once luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged; 14 because Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob and will once again choose Israel. He will settle them in their own land, and the alien will join them; aliens will unite with the house of Jacob. (2) The Gentile peoples will take Israel and bring them to their own land; and the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in Jehovah’s land. Israel will make captives of those who were their captors and will rule over those who formerly oppressed them. (3) On that day when Jehovah gives you relief from your suffering and trouble and cruel bondage, (4) you will raise this taunt against the king of Babylon, How the oppressor has come to and end! How his fury has ceased! (5) Jehovah has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers—(6) the rod that in anger struck down peoples with unceasing blows, that subdued the nations with fury and relentless aggression. (7) The whole earth is at rest and at peace; they break out into singing. (8) Even the pine trees and the cedars of Lebanon exult over you and say, Now that you have been laid low, no lumberjack comes to cut us down!
(9) Sheol down below is excited to meet you at your coming. It rouses the dead to greet you—all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones—all those who were kings of the nations. (10) All of them shall respond and say to you, You also have become weak like us! You have become like us! (11) All your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are spread out beneath you, and worms cover you. (12) How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! How you have been cut down to the ground, you who once laid low the nations! (13) You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit enthroned upon the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain! (14) I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High! (15) But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit. (16) Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate, asking, Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble? (17) Is this the man who turned the world into a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not allow his captives to go home? (18) All the kings of the nations—all of them—lie in state, each in his own tomb. (19) But you are cast away from your tomb like a rejected branch. You are covered with the slain that were pierced with the sword, with those who descend to the bottom of the pit. Like a corpse trampled underfoot, (20) you will not join them in burial, because you destroyed your land and killed your people. May the offspring of evildoers never be mentioned again! (21) Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the iniquity of their forefathers; so that they may not rise up and possess the earth and fill the surface of the world with cities. (22) I will rise up against them, declares Jehovah of host. I will cut off from Babylon her name and her survivors, her offspring and posterity, declares Jehovah. (23) I will turn her land into a place for owls and into swampland. I will sweep her with the broom of destruction, declares Jehovah of hosts.
(24) Jehovah of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely, as I have planned, so shall it happen; and as I have purposed, so shall it be established—(25) namely, that I will crush the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains I will trample him down. Then his yoke will be taken off of my people, and his burden removed from their shoulders. (26) This is the plan that has been determined for the whole world; and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.(27) Since it is Jehovah of hosts who has determined to do this, who can thwart it? And since it is his hand that is stretched out, who can turn it back?
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
