Isaiah
Chapter 13
ORACLES AGAINST THE NATIONS
Against Babylon
An oracle concerning Babylon, seen by Isaiah, son of Amoz:
On a bare hilltop, raise a banner; cry aloud to them, wave a hand for them to enter the Gates of the Nobles.
I have ordered my sacred knights, I have summoned my holy ones— all those who rejoice in my triumph— I have commanded them to carry out my wrath.
Listen, a rumbling on the mountains as of a great multitude! Listen, a tumultuous uproar as of kingdoms massing together! Yes, the Lord Sabaoth is mustering his army.
From faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens they come—the Lord and the instruments of his wrath— to destroy the whole earth.
Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
All arms will go limp, every human heart will fail him.
Everyone will be gripped with terror. Pain and sorrow taking hold of them, men will be in anguish like women in travail. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame as with fever.
See how the day of the Lord comes: it is a cruel day coming with wrath and fierce anger. It will make the earth desolate; it will destroy sinners within it.
The stars and constellations at night will send forth no light, the moon will not shine; in the morning the sun will be dark as it rises.
I punish the world for the evil it does, and the wicked for their sins. I make the arrogance of the proud cease. I end the haughtiness of the ruthless.
I will make mortals scarcer than gold and humans more rare than the gold of Ophir.
This is why the heavens tremble and the earth shakes its foundation, at the wrath of the Lord Sabaoth on the day of his burning anger.
Like a hunted gazelle, or like a flock without a shepherd everyone returns to his own people, each one flees to his native land.
Whoever is captured will be butchered, whoever is caught will be slaughtered.
Their babies will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, their wives raped.
Against them, I will stir up the Medes, who doesn’t crave for money and are not interested in gold.
Their bows and arrows will strike down young men without mercy or compassion. They do not spare infants and children.
Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, pride and glory of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when overthrown by God.
She will never be inhabited, nor dwelt in from age to age. There no Arab will pitch his tent, no shepherd will tend his flock.
There, wild beasts of the desert will lie, howling creatures will fill the houses, owls and ostriches will dwell there and wild goats will leap about.
There, mad dogs will cry out in her strongholds, and jackals in her palaces. Her time is close at hand; her days are now numbered.
Commentaries
Against Babylon.
Chapters 13-23 form a collection of oracles against the nations. In other prophetic books, we also see the same pattern of linking all the oracles together (Jr 46-51; Ez 25-32). The prophets played a vital role in the politics of their time, and their words were mainly aimed at their contemporaries, especially the leaders of the people.
The oracle found here is much later than that of Isaiah, dating back to the eighth century B.C. Isaiah 13:2-16 describes the “day of the Lord” when he comes to destroy his enemies, the Babylonians, through the Persians and Medes in 539 B.C. Just as God used foreign peoples to punish his people, so now he punishes Babylon; he is the Lord of all peoples (3); The most powerful nations of the world are instruments of the Divine will.