Isaiah 13-23
New Catholic Bible
Oracles among the Pagan Nations[a]
Chapter 13
Babylon.[b] 1 An oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, received in a vision:
2 Upon a barren hill raise a banner;
cry aloud to them.
Wave your hand to them
to enter the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded my consecrated soldiers
and summoned my dedicated warriors
to carry out my vengeance.
4 Listen to the great tumult on the mountains
like that of an immense gathering.
Listen to the uproar of the kingdoms,
of nations assembling;
the Lord of hosts is mustering
an army for battle.
5 From a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the instruments of his wrath
are coming to destroy the entire earth.
6 Cry out in anguish,
for the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like devastation from the Almighty.
7 Therefore, every hand will hang limp
and every man’s courage will fade;
8 they will all be panic-stricken,
overcome with pangs and agony
and writhing like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each other,
with their faces aflame with fear.
9 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
a cruel day of wrath and burning anger,
to reduce the land to a desert waste
and to destroy all the sinners within it.
10 The stars of the heavens and their constellations
will no longer give forth their light.
The sun will be dark when it rises,
and the moon will not provide its light.
11 By taking this course
I will punish the world for its wickedness
and those who are evil for their iniquity.
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant
and humble the insolence of tyrants.
12 I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold,
far more rare than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore, I am determined to make the heavens tremble
and the earth will be shaken to its very foundations,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts,
on the day of his blazing anger.
14 Like a gazelle fleeing from a hunter,
or like a flock of sheep that no one gathers,
everyone will return to his own people
and flee to his native land.
15 Any who are found will be slaughtered;
without exception they will be slain by the sword.
16 Their infants will be smashed to pieces before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives will be ravished.
17 Behold, I am stirring up against them the Medes
who have no interest in silver
and are not tempted by gold.[c]
18 With their bows they will slaughter the young men,
and they will show no pity for young children.
19 And Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms,
the splendor and jewel of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when they were overthrown by God.
20 It will never be inhabited;
no future generations will ever reside there.
No Arab will ever again pitch his tent there,
nor will shepherds rest their flocks in that land.
21 However, wild animals of the desert will dwell there,
and its houses will be filled with jackals.
There ostriches will reside,
and there wild goats[d] will dance.
22 Hyenas will howl in her castles
and jackals in her luxurious palaces.
Her time draws near,
and her days will not be prolonged.
Chapter 14
Taunting the King of Babylon. 1 The Lord will have compassion on Jacob, and he will once again choose Israel. He will resettle them on their native soil, where foreigners will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 Nations will take them and escort them to their homeland, and the house of Israel will accept them as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land. The house of Israel will also enslave those who had enslaved them and will rule her oppressors.
3 [e]When that day arrives that the Lord affords you relief from your suffering and trouble and from the cruel servitude that had been imposed upon you, 4 you will take up this taunt-song against the king of Babylon:
Behold how the oppressor has come to an end!
Behold how his arrogance has ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked,
the scepter of rulers,
6 that struck down the peoples in wrath,
inflicting continuous blows,
and that furiously crushed the nations
with relentless persecution.
7 The entire world is at rest and peaceful;
shouts of joy resound.
8 The cypresses exult over you,
as do the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
“Now that you have been laid low,
no one approaches to cut us down.”[f]
9 The netherworld below is all astir
to greet you upon your arrival.
To welcome you it aroused the departed spirits,
all the rulers of the earth.
It raised from their thrones
all those who were kings of the nations.
10 All of them will speak out
and greet you with these words,
“You too have become as weak as we are.
You have become like us.”
11 Your pomp has descended to the netherworld
along with the music of your harps.
Maggots compose the mattress upon which you lie,
and worms serve as your blanket.
12 To what depths have you fallen from the heavens,
O morning star, son of the dawn!
How you have been cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
13 You used to say in your heart,
“I will scale the heavens.
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God.
I will sit on the Mountain of Assembly,
in the far recesses of the north.
14 I will ascend above the highest clouds;
I will be like the Most High.”
15 Instead you have been hurled down to the netherworld,
to the depths of the abyss.
16 Those who see you will stare at you,
and as they do so they will wonder,
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble
and overthrew kingdoms,
17 who turned the world into a desert,
laid its cities in ruins,
and refused to let his prisoners return home?”
18 All the kings of the nations lie in honor,
each one in his own tomb.
19 But you have been cast out without burial,
like some loathsome piece of flesh;
you are covered with the dead,
with those pierced by the sword
who descend to the rocks of the abyss.
20 You will never be buried with those kings
because you have destroyed your land
and brought death to your people.
The offspring of the wicked
will never again be mentioned.
21 Make ready to slaughter his sons
because of the guilt of their father.
Let them never again rise to possess the earth
and cover the face of the earth with their cities.
22 I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and I will deprive Babylon of her name and remnant, her offspring and posterity, says the Lord. 23 I will cause it to become a haunt of the hedgehogs and a marshland; I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the Lord of hosts.
Assyria[g]
24 The Lord of hosts has sworn:
As I have resolved, so will it be;
as I have planned, so will it come to pass.
25 I will break the Assyrian in my land
and trample him underfoot on my mountains;
his yoke will be lifted from my people,
and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.
26 This is the plan that the Lord has prepared
for the entire world,
and this is the hand that he has outstretched
over all the nations.
27 For the Lord of hosts has devised this plan;
who can thwart it?
His hand is outstretched;
who can turn it back?
28 Philistia. In the year that King Ahaz died, this oracle was proclaimed:
29 Let not a single one of you rejoice, O Philistia,
that the rod that struck you is broken.
For from the root of a snake will be born a viper,
and its fruit will be a flying serpent.
30 The poor of my people will eat in my pasture,
and the destitute will lie down in safety.
But I will make your offspring die of hunger,
and I will then slay the remnant.
31 Howl, O gate! Cry out, O city!
Let all Philistia be stricken with fear!
For a mighty foe is coming from the north,
without a single straggler in its ranks.
32 What reply will then be given
to the envoys of that nation?
“The Lord has established Zion,
and the afflicted of his people
will find refuge in her.”
Chapter 15
Moab[h]
1 [i]An oracle concerning Moab:
Having been laid waste in a single night,
Ar of Moab is destroyed.
Having been laid waste in a single night,
Kir of Moab is destroyed.
2 The daughter of Dibon goes up
to the high places to weep.
Moab wails unceasingly
over Nebo and Medeba.
Every head has been shaved,
every beard has been cut off.
3 In the streets they wear sackcloth;
on the roofs and in the public squares
everyone wails and collapses in tears.
4 Hesbon and Elealeh cry out in distress;
their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.
As a result, the bravest of Moab’s warriors cry out
and their hearts grow faint.
5 My heart cries out for Moab;
her fugitives have arrived close to Zoar,
at Eglath-shelishiyah.
They climb the slope of Luhith,
weeping as they make their ascent;
on the road to Horonaim
they emit heart-rending cries.
6 The waters of Nimrim
have become a desolate waste.
The grass is parched,
the plants have withered away,
and nothing green can be seen.
7 Therefore, the people carry away
across the Ravine of the Willows
whatever possessions they can manage
and the savings they have accumulated.
8 Their cry of distress has echoed
around the land of Moab.
Their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim;
it can be heard even to the land of Beer-elim.
9 The waters of Dimon are filled with blood,
but I have far worse in store for Dimon:
a lion for those who are fleeing from Moab,
as well as for those who are left on its soil.
Chapter 16
1 [j]Send forth lambs to the ruler of the land,
from Sela across the desert
to the mount of daughter Zion.
2 Like fluttering birds,
like scattered nestlings,
are the women of Moab
at the fords of the Arnon.
3 Offer your counsel,
grant us your justice.
At high noon
let your shadow be like night.
Hide those who are outcasts
and do not betray the fugitives.
4 Allow the outcasts of Moab
to settle among you,
and be their refuge from the destroyer.
When the oppression has ceased
and the devastation is at an end,
and the marauders who have trampled the land
have finally departed,
5 a throne established in faithful love
will be established in the tent of David,
and on it will sit in fidelity
a judge who offers fair judgment
and is prompt to ensure justice.
6 We have heard about the pride of Moab,
about how truly intense that pride is,
with its arrogance, its pride, and its insolence,
as well as its boasts which have little basis.
7 Therefore, let Moab wail,
every one of its inhabitants.
In their grief they will long
for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.
8 The vineyards of Heshbon have withered,
the vines of Sibmah.
The lords of the nations
have destroyed the choicest vines
that once reached as far as Jazer
and spread out toward the desert,
and whose shoots with their spreading branches
spread across the sea.
9 Therefore, I weep with Jazer
for the vines of Sibmah.
I drench you with tears,
Heshbon and Elealeh,
for the cries of battle have fallen
over your harvest and vintage.
10 Joy and gladness
have been taken away from the fields.
In the vineyards no songs are sung,
no joyful shouts are raised.
No one treads out wine in the wine-presses
no cheers of happiness are heard.
11 That is the reason why
my heart throbs like a harp for Moab
and my soul for Kir-hareseth.
12 When the Moabites approach
and exhaust themselves on the high places,
they will flock to their sanctuaries to pray,
but it will avail them nothing.
13 This was the word that the Lord spoke about Moab in the past. 14 But now the Lord says: In three years, as a hired worker reckons them, the glory of Moab will be regarded with contempt, despite its vast multitude. The remnant that survive will be few in number and very feeble.
Chapter 17
Damascus
1 An oracle concerning Damascus:
Before long Damascus will cease to be a city,
and she will be reduced to a heap of ruins.
2 Her towns will be abandoned forever;
they will serve as pastures for flocks
who will lie there undisturbed.
3 No longer will Ephraim have a fortress
or Damascus a kingdom.
The glory of the remnant of Aram
will be like that of the children of Israel,
says the Lord of hosts.
4 On that day
the glory of Jacob will grow dim
and the flesh of his body will grow lean,
5 as when the reaper gathers the standing grain,
harvesting the ears with his arms,
or as when one gleans the ears of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.[k]
6 Nothing will remain except the scattered remnant,
as when an olive tree is beaten:
two or three olives on the highest bough,
four or five on each of its fruitful branches,
says the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 On that day,
men will look to their Creator,
and they will turn their eyes
to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will not gaze upon the altars, their handiwork,
nor shall they regard what their fingers have made
the sacred poles and the altars of incense.
9 On that day their strong cities will be
like those abandoned by the Hivites and the Amorites
which they deserted because of the Israelites’ advance;
their cities will be left desolate.
10 You have forgotten the God of your salvation
and have not kept in mind the Rock, your refuge.
Therefore, you plant your pagan gardens
and sow exotic seeds for a foreign god.
11 Even though you cause them to sprout
on the day that you plant them,
and make them sprout blossoms
on the following morning,
yet the harvest will disappear
when struck by a wasting disease and incurable blight.
12 Listen to the thunder of vast hordes,
its volume like that of the roaring sea.
Listen to the roar of nations,
its volume like that of mighty waves.
13 But when God rebukes them
they flee far away,
driven like chaff on the mountains before the wind
and like whirling dust before the storm.
14 In the evening terror has spread,
but by the morning it has disappeared.
Such is the fate of those who plunder us,
the lot of those who despoil us.
Chapter 18
Ethiopia
1 Woe to the land of buzzing locusts
beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,[l]
2 sending ambassadors by sea
in papyrus vessels across the waters.
Go forth, you swift messengers,
to a nation tall and bronzed,
to a people dreaded near and far,
a mighty and conquering nation
whose land is crossed by many rivers.
3 All you who inhabit the world,
you who dwell on the earth,
you will see when the signal is raised on the mountains
and hear when the trumpet is sounded.
4 For this is what the Lord said to me:
I will quietly look down from my dwelling
like the shimmering heat of the summer sun,
like a cloud of dew during the harvest heat.
5 For prior to the harvest, when the flowering is over
and the blooms become ripening grapes
the shoots will be cut off with pruning hooks,
and the branches will be cut away and discarded.
6 They will all be left
to the birds of prey on the mountains
and to the wild beasts of the earth.
In summer the birds of prey will dwell there,
while the wild animals will winter on them.
7 At that time offerings will be brought to the Lord of hosts from a tall and bronzed people dreaded near and far, a mighty and conquering nation whose land is crisscrossed by rivers, to Mount Zion, the place where the name of the Lord of hosts dwells.
Chapter 19
Egypt
1 An oracle concerning Egypt:
Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud,
and he is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt will tremble before him,
and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them.
2 I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
and they will fight against one another,
brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
3 The spirit of the Egyptians will ebb away within them,
and I will throw their deliberations into disarray.
They will then resort to consulting idols
and the spirits of the dead,
as well as ghosts and sorcerers.
4 I will deliver the Egyptians
into the power of a harsh master,
a cruel king who will rule over them—
says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.
5 The waters of the Nile will ebb away,
and the river will become parched and dry.
6 Its canals will emit a terrible stench,
and its branches will diminish and dry up;
reeds and rushes will wither away.
7 All the plants on the banks of the Nile
and all the vegetation of the Nile
will dry up, blow away, and vanish.
8 The fishermen will groan and mourn,
all those who cast their hooks into the Nile,
while those who spread their nets on the water
will lose heart.
9 The linen-workers will despair,
as will the combers and weavers.
10 The spinners will be dismayed,
and all who work for wages will be crushed.
11 The princes of Zoan[m] are utter fools;
the wisest of Pharaoh’s counselors offer stupid advice.
How can you dare to say to Pharaoh,
“I am descended from sages;
I spring from ancient kings”?
12 Where then are your sages?
Let them tell you,
so that all may know
what the Lord of hosts has planned against Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan have become fools.
and the princes of Memphis have been deceived.
The chiefs of her tribes
have led Egypt astray.
14 The Lord has infused them
with a spirit of confusion;
they have made Egypt stagger in everything she does,
just as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.
15 Neither head nor tail,
neither palm branch nor reed,
will be able to do anything for Egypt.
16 On that day the Egyptians will be like women, trembling with fear because the Lord of hosts has raised his hand against them. 17 And the land of Judah will become a source of terror to the Egyptians. Every time they remember Judah, they will tremble with fear because of the plan that the Lord of hosts has devised against them.
18 On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of the Sun.
19 On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt, and a sacred pillar to the Lord at its border. 20 It will serve as a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord for his help against their oppressors, he will send them a savior to defend and deliver them. 21 The Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will acknowledge the Lord on that day. They will offer sacrifices and oblations, and they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt severely, but he will then bring them healing. After that they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their prayers and heal them.
23 On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will enter Egypt, and the Egyptians will enter Assyria, and Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.
24 On that day Israel will be a member of a triumvirate with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing at the center of the world, 25 and the Lord of hosts will bless them with these words: “Blessed be my people Egypt, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage.”
Chapter 20
The Fate of Egypt and Ethiopia.[n] 1 In the year that the commander-in-chief, who had been sent by King Sargon of Assyria, came to Ashdod, he fought against it and captured it. 2 At that time the Lord spoke to Isaiah, the son of Amoz, and issued this warning, “Go forth, take off the sackcloth from your waist, and remove the sandals from your feet.” Isaiah did as he had been instructed, walking naked and barefoot.
3 Then the Lord said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and portent against Egypt and Ethiopia, 4 so shall the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles from Ethiopia, both the young and the aged, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks exposed, to the shame of Egypt. 5 Then they will be dismayed and ashamed of Ethiopia their hope and of Egypt their boast. 6 On that day the inhabitants of the coastland will say, ‘Observe what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria. How will we now be able to escape?’ ”
Chapter 21
The Defeat of Babylon[o]
1 An oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea:
Like whirlwinds sweeping over the Negeb,[p]
there comes from the desert,
from a land that inspires terror,
2 a harsh vision that is shown to me:
the traitor betrays
and the despoiler despoils.
Go forth, O Elam;[q]
lay siege, O Media.
I will bring to an end
all the pain she has inflicted.
3 Therefore, my loins are filled with anguish;
pangs have seized me
like those of a woman in labor.
I am so distraught that I cannot hear;
I am too frightened even to look.
4 My mind reels,
and I am overcome with dread;
the twilight I yearned for
has become horrifying to me.
5 They set the table;
they spread out the rugs;
they eat and they drink.
Rise up, O princes;
oil your shields.
6 For this is what the Lord has said to me:
Go forth and post a lookout;
let him report what he sees.
7 If he should see cavalry,
horsemen riding in pairs,
men mounted on donkeys,
men mounted on camels,
instruct him to watch closely
and to listen diligently.
8 Then the lookout shouted,
“I stand on the watchtower, O Lord,
all day long,
and I remain stationed at my post
throughout the night.
9 Behold, here come the cavalry now,
horsemen riding in pairs.”
Then the Lord responded:
Fallen, fallen is Babylon,
and all the images of her gods
have been smashed to the ground.
10 O my people,
you who have been trodden
upon the threshing floor,
what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
from the God of Israel,
I have proclaimed to you.
Edom
11 An oracle concerning Edom:
Someone is calling to me from Seir,
“Watchman, when will the night end?
Watchman, when will it end?”
12 The watchman replies,
“Morning will come, and so will the night.
If you wish to ask, do so;
come back again.”
Arabia
13 An oracle concerning Arabia:
In the thickets of the desert you will encamp,
you caravans of Dedanites.
14 Bring water to the thirsty
and greet the fugitives with bread,
you inhabitants of the land of Tema.[r]
15 For they have fled from the sword,
from the sharp edge of the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the stress of battles.
16 For these are the words spoken to me by the Lord: Within a year, as a hired worker reckons time, all the glory of Kedar[s] will come to an end. 17 Hardly any of Kedar’s valiant warriors will be left, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.
Chapter 22
Jerusalem[t]
1 An oracle concerning the Valley of Vision:[u]
What possible reason can there be
for all of you to have gone up on the housetops,
2 dwellers in a city full of commotion,
a city exultant and filled with tumult?
Your slain did not fall by the sword,
nor did they perish in battle.
3 All your leaders fled away together,
only to be captured
without a weapon to defend themselves.
All of them who were found were captured
even though they had fled in all directions.
4 That is the reason why I said:
Turn your eyes away from me;
let me weep bitterly.
Do not try to console me
about the destruction of my people.
5 For this is a day ordained by the Lord of hosts,
a day of rout, tumult, and confusion
in the Valley of Vision,
a day on which walls will be battered down
and cries for help echo through the mountains.
6 Elam has taken up his quiver,
the chariots of Aram have their horses prepared,
and Kir has bared his shield.
7 Your fairest valleys are filled with chariots,
and the cavalry stands ready at the gates;
8 the Lord has removed his sheltering hand from Judah.
On that day you checked out the supply of weapons in the House of the Forest.[v] 9 You observed that there were many breaches in the City of David, and you collected the waters of the lower pool. 10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem, and you tore down some to strengthen the wall. 11 Between the two walls you constructed a reservoir for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to the city’s Maker or give a thought to him who built it long ago.
12 On that day the Lord,
the Lord of hosts,
called on you to eat and mourn,
to shave your head and put on sackcloth.
13 But instead you indulged in joy and merriment,
the killing of oxen and the slaughtering of sheep,
the eating of meat and the drinking of wine,
saying, “Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
14 Then the Lord of hosts revealed this to me:
This wickedness will not be forgiven you
until you die,
says the Lord God of hosts.
Shebna and Eliakim
15 Thus says the Lord God of hosts:
Go forth and find that official,
Shebna, the master of the palace, and say:
16 What are you doing here,
and who gave you permission
to hew a tomb for yourself here?
By what right have you hewn your grave on a height
and chiseled out your tomb in the rock?
17 The Lord is about to hurl you away violently;
he will grasp you firmly
18 and roll you up and throw you like a ball
into a vast expanse.
There you will die,
and there your splendid chariots will lie;
you are a disgrace to your master’s household.
19 I will remove you from your office,
and you will be pulled down from your post.
20 On that day I will summon
my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.
21 I will clothe him with your robe
and place your sash around his waist,
and I will bestow upon him your authority.
He will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
and to the house of Judah.
22 I will place on his shoulder
the key of the house of David.
When he opens,
no one will close;
when he closes,
no one will open.[w]
23 I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place,
and he will become a throne of honor for his family.
24 Upon him will depend all the glory of his family,
his descendants, and his offspring,
and even the smallest vessels, from cups to pitchers.
25 On that day, says the Lord of hosts,
the peg that was securely fastened
will give way, break loose, and fall,
and whatever had been hanging on it will be lost.
For the Lord has spoken.
Chapter 23
Tyre and Sidon[x]
1 An oracle concerning Tyre:
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your harbor has been destroyed.
From the land of Cyprus
the news has reached them.
2 Be silent, you who dwell along the coast,
you merchants of Sidon,
whose messengers crossed over the sea
3 to the vast ocean.
The grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile
provided your revenue;
you were the merchant for the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, the fortress of the sea,
for the sea has declared:
“I have not endured the anguish of labor,
nor have I given birth;
I have not reared young men
or brought up young women.”
5 When the news reaches Egypt,
they will writhe in anguish
upon hearing the fate of Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, you inhabitants of the coast.
7 Is this your vibrant city
founded in the days of old,
and whose feet have led her away
to settle in distant lands?
8 Who has devised this plan
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes
and whose traders were held in the highest esteem
throughout the earth?
9 The Lord of hosts has devised this plan
to deflate the glory of the proud
and to humiliate the honored men of the earth.
10 Cross over to your own land,
you ships of Tarshish,
for your harbors no longer exist.[y]
11 The Lord has stretched out his hand over the sea
and brought kingdoms to their knees;
he has commanded the destruction
of the fortresses of Canaan.
12 He has said:
You will exult no more,
O greatly oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon.
Arise and cross over to Cyprus,
but even there you will find no rest.
13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans;
it was this people, not Assyria,
who erected siege-towers,
tore down its palaces,
and left it in ruins.
14 Cry out in anguish, O ships of Tarshish,
for your fortress has been destroyed.
15 From that day, Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of one king’s life. At the end of those seventy years, the plight of Tyre will be identical to that of the prostitute in the song:
16 Take your harp
and walk throughout the city,
you long-forgotten prostitute.
Pluck your strings sweetly
and sing many songs
so that they may remember you.
17 At the end of the seventy years the Lord will visit Tyre. She will once again ply her trade and prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 But her merchandise and her profits will be dedicated to the Lord; they will not be stored up or hoarded, but they will provide abundant food and clothing to those who live in the presence of the Lord.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 13:1 The oracles grouped together in chapters 13–23 arose in historical situations that were very diverse and often remote from one another in time. Some of the oracles were composed by Isaiah, others by some of his later disciples. These inspired men saw in the development of events and the collisions of peoples a fulfillment of the judgment of God, who offers salvation to every people that turns to him. Discreetly but firmly, the national boundaries of Israel are ignored, and the theme of the call of the nations makes its appearance.
- Isaiah 13:1 The editor of the Book attributes this lament to Isaiah himself. This lament describes the fall of Babylon after the manner of the fall of Nineveh. In fact, the city conquered by Cyrus in 539 B.C., was not destroyed, but the disappearance of the Assyrian capital, like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, always remained a paradigm for the prophets.
- Isaiah 13:17 The Medes were originally warlike tribes from the mountains east of Babylonia; once gathered as a kingdom, they were first allied with Babylon against the Assyrians; later, joined with the Persians, they would contribute to the fall of Babylon.
- Isaiah 13:21 Wild goats: or “satyrs,” popular personifications of the demons who dwelt in ruins.
- Isaiah 14:3 The passage refers perhaps to Sargon II, king of Assyria, or, more probably, to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia. The Fathers of the Church saw in the Lucifer of verse 12 the leader of the angels, who had become the prince of demons in punishment for his boundless pride.
- Isaiah 14:8 The kings of Assyria and Babylon had had a great many of the cedars of Lebanon cut down for their building projects.
- Isaiah 14:24 In 701 B.C., Sennacherib invaded the kingdom of Judah and surrounded Jerusalem. He had to lift the siege, however: an epidemic was destroying his army. This was the beginning of the decline of this empire.
- Isaiah 15:1 Moab, ancient rival and enemy of Israel, was devastated during the Assyrian war of 701 B.C.
- Isaiah 15:1 The names are those of places belonging at that time to the kingdom of Moab.
- Isaiah 16:1 The text is uncertain— verse 2 belongs before verse 1, as a continuation of 15:9. Then, it seems, the ruler of Moab is urged to send a messenger to ask for asylum in Jerusalem, to which verses 3-4 refer.
- Isaiah 17:5 Valley of Rephaim: west of Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 18:1 Rivers of Ethiopia: the reference is to the Upper Nile and its tributaries.
- Isaiah 19:11 Zoan: the Tanis of the Greeks, a city in the Nile Delta. Egyptian wise men enjoyed a high reputation in the ancient East.
- Isaiah 20:1 Because it had incited an anti-Assyrian coalition, the Philistine city of Ashdod was captured in 711 B.C. by the supreme commander of Sargon II. Isaiah performs a prophetic gesture; his incongruous behavior illustrates the fate reserved for prisoners from the contingent, which Egypt and Ethiopia had sent to serve under the Philistines.
- Isaiah 21:1 Proud Babylon has fallen. The reference is either to 710 B.C., when Babylon was attacked by the Assyrian, Sargon, who put down the rebellion of Merodach-baladan (see 2 Ki 20:10; Jer 39:1-8), or to its fall in 539 B.C. under the attack of Cyrus. Tradition has it that the city was taken by the allied Medes and Persians during the night, while the ruler and his men were feasting in the assurance that the walls were impregnable (v. 5; see Dan 5).
- Isaiah 21:1 The desert: the plain of Babylonia. The Negeb: the vast southern wilderness of Palestine.
- Isaiah 21:2 Elam: an ancient people dwelling in the area from which the Persians would come. For the Medes, see 13:17.
- Isaiah 21:14 Tema: an oasis in the northeastern Arabian peninsula.
- Isaiah 21:16 Kedar: a powerful tribe in southern Arabia.
- Isaiah 22:1 Delighted by a passing military success, or by the defeat of Sennacherib in 701 B.C. (Isa 36–37), the city celebrates. The inhabitants are proud of their preparations for war, their strengthened defenses, and the subterranean channel which King Hezekiah had had dug in order to provide the city with drinking water.
- Isaiah 22:1 Valley of Vision: the valley around southeastern Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 22:8 House of the Forest: a hall supported by cedar columns and serving as an armory; see 1 Ki 7:2-5; 10:17.
- Isaiah 22:22 Key . . . close . . . open: symbolizes the power to govern.
- Isaiah 23:1 Two songs oddly combined, one by Isaiah (vv. 1-4, 12-14), the other of much more recent date (vv. 5-11); the two describe the fall of Tyre and Sidon, the capitals of maritime trade. Sennacherib destroyed Sidon around 701 B.C. In the sixth century, Nebuchadnezzar, and later on (in 332 B.C.) Alexander, would besiege the impregnably fortified island of Tyre.
- Isaiah 23:10 Once Tyre fell, trade with Spain and Tarshish was left to its own resources.
