Isaiah 13:1-14:23
Amplified Bible
Prophecies about Babylon
13 The [mournful, inspired] oracle ([a]a burden to be carried) concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw [in a prophetic vision]:
2
Lift up a signal banner on the bare mountain,
Summon them [the Medes and Persians] with a loud voice,
Wave the [beckoning] hand so that they may enter the doorways of the [Babylonian] nobles.
3
I [the Lord] have commanded My consecrated ones,
I have even called My great warriors,
My proudly exulting ones [the Medes and the Persians who triumph for My honor]—
To execute My anger.
4
A sound of tumult on the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A sound of the uproar of the kingdoms,
Of nations gathered together!
The Lord of hosts is mustering an army for battle.
5
They are coming from a distant country,
From the end of heaven [the farthest horizon]—
The Lord and the weapons of His indignation—
To destroy the whole land.(A)
Judgment on the Day of the Lord
6
Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand!
It will come as [b]destruction from the [c]Almighty (All Sufficient One—Invincible God)!(B)
7
Therefore [d]all hands will fall limp,
And every man’s heart will melt.
8
They [of Babylon] will be shocked and terrified,
Pains and anguish will grip them;
They will be in pain like a woman in childbirth.
They will stare aghast and horrified at one another,
Their faces aflame [from the effects of the unprecedented warfare].
9
Listen carefully, the day of the Lord is coming,
Cruel, with wrath and raging anger,
To make the land a horror [of devastation];
And He shall exterminate its sinners from it.(C)
10
For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash with their light;
The sun will be dark when it rises,
And the moon will not shed its light.
11
In this way I will punish the world for its evil
And the wicked for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing];
I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud
And will abase the arrogance of the tyrant.
12
I will make mortal man more rare than fine gold,
And mankind [scarcer] than the pure gold of Ophir.
13
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
And the earth will be shaken from its place
At the wrath of the Lord of hosts
In the day of His burning anger.
14
And like the hunted gazelle,
Or like sheep that no man gathers,
Each [foreign resident] will turn [and go back] to his own people,
And each one flee to his own land.
15
Anyone who is found will be pierced through,
And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
16
Their children also will be smashed to pieces
Before their eyes;
Their houses will be looted
And their wives ravished.
Babylon Will Fall to the Medes
17
Listen carefully, I will put the Medes [in motion] against them,
Who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold [and therefore cannot be bribed].
18
Their bows will cut down the young men [of Babylon];
They will take no pity on the fruit of the womb,
Their eyes will not look with compassion on the children.
19
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the [e]Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.
20
Babylon will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation;
Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there,
Nor will the shepherds let their sheep lie down there.
21
But desert creatures will lie down there,
And their houses will be full of owls;
Ostriches also will live there, and [f]wild goats will dance there.
22
[g]Hyenas will howl in their castles,
And jackals in their luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s time has nearly come,
And her days will not be prolonged.
Israel’s Taunt
14 For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob (the captives in Babylon) and will again choose Israel, and will settle them in their own land. Foreigners (Gentiles) will join them [as proselytes] and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob (Israel).(D) 2 The peoples will take them along and bring them to their own place (Judea), and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the Lord as male and female servants; and they will take captive those whose captives they have been, and they will rule over their [former] oppressors.(E)
3 And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and from the harsh service in which you have been enslaved, 4 that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,
“How the oppressor has ceased [his insolence],
And how the fury has ceased!
5
“The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of the [tyrant] rulers
6
Which used to strike the peoples in anger with incessant blows,
Which subdued and ruled the nations in wrath with unrelenting persecution.
7
“The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
They break into shouts of joy.
8
“Even the cypress trees rejoice over you [kings of Babylon], even the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.’
9
“[h]Sheol below is excited about you to meet you when you come [you tyrant of Babylon];
It stirs up the spirits of the dead [to greet you], all the leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones [in astonishment at your fall].
10
“All of them will respond [tauntingly] and say to you,
‘You have become as weak as we are.
You have become like us.
11
‘Your pomp and magnificence have been brought down to Sheol,
Along with the music of your harps;
The maggots [which prey on the dead] are spread out under you [as a bed]
And worms are your covering [Babylonian rulers].’
12
“How you have fallen from heaven,
O [i]star of the morning [light-bringer], son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the ground,
You who have weakened the nations [king of Babylon]!
13
“But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the remote parts of the north.
14
‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15
“But [in fact] you will be brought down to Sheol,
To the remote recesses of the pit (the region of the dead).
16
“Those who see you will gaze at you,
They will consider you, saying,
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
17
Who made the world like a wilderness
And overthrew its cities,
Who did not permit his prisoners to return home?’
18
“All the kings of the nations, all of them lie [dead] in glorious array,
Each one in his own sepulcher.
19
“But you [king of Babylon] have been cast out of your tomb (denied burial)
Like a rejected branch,
Clothed with the slain who are pierced by the sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit [into which carcasses are thrown],
Like a dead body trampled [underfoot].
20
“You will not be united with them in burial,
Because you have destroyed your land,
You have slain your people.
May the descendants of evildoers never be named!
21
“Prepare a slaughtering place for his sons
Because of the wickedness [the sin, the injustice, the wrongdoing] of their fathers.
They must not rise and take possession of the earth,
And fill the face of the world with cities.”
22 “I will rise up against them,” says the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, and son and grandson,” declares the Lord. 23 “I will also make Babylon a possession of the hedgehog and of [j]swamps of water, and I will sweep it away with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 13:1 I.e. an urgent message the prophet is under compulsion to proclaim.
- Isaiah 13:6 Shod in Hebrew, forming a word play with Shaddai.
- Isaiah 13:6 Heb Shaddai.
- Isaiah 13:7 Babylon was taken by surprise on the night of Belshazzar’s sacrilegious feast when Belshazzar was killed, and Darius the Mede was made king over Babylonia, the realm of the Chaldeans (Dan 5:30). The Chaldeans became the dominant people in Babylonia when Merodach-baladan declared himself king of Babylon. The words “Chaldean” and “Babylonian” are used interchangeably.
- Isaiah 13:19 The Chaldeans dominated and ruled Babylonia from 625 b.c., until their empire fell in 539 b.c., but they were known as early as 1000 b.c. as an aggressive, tribal people in the southern region of Babylonia. They were highly skilled in both the science of astronomy and the pseudo-science of astrology. They kept meticulous records of celestial motion and correctly calculated the length of a year to within just a few minutes. Babylon, their capital city, was the center of trade and learning in the western part of Asia. The classical literature of the Chaldeans was written in cuneiform, but the common language, both written and spoken in Babylon, was Akkadian that was increasingly influenced by Aramaic.
- Isaiah 13:21 Another possibility is goat demons.
- Isaiah 13:22 This prophecy was written well over a century before Babylon’s downfall in 539 b.c.
- Isaiah 14:9 I.e. the nether world, the place of the dead, Hades.
- Isaiah 14:12 Many students of the Bible have felt that the passage which follows applies to Satan (cf Luke 10:18). It is clear from the larger context that the passage addresses the king of Babylon, but that does not rule out a secondary reference to Satan. Many commentators are of the opinion that the arrogance expressed here is satanic, and that the passage correctly represents Satan’s attitude because he was working through the Babylonian ruler. The Hebrew for this expression is translated “Lucifer” (“light-bringer”) in The Latin Vulgate, and is translated this way in the King James Version. But because of the association of that name with Satan, it is not used in this and other translations. Some students feel that the application of the name Lucifer to Satan, in spite of the long and confident teaching to that effect, is erroneous. The application of the name to Satan has existed since the third century a.d., and is based on the supposition that Luke 10:18 is an explanation of Is 14:12, which many authorities believe is not true. “Lucifer,” the light-bringer, is the Latin equivalent of the Greek word “Phosphoros,” which is used as a title of Christ in 2 Pet 1:19 and corresponds to the name “radiant and brilliant Morning Star” in Rev 22:16, a name Jesus called Himself. This passage here in Is 14:12ff clearly applies to the king of Babylon.
- Isaiah 14:23 The city of Babylon was in the middle of a very fertile area, and it would have seemed reasonable to suppose that, regardless of what happened to the population, the region would always furnish pasturage for flocks. But Isaiah said it would become the possession of wild animals and would be covered with “swamps of water.” This is how that prophecy was literally fulfilled: after Babylon was taken, the whole area around the city was put under water from neglect of the canals and dikes of the Euphrates River. It became stagnant “swamps of water” among ruins haunted by wild animals, proclaiming to any who might see it that it had happened just as the Lord intended (Is 14:24).
Isaiah 47
Amplified Bible
Lament for Babylon
47 “Come down and sit in the dust,
O virgin daughter of Babylon;
Sit on the ground [in abject humiliation]; there is no throne for you,
O daughter of the [a]Chaldeans,
For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.
2
“Take millstones [as a female slave does] and grind meal;
Remove your veil, strip off the skirt,
Uncover the leg, cross the rivers [at the command of your captors].
3
“Your nakedness will be uncovered,
Your shame will also be exposed;
I will take vengeance and will spare no man.”
4
Our Redeemer [will do all this], the Lord of hosts is His name,
The Holy One of Israel.
5
“Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans;
For you will no longer be called
The queen of kingdoms.
6
“I was angry with My people,
I profaned [Judah] My inheritance
And gave them into your hand [Babylon].
You showed them no mercy;
You made your yoke very heavy on the aged.
7
“And you said, ‘I shall be a queen forevermore.’
You did not consider these things,
Nor did you [seriously] remember the [ultimate] outcome of such conduct.
8
“Now, then, hear this, you who live a luxuriant life,
You who dwell safely and securely,
Who say in your heart (mind),
‘I am [the queen], and there is no one besides me.
I shall not sit as a widow,
Nor know the loss of children.’
9
“But these two things shall come to you abruptly, in one day:
Loss of children and widowhood.
They will come on you in full measure
In spite of your many [claims of power through your] sorceries,
In spite of the great power of your enchantments.(A)
10
“For you [Babylon] have trusted and felt confident in your wickedness; you have said,
‘No one sees me.’
Your wisdom and your knowledge have led you astray,
And you have said in your heart (mind),
‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’
11
“Therefore disaster will come on you;
You will not know how to make it disappear [with your magic].
And disaster will fall on you
For which you cannot atone [with all your offerings to your gods];
And destruction about which you do not know
Will come on you suddenly.
12
“Persist, then, [Babylon] in your enchantments
And your many sorceries
With which you have labored from your youth;
Perhaps you will be able to profit [from them],
Perhaps you may prevail and cause trembling.
13
“You [b]are wearied by your many counsels.
Just let the astrologers,
The stargazers,
Those who predict by the new moons [each month]
Stand up and save you from the things that will come upon you [Babylon].
14
“In fact, they are like stubble;
Fire burns them.
They cannot save themselves from the power of the flame [much less save the nation],
There is no blazing coal for warming
Nor fire before which to sit!
15
“This is how they have become to you, those [astrologers and sorcerers] with whom you have labored,
Those who have done business with you from your youth;
Each has wandered in his own way.
There is no one to save you.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 47:1 The ruling tribe in Babylon.
- Isaiah 47:13 Or struggle with...plans.
Habakkuk 1:1-2
Amplified Bible
Chaldeans Used to Punish Judah
1 The [a]oracle (a burdensome message—a pronouncement from God) which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2
O Lord, how long will I call for help
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do not save.
Footnotes
- Habakkuk 1:1 I.e. an urgent message the prophet is under compulsion to proclaim.
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