Isaiah 13 commentary

ISAIAH 13 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
A Prophecy Against Babylon
13 A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of
Amoz saw:
1.BARNES, “The burden of Babylon - Or, the burden “respecting,” or “concerning”
Babylon. This prophecy is introduced in a different manner from those which have preceded.
The terms which Isaiah employed in the commencement of his previous prophecies, were vision
(see the note at Isa_1:1), or word Isa_2:1. There has been considerable diversity of opinion in
regard to the meaning of the word ‘burden,’ which is here employed. The Vulgate renders it,
Onus - ‘Burden,’ in the sense of load. The Septuagint ᆑρασις Horasis - ‘Vision.’ The Chaldee,
‘The burden of the cup of malediction which draws near to Babylon.’ The Hebrew word ‫משׂא‬
mas's'a', from ‫נשׂא‬ nas'a', to lift, to raise up, to bear, to bear away, to suffer, to endure”), means
properly that which is borne; that which is heavy; that which becomes a burden; and it is also
applied to a gift or present, as that which is borne to a man 2Ch_17:11.
It is also applied to a proverb or maxim, probably from the “weight” and “importance” of the
sentiment condensed in it Pro_30:1; Pro_31:1. It is applied to an oracle from God 2Ki_4:25. It is
often translated ‘burden’ Isa_15:1-9; Isa_19:1; Isa_21:11, Isa_21:13; Isa_22:1; Isa_23:1;
Isa_30:6; Isa_46:1; Jer_23:33-34, Jer_23:38; Neh_1:1; Zec_1:1; Zec_12:1; Mal_1:1. By
comparing these places, it will be found that the term is applied to those oracles or prophetic
declarations which contain sentiments especially weighty and solemn; which are employed
chiefly in denouncing wrath and calamity; and which, therefore, are represented as weighing
down, or oppressing the mind and heart of the prophet. A similar useage prevails in all
languages. We are all familiar with expressions like this. We speak of news or tidings of so
melancholy a nature as to weigh down, to sink, or depress our spirits; so heavy that we can
scarcely bear up under it, or endure it. And so in this case, the view which the prophet had of the
awful judgments of God and of the calamities which were coming upon guilty cities and nations,
was so oppressive, that it weighed down the mind and heart as a heavy burden. Others, however,
suppose that it means merely a message or prophecy which is taken up, or borne, respecting a
place, and that the word indicates nothing in regard to the nature of the message. So
Rosenmuller, Gesenius, and Cocceius, understand it. But it seems some the former
interpretation is to be preferred. Grotins renders it, ‘A mournful prediction respecting Babylon.’
Did see - Saw in a vision; or in a scenical representation. The various events were made to
pass before his mind in a vision, and he was permitted to see the armies mustered; the
consternation of the people; and the future condition of the proud city. This verse is properly the
title to the prophecy.

2. CLARKE, “The burden of Babylon - The prophecy that foretells its destruction by the
Medes and Persians: see the preceding observations.
3. GILL, “The burden of Babylon,.... That is, a prophecy concerning Babylon, as the word is
rendered, Pro_31:1. The Septuagint and Arabic versions translate it "the vision"; it signifies a
taking up (w) a speech against it, and pronouncing a heavy sentence on it, such an one as should
sink it into utter destruction; which will be the case of mystical Babylon, when it shall be as a
millstone cast into the sea, never to be brought up again, Rev_18:21. The Targum is,
"the burden of the cup of cursing to give Babylon to drink:''
after some prophecies concerning the Messiah and his kingdom, and the church's song of praise
for salvation by him, others are delivered out concerning the enemies of the people of God, and
their destruction, and begin with Babylon the chief of these enemies, and into whose hands the
people of Israel would be delivered for a while; wherefore this prophecy is given forth, in order
to lay a foundation for comfort and relief, when that should be their case; by which it would
appear that they should have deliverance from them by the same hand that should overthrow
them:
which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see: by a spirit of prophecy; for this he saw not with his
bodily eyes, though it was as clear and certain to him as if he had. The Targum is,
"which Isaiah the son of Amoz prophesied.''
4. HENRY, “The general title of this book was, The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, Isa_1:1.
Here we have that which Isaiah saw, which was represented to his mind as clearly and fully as if
he had seen it with his bodily eyes; but the particular inscription of this sermon is the burden of
Babylon. 1. It is a burden, a lesson they were to learn (so some understand it), but they would be
loth to learn it, and it would be a burden to their memories, or a load which should lie heavily
upon them and under which they should sink. Those that will not make the word of God their
rest (Isa_28:12; Jer_6:16) shall find it made a burden to them. 2. It is the burden of Babylon or
Babel, which at this time was a dependent upon the Assyrian monarchy (the metropolis of which
was Nineveh), but soon after revolted from it and became a monarchy of itself, and a very potent
one, in Nebuchadnezzar. This prophet afterwards foretold the captivity of the Jews in Babylon,
Isa_39:6. Here he foretels the reprisals God would make upon Babylon for the wrongs done to
his people. In these verses a summons is given to those powerful and warlike nations whom God
would make us of as the instruments of his wrath for the destruction of Babylon: he afterwards

names them (Isa_13:17) the Medes, who, in conjunction with the Persians, under the command
of Darius and Cyrus, were the ruin of the Babylonian monarchy.
5. JAMISON, “Isa_13:1-22. The thirteenth through twenty-third chapters contain
prophecies as to foreign nations. The thirteenth, fourteenth, and twenty-seventh chapters
contain prophecies as to Babylon and Assyria.
The predictions as to foreign nations are for the sake of the covenant people, to preserve them
from despair, or reliance on human confederacies, and to strengthen their faith in God: also in
order to extirpate narrow-minded nationality: God is Jehovah to Israel, not for Israel’s sake
alone, but that He may be thereby Elohim to the nations. These prophecies are in their right
chronological place, in the beginning of Hezekiah’s reign; then the nations of Western Asia, on
the Tigris and Euphrates, first assumed a most menacing aspect.
burden — weighty or mournful prophecy [Grotius]. Otherwise, simply, the prophetical
declaration, from a Hebrew root to put forth with the voice anything, as in Num_23:7
[Maurer].
of Babylon — concerning Babylon.
6. K&D, “The heading in Isa_13:1, “Oracle concerning Babel, which Isaiah the son of Amoz
did see,” shows that chapter 13 forms the commencement of another part of the whole book.
Massah (from ‫א‬ ָ‫ס‬ָ‫,)נ‬ efferre, then effari, Exo_20:7) signifies, as we may see from 2Ki_9:25,
effatum, the verdict or oracle, more especially the verdict of God, and generally, perhaps always,
the judicial sentence of God,
(Note: In Zec_12:1. the promise has, at any rate, a dark side. In Lam_2:14 there is no
necessity to think of promises in connection with the mas'oth; and Pro_30:1 and Pro_31:1
cannot help us to determine the prophetic use of the word.)
though without introducing the idea of onus (burden), which is the rendering adopted by the
Targum, Syriac, Vulgate, and Luther, notwithstanding the fact that, according to Jer_23:33., it
was the scoffers who associated this idea with the word. In a book which could throughout be
traced to Isaiah, there could be no necessity for it to be particularly stated, that it was to Isaiah
that the oracle was revealed, of which Babel was the object. We may therefore see from this, that
the prophecy relating to Babylon was originally complete in itself, and was intended to be issued
in that form. But when the whole book was compiled, these headings were retained as signal-
posts of the separate portions of which it was composed. Moreover, in the case before us, the
retention of the heading may be regarded as a providential arrangement. For if this “oracle of
Babel” lay before us in a separate form, and without the name of Isaiah, we should not dare to
attribute it to him, for the simple reason that the overthrow of the Chaldean empire is here
distinctly announced, and that at a time when the Assyrian empire was still standing. For this
reason the majority of critics, from the time of Rosenmüller and Justi downwards, have
regarded the spuriousness of the prophecy as an established fact. But the evidence which can be
adduced in support of the testimony contained in the heading is far too strong for it to be set
aside: viz., (1.) the descriptive style as well as the whole stamp of the prophecy, which resembles
the undisputed prophecies of Isaiah in a greater variety of points than any passage that can be
selected from any other prophet. We will show this briefly, but yet amply, and as far as the

nature of an exposition allows, against Knobel and others who maintain the opposite. And (2.)
the dependent relation of Zephaniah and Jeremiah - a relation which the generally admitted
muse-like character of the former, and the imitative character of the latter, render it impossible
to invert. Both prophets show that they are acquainted with this prophecy of Isaiah, as indeed
they are with all those prophecies which are set down as spurious. Stähelin, in his work on the
Messianic prophecies (Excursus iv), has endeavoured to make out that the derivative passages in
question are the original passages; but stat pro ratione voluntas. Now, as the testimony of the
heading is sustained by such evidence as this, the one argument adduced on the other side, that
the prophecy has no historical footing in the circumstances of Isaiah's times, cannot prove
anything at all. No doubt all prophecy rested upon an existing historical basis. But we must not
expect to be able to point this out in the case of every single prophecy. In the time of Hezekiah,
as Isa_39:1-8 clearly shows (compare Mic_4:10), Isaiah had become spiritually certain of this,
that the power by which the final judgment would be inflicted upon Judah would not be Asshur,
but Babel, i.e., an empire which would have for its centre that Babylon, which was already the
second capital of the Assyrian empire and the seat of kings who, though dependent then, were
striving hard for independence; in other words, a Chaldean empire. Towards the end of his
course Isaiah was full of this prophetic thought; and from it he rose higher and higher to the
consoling discovery that Jehovah would avenge His people upon Babel, and redeem them from
Babel, just as surely as from Asshur. The fact that so far-reaching an insight was granted to him
into the counsels of God, was not merely founded on his own personality, but rested chiefly on
the position which he occupied in the midst of the first beginnings of the age of great empires.
Consequently, according to the law of the creative intensity of all divinely effected beginnings, he
surveyed the whole of this long period as a universal prophet outstripped all his successors down
to the time of Daniel, and left to succeeding ages not only such prophecies as those we have
already read, which had their basis in the history of his own times and the historical fulfilment
of which was not sealed up, but such far distant and sealed prophecies as those which
immediately follow. For since Isaiah did not appear in public again after the fifteenth year of
Hezekiah, the future, as his book clearly shows, was from that time forth his true home. Just as
the apostle says of the New Testament believer, that he must separate himself from the world,
and walk in heaven, so the Old Testament prophet separated himself from the present of his
own nation, and lived and moved in its future alone.
7. BI, “The prophet’s burden
Whenever we find the word “burden” in this association it means oracle, a speech of doom; it is
never connected with blessing, hope, enlarged opportunity, or expanded liberty; it always means
that judgment is swiftly coming, and may at any moment burst upon the thing that is doomed.
(J. Parker, D. D.)
The power to see
“Which Isaiah did see.” How did he see it? The word “see” needs to be defined every day. Blind
men may see. We do not see with the eyes only, else truly we should see very little; the whole
body becomes an eye when it is fun of light, and they who are holiest see farthest. “Blessed are
the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Men see morally, intellectually, sympathetically, as
well as visually. How could Isaiah see this burden of Babylon when it did not fall upon the proud
city for two centuries! Is there, then, no annihilation of time and space? Are we the mean
prisoners we thought ourselves to be is it so, that we are caged round by invisible iron, and

sealed down by some oppressive power, or blinded by some arbitrary or cruel shadow? We
might see more if we looked in the right direction; we might be masters of the centuries if we
lived with God. Isaiah is never weary of saying that he “saw” what he affirms. He does not
describe it as having been seen by some other man; having written his record he signs it, or
having begun to deliver his prophecy he writes it as a man writes his will; he begins by asserting
that it is his testament, his own very witness, for he was there, saw it, and he accepts the
responsibility of every declaration. (J. Parker, D. D.)
“Babylon” stands for the spirit of the world
In the New Testament, Babylon, more than any other city, stood for the personification of the
forces of the world against God. In the history of Israel Babylon was the scourge of God to them.
They were as grain under the teeth of the threshing machine. In the Captivity the Jews felt the
weight of Babylon’s cruelty, so that in the prophetic literature of the Exile, Babylon became the
type of oppression and of the insolence of material force. Thought is carried back to primitive
times in the Book of Genesis, in which Babylon is pictured in the vain and arrogant attempt to
rival God: “Go to, let us build us a city, and tower whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us
make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” So deeply had
the experience of Babylon’s cruelty entered into the heart of Israel that even in the New
Testament, St. John, in the Book of Revelation, uses the word “Babylon” to describe the material
power of Rome. He could not get a better word than just the old word “Babylon” to represent the
overwhelming force of the great Roman Empire, with its legions of soldiers, with its policy which
made the whole world a network of nerves running back to their sensitive centre in the haughty
city on the Tiber. St. John saw past the glitter and the conquest, and recognised in pagan Rome
the mighty Babylon which lifts her impious head against God. To him she was the “scarlet
woman”; he heard, her say in the pride of her heart, as the prophet had heard Babylon say, “I sit
a queen and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” Thus the very name “Babylon” came to take
on the religious signification of the spirit of the world; it stood for the dead weight of the
material which resists the spirit. (Hugh Black, M. A.)
The doom of Babylon
Here the prophet pronounces doom upon the bloated empire which seemed to stand so secure,
and notes the evidence of weakness in spite of apparent prosperity and careless trust in material
resources. Disregard of human rights, lusts, and selfishness and pride of life, and the impious
atheism which disregarded all this he declared would all exact their inevitable price. Cruelty and
oppression would react upon the tyrant after their usual historic fashion. The huge
accumulations on which they rested would only attract the foe, would weaken her hands in her
hour of trial, and make her, in spite of her wealth, an easy prey to the spoiler. To Babylon would
come a time when she would have more money than men. It is a picture of absolute ruin which
the prophet gives, when the great city would be depopulated (Isa_13:12). (Hugh Black, M. A.)
The Babylonian spirit
The Babylonian spirit has not left the world, and every great civilisation (for it is not confined to
one) is menaced in the same way by the temptation of forgetfulness of God, cruelty of sheer
force, insolence of pride, and the empty trust of wealth. Our foes are the old foes with a new face
on them. (Hugh Black, M. A.)

8. CALVIN, “1. The burden of Babylon From this chapter down to the twenty-fourth, the Prophet
foretells what dreadful and shocking calamities awaited the Gentiles and those countries which were best
known to the Jews, either on account of their being contiguous to them, or on account of the transactions
of commerce and alliances; and he does so not without weighty reasons. When various changes are
taking place, some think that God sports with the affairs of men, and others, that everything is directed by
the blind violence of fortune, as profane history sufficiently testifies; very few are aware that these things
are appointed and regulated by the purpose of God. There is nothing of which it is more difficult to
convince men than that the providence of God governs this world. Many indeed acknowledge it in words,
but very few have it actually engraven on their heart. We tremble and shudder at the very smallest
change, and we inquire into the causes, as if it depended on the decision of men. What then shall be
done, when the whole world is thrown into commotion, and the face of affairs is so completely changed in
various places, that it appears as if everything were going to ruin?
It was therefore highly useful that Isaiah and other prophets should discourse about calamities of this
nature, that all might understand that those calamities did not take place but by the secret and wonderful
purpose of God. If they had uttered no prediction on those subjects, such a disordered state of affairs
might have shaken and disturbed the minds of the godly; but when they knew long beforehand that this
would happen, they had in the event itself a mirror of the providence of God. When Babylon was taken,
which they had previously learned from the mouth of the Prophet, their own experience taught them that
the prediction had not been made in vain, or without solid grounds.
But there was also another reason why the Lord commanded that the destruction of Babylon and other
nations should be foretold. These predictions were of no advantage to Babylon or the other nations, and
these writings did not reach them; but by this consolation he intended to alleviate the grief of the godly,
that they might not be discouraged, as if their condition were worse than that of the Gentiles; which they
would have had good reason to conclude, if they had seen them unpunished escape the hand of God. If
the monarchy of Babylon had remained unshaken, the Jews would not only have thought that it was in
vain for them to worship God, and that his covenant which he had made with Abraham had not been
fulfilled, since it fared better with strangers and wicked men than with the elect people; but a worse
suspicion might have crept into their minds, that God showed favor to accursed robbers, who gave
themselves up to deeds of dishonesty and violence, and despised all law both human and divine. Indeed,
they might soon have come to think that God did not care for his people, or could not assist them, or that

everything was directed by the blind violence of fortune. Accordingly, that they might not faint or be
thrown into despair, the Prophet meets them with the consoling influence of this prediction, showing that
the Babylonians also will be punished.
Besides, the comparison taught them how severe was the punishment that awaited them, which they had
knowingly and willingly brought upon themselves. For if God pronounces such dreadful threatenings
against the unbelieving and irreligious Gentiles, who wandered in darkness, how much greater will be his
rigour and severity against a rebellious people who have intentionally sinned against him!
The servant who knoweth his master’ will, and doeth it not, is justly beaten with many stripes.
(Luk_12:47.)
Thus when God threatened such dreadful punishment against the blind Gentiles, the Jews, who had been
instructed in the law, might behold as in a mirror what they had deserved.
But the chief design which Isaiah had in view in these predictions was, to point out to the Jews how dear
and valuable their salvation was in the sight of God, when they saw that he undertook their cause and
revenged the injuries which had been done to them. He spoke first of the desolation and ruin that would
befall the kingdom of Judah and of Israel, because judgment must begin at the house of God. (1Pe_4:17.)
God takes a peculiar care of his own people, and gives his chief attention to them. Whenever therefore
we read these predictions, let us learn to apply them to our use. The Lord does not indeed, at the present
day, foretell the precise nature of those events which shall befall kingdoms and nations; but yet the
government of the world, which he undertook, is not abandoned by him. Whenever therefore we behold
the destruction of cities, the calamities of nations, and the overturning of kingdoms, let us call those
predictions to remembrance, that we may be humbled under God’ chastisements, may learn to gather
wisdom from the affliction of others, and may pray for an alleviation of our own grief.
The burden. As to the word burden, which frequently occurs, I shall state briefly in what sense it ought to
be understood. It was generally employed by the prophets of God, whenever they threatened any
afflictive event, in order to inform the people that no afflictive event happened which the Lord himself did
not lay as a burden on men’ shoulders. The wickedness and obstinacy of the people having constrained
the prophets to preach incessantly about God’ chastisements, the consequence was, that as a matter of
ordinary jesting they called all the prophecies by the name of a burden; as is evident from Jer_23:36,
where the Lord kindles into fierce indignation, because they not only spoke of his word contemptuously,
but also held it up to dislike. This word makes known to the godly, that the Lord appoints all calamities
and afflictions, that every one may suffer the punishment of his own sin.

Which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw. He expressly states that what he is about to utter was revealed to
him by a heavenly vision, that the weight which is thus given to it may render it victorious over all the
judgments pronounced by the flesh. It was difficult to believe that a monarchy so flourishing, and so
prodigiously rich, could be overturned in any way. Their eyes being dazzled by beholding such vast
power, the Prophet draws away their attention from it to believe the heavenly revelation, that they may
expect by faith the judgment of God which they could not comprehend by the unaided exercise of their
own minds.
9. PULPIT, “THE BURDEN OF BABYLON. The series of prophecies which commences with this chapter
and continues to the close of Isa_23:1-18; is connected together by the word massa, burden. It has been
argued that the term "burden" is an incorrect translation of massa, as used by Isaiah and later prophets
(Nah_1:1; Hab_1:1;Zec_9:1; Zec_12:1; Mal_1:1); and that "utterance," or "prophecy," would be more
suitable (comp. Pro_30:1; Pro_31:1, where massa is thus rendered in the Authorized Version). But the
facts remain that massa means a "burden" in the ordinary sense, and that the prophecies to which it is
prefixed are generally (in Isaiah always) of a denunciatory character. The translation may therefore be
allowed to stand—at any rate in the present chapter.
It is remarkable that Babylon heads the list of the Church's enemies in the present catalogue. Dr. Kay
supposes the term "Babel" to be equivalent to "Asshur-Babel," and to designate "the Assyro-Babylonian
Empire." He thinks that "Babel" heads the list on account of Assyria's position, under Tiglath-Pileser and
Shalmaneser, in the van of Israel's adversaries. But neither Isaiah nor any other sacred writer knows of
an Assyro-Babylonian kingdom or empire. Assyria and Babylonia are distinct kingdoms in Genesis
(Gen_10:8-12), in 2 Kings (18-20.), in 2 Chronicles (2Ch_20:12.), in Isaiah (36-39.) and in Ezekiel (23; 30;
31.). They had been at war almost continuously for above seven centuries before the time of Isaiah.
Assyria had, on the whole, proved the stronger of the two, and had from time to time for a longer or a
shorter period held Babylonia in subjection. But the two countries were never more one than Russia and
Poland, and, until Tiglath-Pileser assumed the crown of Babylon in 729 B.C; they bad always been under
separate monarchs. Individually, I can only account for the high position here given to Babylon by the
prophet, on the supposition that it was thus early revealed to him that Babylonia was the great enemy to
be feared—the ultimate destroyer of Judah and Jerusalem, the power that would carry the Jewish people
into captivity.
Isa_13:1
Which Isaiah did see (comp. Isa_1:1; Isa_2:1, etc.). Isaiah always "sees" his prophecies, whether they
are of the nature of visions (as Isa_6:1-13.) or the contrary. The word is probably used to express the
strong conviction that he has of their absolute certainty.
10. EBC, “PROPHECIES NOT RELATING TO ISAIAH’S TIME
In the first thirty-nine chapters of the Book of Isaiah-the half which refers to the prophet’s own
career and the politics contemporary with that - we find four or five prophecies containing no
reference to Isaiah himself nor to any Jewish king under whom he laboured, and painting both
Israel and the foreign world in quite a different state from that in which they lay during his
lifetime. These prophecies are chapter 13, an Oracle announcing the Fall of Babylon, with its
appendix, Isa_14:1-23, the Promise of Israel’s Deliverance and an Ode upon the Fall of the
Babylonian Tyrant; chapters 24-27, a series of Visions of the breaking up of the universe, of

restoration from exile, and even of resurrection from the dead; chapter 34, the Vengeance of the
Lord upon Edom; and chapter 35, a Song of Return from Exile.
In these prophecies Assyria is no longer the dominant world-force, nor Jerusalem the inviolate
fortress of God and His people. If Assyria or Egypt is mentioned, it is but as one of the three
classical enemies of Israel; and Babylon is represented as the head and front of the hostile world.
The Jews are no longer in political freedom and possession of their own land; they are either in
exile or just returned from it to a depopulated country. With these altered circumstances come
another temper and new doctrine. The horizon is different, and the hopes that flush in dawn
upon it are not quite the same as those which we have contemplated with Isaiah in his
immediate future. It is no longer the repulse of the heathen invader; the inviolateness of the
sacred city; the recovery of the people from the shock of attack, and of the land from the
trampling of armies. But it is the people in exile, the overthrow of the tyrant in his own home,
the opening of prison doors, the laying down of a highway through the wilderness, the triumph
of return, and the resumption of worship. There is, besides, a promise of the resurrection, which
we have not found in the prophecies we have considered.
With such differences, it is not wonderful that many have denied the authorship of these few
prophecies to Isaiah. This is a question that can be looked at calmly. It touches no dogma of the
Christian faith. Especially it does not involve the other question, so often-and, we venture to say,
so unjustly-started on this point, Could not the Spirit of God have inspired Isaiah to foresee all
that the prophecies in question foretell, even though he lived more than a century before the
people were in circumstances to understand them? Certainly, God is almighty. The question is
not, Could He have done this? but one somewhat different: Did He do it? and to this an answer
can be had only from the prophecies themselves. If these mark the Babylonian hostility or
captivity as already upon Israel, this is a testimony of Scripture itself, which we cannot overlook,
and beside which even unquestionable traces of similarity to Isaiah’s style or the fact that these
oracles are bound up with Isaiah’s own undoubted prophecies have little weight. "Facts" of style
will be regarded with suspicion by any one who knows how they are employed by both sides in
such a question as this; while the certainty that the Book of Isaiah was put into its present form
subsequently to his life will permit of, -and the evident purpose of Scripture to secure moral
impressiveness rather than historical consecutiveness will account for, -later oracles being
bound up with unquestioned utterances of Isaiah.
Only one of the prophecies in question confirms the tradition that it is by Isaiah, viz., chapter 13,
which bears the title "Oracle of Babylon which Isaiah, son of Amoz, did see"; but titles are
themselves so much the report of tradition, being of a later date than the rest of the text, that it
is best to argue the question apart from them.
On the other hand, Isaiah’s authorship of these prophecies, or at least the possibility of his
having written them, is usually defended by appealing to his promise of return from exile in
chapter 11 and his threat of a Babylonish captivity in chapter 39. This is an argument that has
not been fairly met by those who deny the Isaianic authorship of chapters 13-14, 23, 24-28, and
35. It is a strong argument, for while, as we have seen, there are good grounds for believing
Isaiah to have been likely to make such a prediction of a Babylonish captivity as is attributed to
him in Isa_39:6, almost all the critics agree in leaving chapter 11 to him. But if chapter 11 is
Isaiah’s, then he undoubtedly spoke of an exile much more extensive than had taken place by his
own day. Nevertheless, even this ability in 11 to foretell an exile so vast does not account for
passages in 13-14:23, 24-27, which represent the Exile either as present or as actually over. No
one who reads these chapters without prejudice can fail to feel the force of such passages in
leading him to decide for an exilic or post-exilic authorship.
Another argument against attributing these prophecies to Isaiah is that their visions of the last
things, representing as they do a judgment on the whole world, and even the destruction of the

whole material universe, are incompatible with Isaiah’s loftiest and final hope of an inviolate
Zion at last relieved and secure, of a land freed from invasion and wondrously fertile, with all the
converted world, Assyria and Egypt, gathered round it as a centre. This question, however, is
seriously complicated by the fact that in his youth Isaiah did undoubtedly prophesy a shaking of
the whole world and the destruction of its inhabitants, and by the probability that his old age
survived into a period whose abounding sin would again make natural such wholesale
predictions of judgment as we find in chapter 24.
Still, let the question of the eschatology be as obscure as we have shown, there remains this clear
issue. In some chapters of the Book of Isaiah, which, from our knowledge of the circumstances
of his times, we know must have been published while he was alive, we learn that the Jewish
people has never left its land, nor lost its independence under Jehovah’s anointed, and that the
inviolateness of Zion and the retreat of the Assyrian invaders of Judah, without effecting the
captivity of the Jews, are absolutely essential to the endurance of God’s kingdom on earth. In
other chapters we find that the Jews have left their land, have been long in exile (or from other
passages have just returned), and that the religious essential is no more the independence of the
Jewish State under a theocratic king, but only the resumption of the Temple worship. Is it
possible for one man to have written both these sets of chapters? Is it possible for one age to.
have produced them? That is the whole question.
Isaiah 13:1-14:23
BABYLON AND LUCIFER
DATE UNCERTAIN
THIS double oracle is against the City (Isa_13:2-22; Isa_14:1-2) and the Tyrant (Isa_14:3-23) of
Babylon.
I. THE WICKED CITY
(Isa_13:2-22; Isa_14:1-23)
The first part is a series of hurried and vanishing scenes-glimpses of ruin and deliverance caught
through the smoke and turmoil of a Divine war. The drama opens with the erection of a
gathering "standard upon a bare mountain" (Isa_13:2). He who gives the order explains it
(Isa_13:3), but is immediately interrupted by "Hark! a tumult on the mountains, like a great
people. Hark! the surge of the kingdoms of nations gathering together. Jehovah of hosts is
mustering the host of war." It is "the day of Jehovah" that is "near," the day of His war and of
His judgment upon the world.
This Old Testament expression, "the day of the Lord," starts so many ideas that it is difficult to
seize any one of them and say this is just what is meant. For "day" with a possessive pronoun
suggests what has been appointed beforehand, or what must come round in its turn; means also
opportunity and triumph, and also swift performance after long delay. All these thoughts are
excited when we couple "a day" with any person’s name. And therefore, as with every dawn some
one awakes saying, This is my day; as with every dawn comes some one’s chance, some soul gets
its wish, some will shows what it can do, some passion or principle issues into fact: so God also
shall have His day, on which His justice and power shall find their full scope and triumph.
Suddenly and simply, like any dawn that takes its turn on the round of time, the great decision
and victory of Divine justice shall at last break out of the long delay of ages. "Howl ye, for the day
of Jehovah is near; as destruction from the Destructive does it come." Very savage and quite
universal is its punishment. "Every human heart melteth." Countless faces, white with terror,

light up its darkness like flames. Sinners are "to be exterminated out of the earth; the world is to
be punished for its iniquity." Heaven, the stars, sun and moon aid the horror and the darkness,
heaven shivering above, the earth quaking beneath; and between, the peoples like shepherd-less
sheep drive to and fro through awful carnage.
From Isa_13:17 the mist lifts a little. The vague turmoil clears up into a siege of Babylon by the
Medians, and then settles down into Babylon’s ruin and abandonment to wild beasts. Finally
(Isa_14:1) comes the religious reason for so much convulsion: "For Jehovah will have
compassion upon Jacob, and choose again Israel, and settle them upon their own ground; and
the foreign sojourner shall join himself to them, and they shall associate themselves to the house
of Jacob."
This prophecy evidently came to a people already in captivity-a very different circumstance of
the Church of God from that in which we have seen her under Isaiah. But upon this new stage it
is still the same old conquest. Assyria has fallen, but Babylon has taken her place. The old spirit
of cruelty and covetousness has entered a new body; the only change is that it has become
wealth and luxury instead of brute force and military glory. It is still selfshness and pride and
atheism. At this, our first introduction to Babylon, it might have been proper to explain why
throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation this one city should remain in fact or symbol
the enemy of God and the stronghold of darkness. But we postpone what may be said of her
singular reputation, till we come to the second part of the Book of Isaiah where Babylon plays a
larger and more distinct role. Here her destruction is simply the most striking episode of the
Divine judgment upon the whole earth. Babylon represents civilisation; she is the brow of the
world’s pride and enmity to God. One distinctively Babylonian characteristic, however, must not
be passed over. With a ring of irony in his voice, the prophet declares, "Behold, I stir up the
Medes against thee, who regard not silver and take no pleasure in gold." The worst terror that
can assail us is the terror of forces, whose character we cannot fathom, who will not stop to
parley, who do not understand our language nor our bribes. It was such a power with which the
resourceful and luxurious Babylon was threatened. With money the Babylonians did all they
wished to do, and believed everything else to be possible. They had subsidised kings, bought
over enemies, seduced the peoples of the earth. The foe whom God now sent them was
impervious to this influence. From their pure highlands came down upon corrupt civilisation a
simple people, whose banner was a leathern apron, whose goal was not booty nor ease but
power and mastery, who came not to rob but to displace.
The lessons of the passage are two: that the people of God are something distinct from
civilisation, though this be universal and absorbent as a very Babylon; and that the resources of
civilisation are not even in material strength the highest in the universe, but God has in His
armoury weapons heedless of men’s cunning, and in His armies agents impervious to men’s
bribes. Every civilisation needs to be told, according to its temper, one of these two things. Is it
hypocritical? Then it needs to be told that civilisation is not one with the people of God. Is it
arrogant? Then it needs to be told that the resources of civilisation are not the strongest forces in
God’s universe. Man talks of the triumph of mind over matter, of the power of culture, of the
elasticity of civilisation; but God has natural forces, to which all these are as the worm beneath
the hoof of the horse: and if moral need arise, He will call His brute forces into requisition.
"Howl ye, for the day of Jehovah is near; as destruction from the Destructive does it come."
There may be periods in man’s history when, in opposition to man’s unholy art and godless
civilisation, God can reveal Himself only as destruction.
II. THE TYRANT
(Isa_14:3-23)

To the prophecy of the overthrow of Babylon there is annexed, in order to be sung by Israel in
the hour of her deliverance, a satiric ode or taunt-song (Hebrews mashal, Eng. ver. parable)
upon the King of Babylon. A translation of this spirited poem in the form of its verse (in which, it
is to be regretted, it has not been rendered by the English revisers) will be more instructive than
a full commentary. But the following remarks of introduction are necessary. The word mashal,
by which this ode is entitled, means comparison, similitude, or parable, and was applicable to
every sentence composed of at least two members that compared or contrasted their subjects. As
the great bulk of Hebrew poetry is sententious, and largely depends for rhythm upon its
parallelism, mashal received a general application; and while another term - shir- more
properly denotes lyric poetry, mashal is applied to rhythmical passages in the Old Testament of
almost all tempers: to mere predictions, proverbs, orations, satires or taunt-songs, as here, and
to didactic pieces. The parallelism of the verses in our ode is too evident to need an index. But
the parallel verses are next grouped into strophes. In Hebrew poetry this division is frequently
effected by the use of a refrain. In our ode there is no refrain, but the strophes are easily
distinguished by difference of subject-matter. Hebrew poetry does not employ rhyme, but makes
use of assonance, and to a much less extent of alliteration-a form which is more frequent in
Hebrew prose. In our ode there is not much either of assonance or alliteration. But, on the other
hand, the ode has but to be read to break into a certain rough and swinging rhythm. This is
produced by long verses rising alternate with short ones falling. Hebrew verse at no time relied
for a metrical effect upon the modern device of an equal or proportionate number of syllables.
The longer verses of this ode are sometimes too short, the shorter too long, variations to which a
rude chant could readily adapt itself. But the alternation of long and short is sustained
throughout, except for a break at Isa_14:10 by the introduction of the formula, "And they
answered and said," which evidently ought to stand for a long and a short verse if the number of
double verses in the second strophe is to be the same as it is-seven-in the first and in the third.
The scene of the poem, the underworld and abode of the shades of the dead, is one on which
some of the most splendid imagination and music of humanity has been expended. But we must
not be disappointed if we do net here find the rich detail and glowing fancy of Virgil’s or of
Dante’s vision. This simple and even rude piece of metre, liker ballad than epic, ought to excite
our wonder not so much for what it has failed to imagine as for what, being at its disposal, it has
resolutely stinted itself in employing. For it is evident that the author of these lines had within
his reach the rich, fantastic materials of Semitic mythology, which are familiar to us in the
Babylonian remains. With an austerity, that must strike every one who is acquainted with these,
he uses only so much of them as to enable him to render with dramatic force his simple theme-
the vanity of human arrogance.
For this purpose he employs the idea of the underworld which was prevalent among the
northern Semitic peoples. Sheol-the gaping or craving place-which we shall have occasion to
describe in detail when we come to speak of belief in the resurrection, is the state after death
that craves and swallows all living. There dwell the shades of men amid some unsubstantial
reflection of their earthly state (Isa_14:9), and with consciousness and passion only sufficient to
greet the arrival of the newcomer and express satiric wonder at his fall (Isa_14:9). With the
arrogance of the Babylonian kings, this tyrant thought to scale the heavens to set his throne in
the "mount of assembly" of the immortals, "to match the Most High." But his fate is the fate of
all mortals-to go down to the weakness and emptiness of Sheol. Here, let us carefully observe,
there is no trace of a judgment for reward or punishment. The new victim of death simply passes
to his place among his equals. There was enough of contrast between the arrogance of a tyrant
claiming Divinity and his fall into the common receptacle of mortality to point the prophet’s
moral without the addition of infernal torment. Do we wish to know the actual punishment of
his pride and cruelty? It is visible above ground (strophe 4); not with his spirit, but with his

corpse; not with himself, but with his wretched family. His corpse is unburied, his family
exterminated; his name disappears from the earth.
Thus, by the help of only a few fragments from the popular mythology, the sacred satirist
achieves his purpose. His severe monotheism is remarkable in its contrast to Babylonian poems
upon similar subjects. He will know none of the gods of the underworld. In place of the great
goddess, whom a Babylonian would certainly have seen presiding, with her minions, over the
shades, he personifies-it is a frequent figure of Hebrew poetry-the abyss itself. "Sheol
shuddereth at thee." It is the same when he speaks (Isa_14:13) of the deep’s great opposite, that
"mount of assembly" of the gods, which the northern Semites believed to soar to a silver sky "in
the recesses of the north" (Isa_14:14), "upon the great range which in that direction" bounded
the Babylonian plain. This Hebrew knows of no gods there but One, whose are the stars, who is
the Most High. Man’s arrogance and cruelty are attempts upon His majesty. He inevitably
overwhelms them. Death is their penalty: blood and squalor on earth, the concourse of
shuddering ghosts below.
The kings of the earth set themselves
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed.
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall have them in derision.
He who has heard that laughter sees no comedy in aught else. This is the one unfailing subject of
Hebrew satire, and it forms the irony and the rigour of the following ode.
The only other remarks necessary are these. In Isa_14:9 the Authorised Version has not
attempted to reproduce the humour of the original satire, which styles them that were chief men
on earth "chief-goats" of the herd, bellwethers. The phrase "they that go down to the stones of
the pit" should be transferred from Isa_14:19 to Isa_14:20.
And thou shalt lift up this proverb upon the king of Babylon, and shalt say, -
I.
Ah! stilled is the tyrant,
And stilled is the fury!
Broke hath Jehovah the rod of the wicked,
Sceptre of despots:
Stroke of (the) peoples with passion,
Stroke unremitting,
Treading in wrath (the) nations,
Trampling unceasing.
Quiet, at rest. is the whole earth,
They break into singing;
Even the pines are jubilant for thee,
Lebanon’s cedars!
"Since thou liest low, cometh not up

Feller against us."
II.
Sheol from under shuddereth at thee
To meet thine arrival,
Stirring up for thee the shades,
All great-goats of earth!
Lifteth erect from their thrones
All kings of peoples.
10. All of them answer and say to thee, -
"Thou, too, made flaccid like us,
To us hast been levelled!
Hurled to Sheol is the pride of thee,
Clang of the harps of thee;
Under thee strewn are (the) maggots
Thy coverlet worms."
III.
How art thou fallen from heaven
Daystar, sun of the dawn
(How) art thou hewn down to earth,
Hurtler at nations.
And thou, thou didst say in thine heart,
"The heavens will I scale,
Far up to the stars of God
Lift high my throne,
And sit on the mount of assembly,
Far back of the north,
I will climb on the heights of (the) cloud,
I will match the Most High!"
Ah I to Sheol thou art hurled,
Far back of the pit!
IV.
Who see thee at thee are gazing;
Upon thee they muse: I
s this the man that staggered the earth,
Shaker of kingdoms?

Setting the world like the desert,
Its cities he tore down:
Its prisoners he loosed not
(Each of them) homeward.
All kings of people, yes all,
Are lying in their state;
But thou! thou art flung from thy grave,
Like a stick that is loathsome.
Beshrouded with slain, the pierced of the sword,
Like a corpse that is trampled.
They that go down to the stones of a crypt,
Shalt not be with them in burial.
For thy land thou hast ruined,
Thy people hast slaughtered.
Shall not be mentioned for aye
Seed of the wicked!
Set for his children a shambles,
For guilt of their fathers!
They shall not rise, nor inherit (the) earth,
Nor fill the face of the world with cities.
V.
But I will arise upon them,
Sayeth Jehovah of hosts;
And I will cut off from Babel
Record and remnant,
And scion and seed,
Saith Jehovah:
Yea, I will make it the bittern’s heritage,
Marshes of water!
And I will sweep it with sweeps of destruction.
Sayeth Jehovah of hosts.

2
Raise a banner on a bare hilltop,
shout to them;
beckon to them
to enter the gates of the nobles.
1.BARNES, “Lift ye up a banner - A military ensign or standard. The vision opens here;
and the first thing which the prophet hears, is the solemn command of God addressed to the
nations as subject to him, to rear the standard of war, and to gather around it the mighty armies
which were to be employed in the destruction of the city. This command, ‘Lift ye up a banner,’ is
addressed to the leaders of those armies to assemble them, and to prepare them for war.
Upon the high mountain - It was customary for military leaders to plant a standard on a
tower, a fortress, a city, a high mountain, or any elevated spot, in order that it might be seen
afar, and be the rallying point for the people to collect together (see the note at Isa_11:10). Here,
the prophet does not refer to any particular “mountain,” but means simply, that a standard
should be raised, around which the hosts should be assembled to march to Babylon. The
Chaldee renders it, ‘Over the city dwelling in security, lift up the banner.’
Exalt the voice - Raise up the voice, commanding the people to assemble, and to prepare for
the march against Babylon, Perhaps, however, the word ‘voice’ here (‫קול‬ qol) refers to the
“clangor,” or sound, of a trumpet used for mustering armies. The word is often used to denote
“any” noise, and is frequently applied to thunder, to the trumpet, etc.
Unto them - That is, to the Medes and Persians, who were to be employed in the destruction
of Babylon.
Shake the hand - In the way of beckoning; as when one is at so great a distance that the
voice cannot be heard, the hand is waved for a sign. This was a command to beckon to the
nations to assemble for the destruction of Babylon.
That they may go into the gates of the nobles - The word rendered here ‘nobles’ (‫נדיבים‬
ne
dı ybı ym) means, properly, “voluntary, free, liberal;” then those who are noble, or liberally-
minded, from the connection between nobleness and liberality; then those who are noble or
elevated in rank or office. In this sense it is used here; compare Job_12:21; Job_34:18; 1Sa_2:8;
Psa_107:40; and Pro_8:16, where it is rendered ‘princes;’ Num_21:18, where it is rendered
‘nobles.’ Lowth renders it here ‘princes.’ Noyes renders it ‘tyrants ‘ - a sense which the word has
in Job_21:28 (see the note at that place). There is no doubt that it refers to Babylon; and the
prophet designs probably to speak of Babylon as a magnificent city - a city of princes, or nobles.
The Chaldee renders it, ‘That they may enter its gates, which open to them of their own accord;’
retaining the original signification of “voluntariness” in the Hebrew word, and expressing the
idea that the conquest would be easy. Our common translation has expressed the correct sense.

2. CLARKE, “Exalt the voice - The word ‫להם‬ lahem, “to them,” which is of no use, and
rather weakens the sentence, is omitted by an ancient MS., and the Vulgate.
3. GILL, “Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain,.... Or "upon the mountain
Nishphah"; some high mountain in Media or Persia, proper to set a standard on, or erect a
banner for the gathering men together, to enlist themselves as soldiers, and so form an army to
march into the land of Chaldea. Vitringa thinks there may be an allusion to the mountain
Zagrius, which divides Media and Persia from Assyria, mentioned by Strabo (x). Or "upon a high
mountain"; any high mountain fit for such a purpose; or "against the high mountain", as some
(y) read it; meaning Babylon, called a mountain, Jer_51:25 not because of its situation, for it was
in a plain; but because of its eminence above other cities and states. The Targum is,
"against the city that dwells securely, lift up a sign;''
a token of war, proclaim war against it, that lives at ease, and is in peace; and so the word is used
in the Talmudic language, as Kimchi observes; and to this agrees Jarchi's note,
"to gather against the mountain that is quiet, and trusts in its tranquillity, lift up a banner to the
nations.''
Exalt the voice unto them; the Medes, mentioned by name in Isa_13:17 such as were within
call, or were gathered together by the lifting up of the banner; such were to be urged with great
vehemency to enlist themselves, and engage in a war against Babylon:
shake the hand; beckon with it to them that are afar off, that cannot hear the voice:
that they may go into the gates of the nobles; that dwell in the city of Babylon, where they
might expect to find rich plunder; though some understand this of the nobles or princes of the
Medes and Persians, as Kimchi observes, that should enter through the gates of Babylon into the
city; and by others it is interpreted of the soldiers coming to the doors of the leaders or generals
of the army, to give in their names, and enlist themselves in their service; which well agrees with
what goes before.
4. HENRY, “The place doomed to destruction is Babylon; it is here called the gates of the
nobles (Isa_13:2), because of the abundance of noblemen's houses that were in it, stately ones
and richly furnished, which would invite the enemy to come, in hopes of a rich booty. The gates
of nobles were strong and well guarded, and yet they would be no fence against those who came
with commission to execute God's judgments. Before his power and wrath palaces are no more
than cottages. Nor is it only the gates of the nobles, but the whole land, that is doomed to
destruction (Isa_13:5); for, though the nobles were the leaders in persecuting and oppressing
God's people, yet the whole land concurred with them in it.
5. JAMISON, “Lift ... banner — (Isa_5:26; Isa_11:10).

the high mountain — rather, “a bare (literally, “bald,” that is, without trees) mountain”;
from it the banner could be seen afar off, so as to rally together the peoples against Babylon.
unto them — unto the Medes (Isa_13:17), the assailants of Babylon. It is remarkable that
Isaiah does not foretell here the Jews’ captivity in Babylon, but presupposes that event, and
throws himself beyond, predicting another event still more future, the overthrow of the city of
Israel’s oppressors. It was now one hundred seventy-four years before the event.
shake ... hand — beckon with the hand - wave the hand to direct the nations to march
against Babylon.
nobles — Babylonian. Rather, in a bad sense, tyrants; as in Isa_14:5, “rulers” in parallelism
to “the wicked”; and Job_21:28 [Maurer].
6. K&D, “The prophet hears a call to war. From whom it issues, and to whom or against
whom it is directed, still remains a secret; but this only adds to the intensity.”On woodless
mountain lift ye up a banner, call to them with loud sounding voice, shake the hand, that they
may enter into gates of princes!” The summons is urgent: hence a threefold signal, viz., the
banner-staff planted on a mountain “made bald” (nishpeh, from which comes she
phi, which only
occurs in Isaiah and Jeremiah), the voice raised high, and the shaking of the hand, denoting a
violent beckoning - all three being favourite signs with Isaiah. The destination of this army is to
enter into a city of princes (nedı̄bı̄m, freemen, nobles, princes, Psa_107:40, cf., Psa_113:8),
namely, to enter as conquerors; for it is not the princes who invite them, but Jehovah.
7.PULPIT, “Lift ye up a banner; rather, a standard—"an ensign," as in Isa_5:26 : Isa_11:12. "Ensigns"
were used both by the Assyrians and the Egyptians. "Banners," or flags, do not seem to have been
employed in the ancient world. Upon the high mountain; rather, upon a bare mountain—one that was
clear of trees, so that the signal might be the better seen from it. God's army having to be summoned
against Babylon, the summons is made in three ways:
(1) by a signal or ensign lifted up on a high hill;
(2) by a loud call or shout; and
(3) by waving or beckoning with the hand.
The whole description is, of course, pure metaphor. That they may go into the gates of the nobles.
Either that they may enter into the palaces of the grandees in Babylon, or that they may take the towns of
the tributary princes.

8. CALVIN, “2.Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain. The word mountain contains a metaphor;
for the discourse relates to Babylon, which, we know, was situated on a plain; but with a view to its
extensive dominion, he has assigned to it an elevated situation, like a fortress set on high above all
nations. But perhaps it will be thought better to take the word mountain as used indefinitely; as if he had
said, “ a signal is given there will be a vast assemblage from very distant countries, because all men will
be attracted towards it by the wide and extensive influence of the sight;” and, indeed, I consider this
opinion to be more probable, but I chose to mention at first the opinion which had been commonly
received. Yet it might be thought absurd that the Prophet here enjoins the creatures to yield, as it were,
obedience to him, if God had not fortified the Prophet by his instructions and authority. A private man here
commands the Medes and Persians, assembles armies, orders a banner to be lifted up, and sounds the
trumpet for battle.
This should therefore lead us to consider the majesty of God, in whose name he spoke, and likewise the
power and efficacy which is always joined with the word. Such modes of expression are frequently found
in the Prophets, that, by placing the events as it were before our eyes, he may enable us to see that God
threatens nothing by his servants which he is not ready immediately to execute. Isaiah might indeed have
threatened in plain and direct terms, “ Persians and Medes will come, and will burst through the gates
of Babylon, notwithstanding the prodigious strength of its fortifications.” But those exclamations are far
more energetic, when he not only assumes the character of a herald and proclaims war, but, as if he
exercised the highest authority, orders the Medes and Persians to assemble like hired soldiers. Not only
does he show that they will be ready at the bidding of God, because they are moved by his secret
influence; but, having been sent by God to announce the ruin of Babylon, he claims for his own voice the
accomplishment of what appeared to be beyond belief. It amounts to this, “ God hath spoken about what
shall happen, we ought to entertain no doubt concerning it.” It deserves our notice also, that he describes
the Persians and Medes, without mentioning their names; for that threatening is more emphatic, when he
points them out, as it were, with the finger, as when we say, “ and that man.” This contributes to the
certainty of the prophecy, when he points out such distant events as if they were at hand.
Shake the hand, that they may enter within the gates of the nobles. When he says, Shake the hand, and
they shall enter, he means that the Persians and Medes shall no sooner begin to advance at the
command of God than their road shall be plain and easy in spite of every obstruction. Though the
Hebrews call Princes‫,נדיבים‬ (Nedibim,) that is, generous and bountiful, on which is also founded that
saying of Christ, εὐεργέται καλοῦνται, they are called benefactors, (Luk_22:25,) yet I think that the
Prophet draws our attention to the splendor of power in which the Babylonians gloried. They were
furnished above others with forces and warlike armaments, so that it appeared to be incredible that they

could ever be vanquished. But the Prophet threatens that nothing shall hinder God from opening up a
way and entrance to the enemies.
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.
1.BARNES, “I have commanded - This is the language of God in reference to those who
were about to destroy Babylon. “He” claimed the control and direction of all their movements;
and though the command was not understood by “them” as coming from him, yet it was by his
direction, and in accordance with his plan (compare the notes at Isa_10:7; Isa_45:5-6). The
“command” was not given by the prophets, or by an audible voice; but it was his secret purpose
and direction that led them to this enterprise.
My sanctified ones - The Medes and Persians; not called ‘sanctified because they were holy,
but because they were set apart by the divine intention and purpose to accomplish this. The
word ‘sanctify’ (‫קדשׁ‬ qadash) often means “to set apart” - either to God; to an office; to any sacred
use; or to any purpose of religion, or of accomplishing any of the divine plans. Thus, it means to
dedicate one to the office of priest Exo_28:41; to set apart or dedicate an altar Exo_39:36; to
dedicate a people Exo_19:10-14; to appoint, or institute a fast Joe_1:14; Joe_2:15; to sanctify a
war Joe_3:9, that is, to prepare one’s-self for it, or make it ready. Here it means, that the Medes
and Persians were set apart, in the purpose of God, to accomplish his designs in regard to
Babylon (compare the note at Isa_10:5-6).
My mighty ones - Those who are strong; and who are so entirely under my direction, that
they may be called mine.
For mine anger - To accomplish the purposes of my anger against Babylon.
Even them that rejoice in my highness - It cannot be supposed that the Medes and
Persians really exulted, or rejoiced in God or in his plans, for it is evident that, like Sennacherib
Isa. 10, they were seeking to accomplish their own purposes, and were not solicitous about the
plans of God (compare the note at Isa_47:6). The word rendered ‘my highness’ (‫גאותי‬ ga'ava
thı y) means, properly, “my majesty,” or “glory.” When applied to people, as it often is, it means
pride or arrogance. It means here, the high and exalted plan of God in regard to Babylon. It was
a mighty undertaking; and one in which the power, the justice, and the dominion of God over
nations would be evinced. In accomplishing this, the Medes and Persians would rejoice or exult,
not as the fulfilling of the plan of God; but they would exult as if it were their own plan, though it
would be really the glorious plan of God. Wicked people often exult in their success; they glory
in the execution of their purposes; but they are really accomplishing the plans of God, and
executing his great designs.

2. CLARKE, “I have commanded my sanctified ones - ‫מקדשי‬ mekuddashai, the persons
consecrated to this very purpose. Nothing can be plainer than that the verb ‫כדש‬ kadash, “to make
holy,” signifies also to consecrate or appoint to a particular purpose. Bishop Lowth translates,
“my enrolled warriors.” This is the sense.
3. GILL, “I have commanded my sanctified ones,.... The Medes and Persians, so called,
not because sanctified by the Spirit of God, or made holy persons, through the regenerating and
renewing grace of God, or purified by the blood of Christ, and prepared for glory; but because
they were set apart in the mind and counsel of God for a special work and service, and were
qualified by him with courage and strength to perform it, and therefore said to be his; and this
command that was given them was not by a voice from heaven, or in a message by one of his
prophets; but by a secret instinct, and, by the power of his providence, stirring them up to
engage in such an enterprise (z).
I have also called my mighty ones; meaning Cyrus and Darius, and the officers of their
armies, with the common soldiers, who were furnished with might and strength to do his will, to
which they were called in his providence:
for mine anger; to execute his wrath upon the Babylonians; so the Targum,
"that they may avenge my wrath upon them:''
or, "in mine anger"; which being stirred up, put him upon calling those mighty ones to his
service, and fitting them for it: literally it is, "to my nose" (a); to be before him, to be at his beck
and will, and to minister his wrath and vengeance:
even them that rejoice in my highness; in doing that which tended to the exaltation and
glory of God; they went cheerfully about the work, and exulted and triumphed in their success:
or, "that rejoice my highness" (b); make me glad, because I am glorified by them. So seven
angels, the Lord's holy and mighty ones, will be employed in pouring out the vials of his wrath
on mystical Babylon, Rev_15:1.
4. HENRY, “The persons brought together to lay Babylon waste are here called, 1. God's
sanctified ones (Isa_13:3), designed for this service and set apart to it by the purpose and
providence of God, disengaged from other projects, that they might wholly apply themselves to
this, such as were qualified for that to which they were called, for what work God employs men
in he does in some measure fit them for. It intimates likewise that in God's intention, though not
in theirs, it was a holy war; they designed only the enlargement of their own empire, but God
designed the release of his people and a type of the destruction of the New Testament Babylon.
Cyrus, the person principally concerned, was justly called a sanctified one, for he was God's
anointed (Isa_45:1) and a figure of him that was to come. It is a pity but all soldiers, especially
those that fight the Lord's battles, should be in the strictest sense sanctified ones; and it is a
wonder that those dare be profane ones who carry their lives in their hands. 2. They are called

God's mighty ones, because they had their might from God and were now to use it for him. It is
said of Cyrus that in this expedition God held his right hand, Isa_45:1. God's sanctified ones are
his mighty ones. Those whom God calls he qualifies; and those whom he makes holy he makes
strong in spirit. 3. They are said to rejoice in his highness, that is, to serve his glory and the
purposes of it with great alacrity. Though Cyrus did not know God, nor actually design his
honour in what he did, yet God used him as his servant (Isa_45:4, I have surnamed thee as my
servant, though thou hast not known me), and he rejoiced in those successes by which God
exalted his own name. 4. They are very numerous, a multitude, a great people, kingdoms of
nations (Isa_13:4), not rude and barbarous, but modelled and regular troops, such as are
furnished out by well-ordered kingdoms. The great God has hosts at his command. 5. They are
far-fetched: They come from a far country, from the end of heaven. The vast country of Assyria
lay between Babylon and Persia. God can make those a scourge and ruin to his enemies that lie
most remote from them and therefore are least dreaded.
5. JAMISON, “sanctified ones — the Median and Persian soldiers solemnly set apart by Me
for the destruction of Babylon, not inwardly “sanctified,” but designated to fulfil God’s holy
purpose (Jer_51:27, Jer_51:28; Joe_3:9, Joe_3:11; where the Hebrew for prepare war is
“sanctify” war).
for mine anger — to execute it.
rejoice in my highness — “Those who are made to triumph for My honor” [Horsley]. The
heathen Medes could not be said to “rejoice in God’s highness” Maurer translates, “My haughtily
exulting ones” (Zep_3:11); a special characteristic of the Persians [Herodotus, 1.88]. They
rejoiced in their own highness, but it was His that they were unconsciously glorifying.
6. K&D, ““I have summoned my sanctified ones, also called my heroes to my wrath, my
proudly rejoicing ones.” “To my wrath” is to be explained in accordance with Isa_10:5. To
execute His wrath He had summoned His “sanctified ones” (me
kuddashim), i.e., according to
Jer_22:7 (compare Jer_51:27-28), those who had already been solemnly consecrated by Him to
go into the battle, and had called the heroes whom He had taken into His service, and who were
His instruments in this respect, that they rejoiced with the pride of men intoxicated with victory
(vid., Zep_1:7, cf., Isa_3:11). ‫יז‬ ִ‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ is a word peculiarly Isaiah's; and the combination ‫ה‬ָ‫ו‬ፍַ‫ג‬ ‫יזֵי‬ ִ‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ is so
unusual, that we could hardly expect to find it employed by two authors who stood in no relation
whatever to one another.
7. PULPIT, “I have commanded my sanctified ones. The pronoun "I" is emphatic—"I myself." Not only
will an external summons go forth, but God will lay his own orders on them whom he chooses for his
instruments, and bid them come to the muster. All who carry out his purposes are, in a certain sense,
"sanctified ones" (comp.Jer_22:7; Jer_51:27; Zep_1:7, etc.). Here the Modes and Persians are specially
in. tended (see Isa_13:17). For mine anger; i.e. "for the purpose of executing my anger." Even them
that rejoice in my highness; rather, my proudly exultant ones (Cheyne, Rosenmüller,

Gesenius). AEschylus calls the Persians ὑπερκόµπους ; Herodotus, ὑβριστάς (1. 41). The high spirits,
however, natural to gallant soldiers on going out to war, rather than any special haughtiness or arrogancy,
are intended.
8. CALVIN, “3.I have commanded my sanctified ones. (198) Here the Prophet introduces the Lord as
speaking and issuing his commands. He calls the Medes and Persians sanctified ones, that is, those
whom he has prepared. The verb ‫קדש‬ (kadash) is used in various senses; for sometimes it refers to the
spirit of regeneration, and this belongs peculiarly to the elect of God. But sometimes it means
to wish or prepare, and that meaning is more appropriate to this passage. All who are created by the Lord
are likewise appointed by him for a fixed purpose. He does not throw down men at random on the earth,
to go wherever they please, but guides all by his secret purpose, and regulates and controls the violent
passions of the reprobate, so as to drive them in whatever manner he thinks fit, and to check and restrain
them according to his pleasure. He therefore calls them sanctified ones, “ apart and prepared to execute
his will,” though they had no such intention. Hence also we are taught to ascribe to the secret judgment of
God all violent commotions, and this yields wonderful consolation; for whatever attempts may be made by
wicked men, yet they will accomplish nothing but what the Lord has decreed.
I have also called my mighty ones. The phrase, I have called, conveys more than the phrase, I have
commanded, which he had used in the former clause. It means that they will be roused to action, not only
at the bidding of God, but by the very sound of his voice; as if I were to call a person to me, and he were
immediately to follow. He threatens, therefore, that Babylon shall be destroyed by the Medes and
Persians, in the same manner as if they obeyed the call of God; for though they were prompted to battle
by their own ambition, pride, and cruelty, yet God directed them, without knowing it, to execute his
judgment.
(198) “My appointed ones. ” ‫קדש‬ (kadash) is to select and set apart for a work, particularly for one of God’
appointment. See Jer_22:7, Zep_1:7. — Stock
FT190 The LORD and the weapons of his indignation. — Eng. Ver.
FT191 From the Almighty. — Eng. Ver.
FT192 “ ‫שד‬ ‫משדי‬ (shod mishshaddai). This title of God is here employed for the sake of the

alliteration, destruction from the destroyer, from him who is all-powerful to destroy ( ‫)שדד‬ (shadad) as well
as to save.” — Rosenmuller
FT193 By a happy coincidence, the English word panic conveys exactly the meaning of the Latin
adjective Panicus , which is here said to be derived from the name of the heathen God Pan, the god of
the mountains, cattle, &c. — Ed
FT194 Their faces shall be as flames. (Heb. faces of the flames.) — Eng. Ver. “Faces of flames shall be
their faces. ” — Stock
FT195 See Xen. Cyr., book 7, chapter 5.
FT196 Jarchi quotes the words, to add the drunken to the thirsty, (Deu_29:19,)add year to year,
(Isa_29:1,) and add burnt-offerings to your sacrifices, (Jer_7:21,) and his annotator Breithaupt translates
the verb ‫ספה‬ (saphah) by a word in his native French, accueillir , which means togather, or flock together.
— Ed
FT197 Which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. — Eng. Ver.
FT198 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces. — Eng. Ver.
FT199Shall be as when God overthrew. (Heb. as the overthrowing.)--Eng. Ver.
FT200 But wild beasts of the desert (Heb. Ziim) shall lie there. — Eng. Ver.
FT201 It is a gratifying proof of the progress of knowledge and of the decay of superstition, that such
words as Hobgoblins, Hob-thrushes, Robin-goodfellows, and even Fairies, answering to the grotesque
names which Calvin has brought from his own vernacular, have grown antiquated, and are not likely to be
replaced by terms of modern date. Howell’ definition of Loup-garou is a curious record of superstitious
belief. “ mankind Wolfe, such a one as once being flesht on men, and children, will rather starve than feed
on any thing else; also, one that, possessed with an extream and strange melancholy, beleeves he is
turned Wolfe, and as a Wolfe behaves himselfe,” etc. — Ed
FT202 And the wild beasts of the islands (Heb. Iim) shall cry. — Eng. Ver.
FT203 And hyoenas shall cry in their palaces, and jackals in their tabernacles of delight. — Stock

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.
1.BARNES, “The noise of a multitude in the mountains - The prophet here represents
himself as hearing the confused tumult of the nations assembling to the standard reared on the
mountains Isa_13:2. This is a highly beautiful figure - a graphic and vivid representation of the
scene before him. Nations are seen to hasten to the elevated banner, and to engage in active
preparations for the mighty war. The sound is that of a tumult, an excited multitude hastening
to the encampment, and preparing for the conquest of Babylon.
Like as of a great people - Hebrew, ‘The likeness of a great people.’ That is, such a
confused and tumultuous sound as attends a great multitude when they collect together.
A tumultuous noise - Hebrew, ‘The voice of the tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of
nations gathered together.’
The Lord of hosts - Yahweh, the God of hosts, or armies (note Isa_1:9).
Mustereth - Collects; puts in military array. Over all this multitude of nations, hastening
with confused sounds and tumult like the noise of the sea, putting themselves in military array,
God, unseen, presides, and prepares them for his own great designs. It is not easy to conceive a
more sublime image than these mighty hosts of war, unconscious of the hand that directs them,
and of the God that presides over them, moving as he wills, and accomplishing his plans.
2. CLARKE, “Of the battle “For the battle” - The Bodleian MS. has ‫למלחמה‬ lemilchamah.
Cyrus’s army was made up of many different nations. Jeremiah calls it an “assembly of great
nations from the north country,” Jer_50:9. And afterwards mentions the kingdoms of “Ararat,
Minni, and Ashchenaz, (i.e. Armenia, Corduene, Pontus or Phrygia, Vitring.), with the kings of
the Medes,” Jer_51:27, Jer_51:28. See Xenophon. Cyrop.
3. GILL, “The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people,....
That is, like the noise of a very numerous people; this noise was heard either on the mountains

of Media, where they flocked in vast numbers to the standard set; or on the mountains upon the
borders of Chaldea, when the army under Cyrus was marching towards Babylon:
a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together; for Cyrus's army
consisted of several kingdoms and nations; for besides the thirty thousand Persians he brought
with him into Media, where he was made general of the Medes also, and was sent with the joint
forces of both nations against Babylon, the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz, were
prepared, gathered together, and called forth against it, Jer_51:27,
the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle; or the warlike army: it was the Lord,
that has the armies of heaven and earth at his command, who in his providence caused such a
numerous army to be formed, directed them where to march, and put them in battle array, and
gave them the victory.
4. HENRY, “The summons given them is effectual, their obedience ready, and they make a very
formidable appearance: A banner is lifted up upon the high mountain, Isa_13:2. God's standard
is set up, a flag of defiance hung out against Babylon. It is erected on high, where all may see it;
whoever will may come and enlist themselves under it, and they shall be taken immediately into
God's pay. Those that beat up for volunteers must exalt the voice in making proclamation, to
encourage soldiers to come in; they must shake the hand, to beckon those at a distance and to
animate those that have enlisted themselves. And they shall not do this in vain; God has
commanded and called those whom he designs to make use of (Isa_13:3) and power goes along
with his calls and commands, which cannot be resisted. He that makes men able to serve him
can, when he pleases, make them willing too. It is the Lord of hosts that musters the host of the
battle, Isa_13:4. He raises them, brings them together, puts them in order, reviews them, has an
exact account of them in his muster-roll, sees that they be all in their respective posts, and gives
them their necessary orders. Note, All the hosts of war are under the command of the Lord of
hosts; and that which makes them truly formidable is that, when they come against Babylon, the
Lord comes, and brings them with him as the weapons of his indignation, Isa_13:5. Note, Great
princes and armies are but tools in God's hand, weapons that he is pleased to make use of in
doing his work, and it is his wrath that arms them and gives them success.
5. JAMISON, “the mountains — namely, which separate Media and Assyria, and on one of
which the banner to rally the hosts is supposed to be reared.
tumultuous noise — The Babylonians are vividly depicted as hearing some unwonted
sound like the din of a host; they try to distinguish the sounds, but can only perceive a
tumultuous noise.
nations — Medes, Persians, and Armenians composed Cyrus’ army.
6. K&D, “The command of Jehovah is quickly executed. The great army is already coming
down from the mountains. “Hark, a rumbling on the mountains after the manner of a great
people; hark, a rumbling of kingdoms of nations met together! Jehovah of hosts musters an
army, those that have come out of a distant land, from the end of the heaven: Jehovah and His
instruments of wrath, to destroy the whole earth.” Kol commences an interjectional sentence,

and thus becomes almost an interjection itself (compare Isa_52:8; Isa_66:6, and on Gen_4:10).
There is rumbling on the mountains (Isa_17:12-13), for there are the peoples of Eran, and in
front the Medes inhabiting the mountainous north-western portion of Eran, who come across
the lofty Shahu (Zagros), and the ranges that lie behind it towards the Tigris, and descend upon
the lowlands of Babylon; and not only the peoples of Eran, but the peoples of the mountainous
north of Asia generally (Jer_51:27) - an army under the guidance of Jehovah, the God of hosts of
spirits and stars, whose wrath it will execute over the whole earth, i.e., upon the world-empire;
for the fall of Babel is a judgment, and accompanied with judgments upon all the tribes under
Babylonian rule.
7. PULPIT, “The noise of a multitude in the mountains. I do not know why Isaiah should not have been
"thinking of his geography" (Cheyne). As soon as the Greeks knew anything of the Persians, they knew of
them as a mountain people, and attributed their valor and their handy habits to the physical character of
their country (Herod; 9.ad fin.). Jeremiah connects the invading army which destroyed Babylon with
mountains, when he derives it from. Ararat (comp. Gen_8:4), Minni (Armenia), and Ashchenaz
(Jer_51:27). At any rate, the mention of "mountains" here is very appropriate, both Media and Persia
being, in the main, mountainous countries. A great people; or, much people—not necessarily of one
nation only. The host of the battle; rather, a host of war; i.e. a multitude of men, armed and prepared for
war.
8. CALVIN, “4.The noise of a multitude in the mountains. He adds a still more lively representation,
( ὑποτύπωσιν,) that is, a description by which he places the event as it were before our eyes. The
prophets are not satisfied with speaking, without also giving a bold picture of the events themselves.
Words uttered plainly, and in the ordinary manner, do not strike us so powerfully or move our hearts so
much as those figures which delineate a lively resemblance of the events. As if he had said, “ indeed, you
hear a man speaking, but know that this voice will be so powerful that at the sound of it nations shall be
roused, peoples shall make a noise, and in vast crowds shall shout and roar to bring destruction on the
inhabitants of Babylon. This proclamation, therefore, will be as efficacious, even after that I am dead, as if
you now saw what I foretell to you.”
In this event, therefore, we see how great is the efficacy of the word, which all the creatures both in
heaven and in earth obey. We ought to be more strongly confirmed in the belief of this doctrine, by
perceiving that every one of the events which had been predicted many centuries before has taken place.
For this reason he declares that the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle, that the various nations
are moved by God’ direction, and that, although nothing was farther from their intention than to inflict the

punishment which he had appointed, still they do nothing but according to his command, as if some
earthly general were to draw up his forces.
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.
1.BARNES, “They come - That is, ‘Yahweh and the weapons of his indignation’ - the
collected armies come. The prophet sees these assembled armies with Yahweh, as their leader, at
their head.
From a far country - The country of the Medes and Persians. These nations, indeed,
bordered on Babylonia, but still they stretched far to the north and east, and, probably, occupied
nearly all the regions to the east of Babylon which were then known.
From the end of heaven - The Septuagint renders this, ᅒπ ʆ ᅎκρου θεµελίου τοሞ οᆒρανοሞ Ap'
akrou themeliou tou ouranou - ‘From the “extreme foundation” of the heaven.’ The expression in
the Hebrew, ‘From the end, or extreme peri of heaven,’ means, the distant horizon by which the
earth appears to be bounded, where the sky and the land seem to meet. In Psa_19:6, the phrase,
‘from the end of the heaven’ denotes the east, where the sun appears to rise; and ‘unto the ends
of it’ denotes the west:
His going forth is from the end of the heaven;
And his circuit unto the ends of it.
It is here synonymous with the phrase, ‘the end of the earth,’ in Isa_5:26.
Even the Lord - The word ‘even,’ introduced here by the translators, weakens the three of
this verse. The prophet means to say that Yahweh is coming at the head of those armies, which
are the weapons of his indignation.
The weapons of his indignation - The assembled armies of the Medes and Persians,
called ‘the weapons of his indignation,’ because by them he will accomplish the purposes of his
anger against the city of Babylon (see the note at Isa_10:5).
To destroy the whole land - The whole territory of Babylonia, or Chaldea. Not only the
city, but the nation and kingdom.
2. CLARKE, “They come from a far country - The word ‫מארץ‬ meerets is wanting in one
MS. and in the Syriac: “They come from afar.”

From the end of heaven - Kimchi says, Media, “the end of heaven,” in Scripture phrase,
means, the East.
3. GILL, “They come from a far country, from the end of heaven,.... The east, as
Kimchi observes; the Targum is, from the ends of the earth; the furthermost parts of it, as Persia
and Media were: the former is bounded on the south side by the main ocean; and the latter, part
of it by the Caspian sea; and between Babylon and these kingdoms lay the large kingdom of
Assyria; so that this army might be truly said to come from a far country:
even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation; the Medes and Persians, who were
the instruments of his wrath and vengeance against Babylon; just as Assyria is called the rod of
his anger, Isa_10:5 with these he is said to come, because this army was of his gathering,
mustering, ordering, and directing, in his providence; the end and design of which was,
to destroy the whole land; not the whole world, as the Septuagint render it; but the whole
land of Chaldea, of which Babylon was the metropolis. The Targum is,
"to destroy all the wicked of the earth.''
4. KRETZMAN, “ They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, from beyond the
horizon, where the earth appears to be hounded by the sky, even the Lord, and the weapons of His
indignation, to destroy the whole land, literally, "to overturn the whole earth," for the entire world, then
known, would feel the ravages of the war of destruction determined upon by Jehovah. The prophet now
turns directly to the heathen nations, with Babylon in the lead:
5. JAMISON, “They — namely, “Jehovah,” and the armies which are “the weapons of His
indignation.”
far country — Media and Persia, stretching to the far north and east.
end of heaven — the far east (Psa_19:6).
destroy — rather, “to seize” [Horsley].
6. PULPIT, “They come from a far country (comp. Isa_46:11). Both Media and Persia were "far
countries" to the Hebrews, Persia especially. There is no indication that they knew of any countries more
remote towards the East. Hence the expression which follows, "from the end of heaven"—the heaven
being supposed to end where the earth ended. Isaiah, like the other sacred writers, conforms his
language on cosmical subjects to the opinions of his day. Even the Lord. With a most effective
anthropomorphism, Jehovah is made to march with the army that he has mustered (verse 4) against the

land that has provoked his wrath—i.e. Babylonia. The weapons (comp. Isa_10:15; Jer_1:1-
19 :25; Jer_51:20). To destroy the whole land. Many critics would render ha-arets by "the earth" here. It
may be granted that the language of the prophecy goes beyond the occasion in places, and passes from
Babylon to that wicked world of which Babylon is a type; but, where the context permits, it seems better to
restrict than to expand the meaning of the words employed.
7.CALVIN, “5.Coming from a distant country. He repeats and confirms more fully what I stated a little
before, that the operations of war do not spring up at random from the earth; for though everything
disorderly is vomited out by the passions of men, yet God rules on high; and therefore Isaiah justly
ascribes sovereignty to God. Next, he adds, that armed men are nothing else than the weapons of his
indignation. He says that they will come from a distant country, to overturn the monarchy of Babylon,
because we are not afraid of dangers unless when they are close at hand. Babylon was so strongly
fortified, and was surrounded by so many kingdoms and provinces which were subject to it, that it
seemed as if there were no way by which an enemy could approach. In short, as if she had been situated
in the clouds, she dreaded no danger.
From the end of heaven. There being no trouble all around that threatened them, he gives warning that
the calamity will come from a distance. Though everything appears to be calm and peaceful, and though
we are not at variance with our neighbors, God can bring enemies from the end of heaven. There is no
reason, therefore, why we should promise to ourselves a lasting and prosperous condition, though we are
not threatened with any immediate danger. If this prediction had reached the inhabitants of Babylon, they
would undoubtedly have laughed at it as a fable. Even if we should suppose that they paid some respect
to the Prophet, yet, having so strong a conviction of their safety, they would have despised those
threatenings as idle and groundless. An example may be easily found. When we preach at the present
day about the Turk, all think that it is a fable, because they think that he is still at a great distance from us.
But we see how quickly he overtook those who were at a greater distance and more powerful. So great is
the insensibility of men that they cannot be aroused, unless they are chastised and made to feel the
blows. Let the inhabitants of Babylon, therefore, be a warning to us, to dread, before it is too late, the
threatenings which the prophets utter, that the same thing may not happen to us as happens to those
wicked men, who, relying on their prosperous condition, are so terrified when the hand of God attacks
and strikes them, that they can no longer stand, but sink down bewildered.
To destroy the whole land. When he puts the whole land for Babylon, he looks to the extent of the
kingdom; that they may not think that the great number of provinces, by which they were surrounded on
all sides, could ward off the attacks of enemies. But at the same time he intimates that it will be no slight
calamity affecting a single spot, but will be like a deluge overwhelming a large portion of the world.

Jehovah and the vessels of his anger. (199) The Persians and Medes are called vessels of anger in a
different sense from that in which Paul gives that appellation to all the reprobate; for, by contrasting the
vessels of wrath with the vessels of mercy, (Rom_9:22,) he shows that the undeserved goodness of God
shines in the elect, but that the reprobate are monuments of severe judgment. But Isaiah means that the
Medes and Persians may be regarded as darts in the hand of God, that by means of them he may
execute his vengeance.
6
Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty.[a]
1.BARNES, “Howl ye - Ye inhabitants of Babylon, in view of the approaching destruction.
The day of the Lord - The time when Yahweh will inflict vengeance on you draws near (see
the note at Isa_2:12; compare Isa_13:9).
As a destruction from the Almighty - Not as a desolation from man, but as destruction
sent from him who has all power in heaven and on earth. Destruction meditated by man might
be resisted; but destruction that should come from the Almighty must be final and irresistible.
The word ‘Almighty’ ‫שׁדי‬ shadday, one of the names given to God in the Scriptures, denotes,
properly, “one who is mighty,” or who has all power; and is correctly rendered Almighty, or
Omnipotent; Gen_17:1; Gen_28:3; Gen_48:3; Exo_6:3; Rth_1:20; Job_5:17; Job_6:4,
Job_6:14; Job_8:3, Job_8:5; Job_11:7; Job_13:4; Job_15:25. In the Hebrew here, there is a
paronomasia or “pun” - a figure of speech quite common in the Scriptures, which cannot be
retained in the translation - ‘It shall come as a destruction (‫כשׁד‬ ke
shod) from the Almighty (‫משׁדי‬
mı shadday).’
2. KRETZMANN, “Howl ye, in consternation and terror; for the day of the Lord is at
hand, when He intends to carry out His judgment; it shall come as a destruction from the
Almighty, all the enemies being included in this threat and all opposition being declared
useless from the start.
3. GILL, “Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand,.... These words are an address to
the Babylonians, who instead of rejoicing and feasting, as Belshazzar and his nobles were the
night that Babylon was taken, had reason to howl and lament; seeing the day that the Lord had

fixed for their destruction was very near, and he was just about to come forth as a judge to take
vengeance on them; for though it was about two hundred and fifty years from the time of this
prophecy, to the taking of Babylon, yet it is represented as at hand, to show the certainty of it,
both for the comfort of the Jewish captives, when they should be in it, and for the awakening of
the sluggish inhabitants, who were secure, and thought themselves out of danger:
it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty: suddenly, swiftly, and irresistibly:
there is a beautiful paronomasia in the Hebrew text, "ceshod mishaddai" (c); as destruction from
the destroyer; from God, who is able to save, and to destroy; he is almighty and all sufficient, so
some render the word; the hand of God was visible in it.
4. HENRY, “We have here a very elegant and lively description of the terrible confusion and
desolation which should be made in Babylon by the descent which the Medes and Persians
should make upon it. Those that were now secure and easy were bidden to howl and make sad
lamentation; for,
I. God was about to appear in wrath against them, and it is a fearful thing to fall into his hands:
The day of the Lord is at hand (Isa_13:6), a little day of judgment, when God will act as a just
avenger of his own and his people's injured cause. And there are those who will have reason to
tremble when that day is at hand. The day of the Lord cometh, Isa_13:9. Men have their day
now, and they think to carry the day; but God laughs at them, for he sees that his day is coming,
Psa_37:13. Fury is not with God, and yet his day of reckoning with the Babylonians is said to be
cruel with wrath and fierce anger. God will deal in severity with them for the severities they
exercised upon God's people; with the froward, with the cruel, he will show himself froward, will
show himself cruel, and give the blood-thirsty blood to drink.
5. JAMISON, “day of the Lord — day of His vengeance on Babylon (Isa_2:12). Type of the
future “day of wrath” (Rev_6:17).
destruction — literally, “a devastating tempest.”
from the Almighty — not from mere man; therefore irresistible. “Almighty,” Hebrew,
Shaddai.
6. K&D, “Then all sink into anxious and fearful trembling. “Howl; for the day of Jehovah is
near; like a destructive force from the Almighty it comes. Therefore all arms hang loosely
down, and every human heart melts away. And they are troubled: they fall into cramps and
pangs; like a woman in labour they twist themselves: one stares at the other; their faces are
faces of flame.” The command ‫ילוּ‬ ִ‫יל‬ ֵ‫ה‬ (not written defectively, ‫ילוּ‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֵ‫)ה‬ is followed by the reason for
such a command, viz., “the day of Jehovah is near,” the watchword of prophecy from the time of
Joel downwards. The Caph in ce
shod is the so-called Caph veritatis, or more correctly, the Caph
of comparison between the individual and its genus. It is destruction by one who possesses
unlimited power to destroy (shod, from shadad, from which we have shaddai, after the form
chaggai, the festive one, from chagag). In this play upon the words, Isaiah also repeats certain

words of Joel (Joe_1:15). Then the heads hang down from despondency and helplessness, and
the heart, the seat of lift, melts (Isa_19:1) in the heat of anguish. Universal consternation ensues.
This is expressed by the word ve
nibhalu, which stands in half pause; the word has shalsheleth
followed by psik (pasek), an accent which only occurs in seven passages in the twenty-one prose
books of the Old Testament, and always with this dividing stroke after it.
(Note: For the seven passages, see Ewald, Lehrbuch (ed. 7), p. 224.)
Observe also the following fut. paragogica, which add considerably to the energy of the
description by their anapaestic rhythm. The men (subj.) lay hold of cramps and pangs (as in
Job_18:20; Job_21:6), the force of the events compelling them to enter into such a condition.
Their faces are faces of flames. Knobel understands this as referring to their turning pale, which
is a piece of exegetical jugglery. At the same time, it does not suggest mere redness, nor a
convulsive movement; but just as a flame alternates between light and darkness, so their faces
become alternately flushed and pale, as the blood ebbs and flows, as it were, being at one time
driven with force into their faces, and then again driven back to the heart, so as to leave deadly
paleness, in consequence of their anguish and terror.
7. PULPIT, “Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand (comp. Joe_1:15); literally, the expression used
in both passages is a day of Jehovah. The idiom would not, however, allow the use of the article, so that
the phrase is ambiguous. "The day of Jehovah" is properly "that crisis in the history of the world when
Jehovah will interpose to rectify the evils of the present, bringing joy and glory to the humble believer, and
misery and shame to the proud and disobedient" (Cheyne). But any great occasion when God passes
judgment on a nation is called in Scripture "a day of the Lord." "a coming of Christ." And so here the day
of the judgment upon Babylon seems to be intended. It shall come as a destruction from the
Almighty. Isaiah is thought to quote from Joel (Joe_1:15) here; but perhaps both prophets quoted from
an earlier author. Shaddai (equivalent to "Almighty') is an ancient name of God, most rarely used by the
prophetical writers (only here, and in Eze_1:24; Eze_10:5;Joe_1:15), and never elsewhere by either
Isaiah or Joel. It has generally been said to mean "the Strong One;" but recently the theory has found
favor that it meant originally "the Sender of storms," from the Arabic sh'da—jecit, effudit. However this
may be, the word is certainly used in the later times mainly to express God's power to visit and punish,
and the present passage might perhaps be best translated, "It shall come as a destruction from the
Destroyer (k'shod mish-Shaddai yabo')."
8. CALVIN, “6.Howl ye. He continues the same argument, and bids the inhabitants of Babylon howl.
Not that he directs instruction to them, as if he hoped that it would be of any advantage, but, in foretelling
what shall be their condition, he emphatically employs this form of direct address.
For the day of the Lord is at hand. He calls it the day of the Lord, according to the usual custom of

Scripture, because when the Lord delays his judgment, he appears to cease from the discharge of his
office, like judges when they do not ascend the judgment-seat. This mode of expression deserves notice,
for we would gladly subject God to our disposal, that he might immediately pass sentence against the
wicked. But he has his own appointed time, and knows the seasons when it is proper both to punish the
bad and to assist the good.
It shall come as destruction from the Strong One. (200) He threatens that the severity of judgment will be
such that the inhabitants of Babylon will have good reason not only to cry but to howl; because God
displays his power to waste and destroy them. ‫שדד‬ (shadad) signifies to lay waste and plunder. From this
verb is derived ‫,שדי‬ (Shaddai,) one of the names of God, which some render Almighty. There is therefore
an elegant allusion to the derivation of the word; as if he had said, that the inhabitants of Babylon shall
learn by their own destruction how appropriately God is called ‫,שדי‬ (Shaddai,) that
is, strong and powerful to destroy. (201)
7
Because of this, all hands will go limp,
every heart will melt with fear.
1.BARNES, “Therefore shall all hands be faint - This is designed to denote the
consternation and alarm of the people. They would be so terrified and alarmed that they would
have no courage, no hope, and no power to make resistance. They would abandon their plans of
defense, and give themselves up to despair (compare Jer_50:43 : ‘The king of Babylon hath
heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble; anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of
a Women in travail;’ Eze_7:17; Zep_3:16).
And every man’s heart shall melt - Or, shall faint, so that he shall have no courage or
strength (compare Deu_20:8). The fact was, that the destruction of Babylon took place in the
night. It came suddenly upon the city, while Belshazzar was at his impious feast; and the alarm
was so unexpected and produced such consternation, that no defense was attempted (see
Dan_5:30; compare the notes at Isa_45:1).
2. KRETZMANN, “Therefore shall all hands be faint, hanging down limp and without
strength, and every man's heart shall melt, like water, said of an utter lack of courage, of
complete hopelessness;

Isaiah 13 commentary

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Isaiah 13 commentary