God Gathers His Army Against Babylon
Study note
This prophecy is called a 'burden' or 'oracle,' a weighty message from God about a nation's future. In Isaiah's day, Assyria was the dominant empire, but God reveals that Babylon will rise and then fall. God himself summons the warriors who will destroy Babylon, calling them 'my holy ones' because they are carrying out his purposes, even if they do not know it. He commands them to gather on a bare hilltop and march through the gates of the powerful.
1 This is the message about Babylon that God gave to Isaiah son of Amoz. The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
2 Put up a flag on a bare hilltop! Shout orders to the soldiers! Wave them forward through the gates of the mighty! Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
3 "I have commanded my hand-picked warriors. I have summoned my mighty fighters to carry out my anger. They take pride in doing what I say." I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
4 Listen! A roar on the mountains, like a massive crowd gathering! Listen! Nations and kingdoms are assembling! The Lord who commands heaven's armies is mustering his forces for battle. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.
5 They are coming from faraway countries, from the very edges of the sky. The Lord and the weapons of his fury are on their way to destroy the entire land. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
The Terrible Day of the Lord
Study note
The day of the Lord is a major theme in the prophets. It refers to a time when God steps into human history to judge and set things right. For Babylon, that day will bring destruction from the Almighty. Isaiah describes cosmic signs: stars going dark, the sun failing to rise, and the moon refusing to shine. This language emphasizes that God's judgment shakes the very foundations of creation. God declares he will punish the world for its evil and end the arrogance of the proud. People will become more rare than gold.
6 Wail in terror, for the Lord's day of judgment is almost here! It will bring destruction from the Almighty. Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Because of this, every hand will hang limp, and every person's heart will melt like wax. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:
8 They will be gripped with terror. Pain and anguish will seize them like a woman going through childbirth. They will stare at each other with faces red from horror. And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Look! The day of the Lord is on its way — a merciless day overflowing with fury and burning anger. It will turn the land into a wasteland and wipe out every sinner in it. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 The stars and constellations in the sky will stop shining. The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will give off no light. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 The Lord says, "I will punish the world for its wickedness and evil people for their sins. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and bring down the confidence of brutal rulers." And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 "I will make people rarer than pure gold, harder to find than the gold of Ophir." I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 "I will shake the heavens. The earth will lurch from its place. This will come from the fury of the Lord of heaven's armies. His burning anger will arrive on that day." Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
14 Like a deer being chased by hunters, or sheep with no one to watch over them, everyone will race back to their own people. They will run to their homeland. And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.
15 Anyone who gets caught will be run through with a sword. Anyone who is captured will be killed. Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.
16 Their babies will be smashed before them. Their homes will be ransacked, and their wives will be violated. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
Babylon's Complete Destruction
Study note
God reveals that the Medes will be the instrument of Babylon's destruction. The Medes, who lived in what is now Iran, cannot be bought off with silver or gold. Babylon, called the 'jewel of kingdoms' and the pride of the Babylonian people, will be overthrown like Sodom and Gomorrah. No one will ever live there again. No traveler will camp there. Only wild animals will live in its ruins. This prophecy was fulfilled when the Medo-Persian Empire conquered Babylon in 539 BC, and the city eventually fell into complete ruin.
17 "Watch! I am stirring up the Medes against them. Silver means nothing to them, and gold does not tempt them." Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
18 Their bows will cut down the young men. They will not spare babies, and they will show no kindness to children. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
19 Babylon is the sparkling jewel among kingdoms. It is the proud showpiece of its people. But God will smash it, just as he did Sodom and Gomorrah. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 No one will ever live there again. No one will settle there, generation after generation. No nomad will pitch a tent there, and no shepherd will bring flocks to rest there. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
21 Only wild desert creatures will make their homes there. Owls will fill the abandoned houses. Ostriches will roam there, and wild goats will jump through the ruins. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
22 Jackals will howl in Babylon's empty palaces, and wild animals will cry out in its once-beautiful halls. Babylon's time is nearly up. Its days will not be extended. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.