Against Babylon
1 An oracle concerning Babylon,
seen by Isaiah, son of Amoz:
2 On a bare hilltop raise a banner;
cry aloud to them,
wave a hand for them
to enter the Gates of the Nobles.
3 I have ordered my sacred knights,
I have summoned my mighty war riors –
all those who rejoice in my triumph –
I have commanded them to carry out my wrath.
4 Listen, a rumbling on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
Listen, a tumultuous uproar
as of kingdoms massing together!
Yes, Yahweh Sabaoth is mustering his army.
5 From faraway lands,
from the ends of the heavens
they come – Yahweh
and the instruments of his wrath –
to destroy the whole earth.
6 Wail, for the day of Yahweh is near;
it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
7 All arms will go limp,
every human heart will fail him.
8 Everyone will be gripped with terror.
Pain and sorrow taking hold of them,
men will be in anguish
like women in travail.
They will look aghast at each other,
their faces aflame as with fever.
9 See how th e day of Yahweh comes:
it is a cruel day
coming with wrath and fierce anger.
It will make the earth desolate;
it will destroy sinners within it.
10 The stars and constellations at night
will send forth no light, the moon
will not shine; in the morning the sun
will be dark as it rises.
11 I punish the world for the evil it does,
and the wicked for their sins.
I make the arrogance of the proud cease.
I end the haughtiness of the ruthless.
12 I will make mortals scarcer than gold
and humans more rare than the gold of Ophir.
13 This is why the heavens tremble
and the earth shakes its foundation,
at the wrath of Yahweh Sabaoth
on the day of his burning anger.
14 Like a hunted gazelle,
or like a flock without a shepherd
everyone returns to his own people,
each one flees to his native land.
15 Whoever is captured will be butch ered,
whoever is caught will be slaughtered.
16 Their babies will be dashed to pieces before their eyes,
their houses will be looted,
their wives raped.
17 Against them I will stir up the Medes,
who don’t crave for money
and are not interested in gold.
18 Their bows and arrows will strike down young men
without mercy or compassion.
They do not spare infants and children.
19 Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms,
pride and glory of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when overthrown by God.
20 She will never be inhabited,
nor dwelt in from age to age.
There no Arab will pitch his tent,
no shepherd will tend his flock.
21 There wild beasts of the desert will lie,
howling creatures will fill the houses,
owls and ostriches will dwell there
and wild goats will leap about.
22 There mad dogs will cry out in her strongholds,
and jackals in her palaces.
Her time is close at hand;
her days are now numbered.
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Comments Isaiah, Chapter 13
• 13.1 Chapters 13 to 33 are a series of oracles against the neighboring people. The Bible calls them the nations, and since the Word of God was not addressed to these people, they were pagans. And so, whenever we read “the nations” in the Bible, we can translate it as “the pagans” or “the foreigners.”
It must be admitted that these chapters gather together poems that are vastly different regarding date and spirit. Some of them are from Isaiah and are not really “against” neighboring nations: they are warnings to the peoples of Judah and Jerusalem to rely on the protection of Yahweh instead of letting themselves get involved in coalitions against Assyria.
For example, 14:28-32. An embassy of Philistines came to Jerusalem after a number of set -backs at the hands of the Assyrians. Isaiah’s message is: Assyria will recover, Judah will be saved if it remains neutral, trusting in Yahweh.
Again in chapter 16, Moab must have been ravaged by the Assyrian troops and came to ask help from Judah remembering how in the past Moab had been protected by the kings of Jerusalem and paid them a tribute of wool and sheep. Isaiah’s reply: Let them weep.
The poem 13:1-22 has been inserted much later in the book of Isaiah, certainly well after the end of Babylon which it recounts. It is equally true for 14:1-2 and 22-23. We note in 13:2 the “saints,” meaning celestial personages also termed “sons of God,” or “angels.” During the last centuries before Christ, it was thought that through their intermediary God directed history (Dn 4:14).