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13. Prophecy Against Babylon

¹ A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

    ² Raise a banner on a bare hilltop,
   shout to them;
beckon to them
   to enter the gates of the nobles.
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.

    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.
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.

    ⁶ Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;
   it will come like destruction from the Almighty. Hebrew Shaddai
⁷ Because of this, all hands will go limp,
   every heart will melt with fear.
⁸ Terror will seize them,
   pain and anguish will grip them;
   they will writhe like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each other,
   their faces aflame.

    ⁹ See, the day of the LORD is coming
   —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land desolate
   and destroy the sinners within it.
¹⁰ The stars of heaven and their constellations
   will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened
   and the moon will not give its light.
¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil,
   the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
   and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
¹² I will make people scarcer than pure gold,
   more rare than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
   and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the LORD Almighty,
   in the day of his burning anger.

    ¹⁴ Like a hunted gazelle,
   like sheep without a shepherd,
they will all return to their own people,
   they will flee to their native land.
¹⁵ Whoever is captured will be thrust through;
   all who are caught will fall by the sword.
¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
   their houses will be looted and their wives violated.

    ¹⁷ See, I will stir up against them the Medes,
   who do not care for silver
   and have no delight in gold.
¹⁸ Their bows will strike down the young men;
   they will have no mercy on infants,
   nor will they look with compassion on children.
¹⁹ Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms,
   the pride and glory of the Babylonians, Or Chaldeans
will be overthrown by God
   like Sodom and Gomorrah.
²⁰ She will never be inhabited
   or lived in through all generations;
there no nomads will pitch their tents,
   there no shepherds will rest their flocks.
²¹ But desert creatures will lie there,
   jackals will fill her houses;
there the owls will dwell,
   and there the wild goats will leap about.
²² Hyenas will inhabit her strongholds,
   jackals her luxurious palaces.
Her time is at hand,
   and her days will not be prolonged.

3. I have commanded my sanctified ones. ¹⁹⁸¹⁹⁸     “My appointed ones.” קדש (kadash) is to select and set apart for a work, particularly for one of God’s appointment. See Jeremiah 22:7, Zephaniah 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, (Deuteronomy 29:19,) add year to year, (Isaiah 29:1,) and add burnt-offerings to your sacrifices, (Jeremiah 7:21,) and his annotator Breithaupt translates the verb ספה (saphah) by a word in his native French, accueillir, which means to gather, 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.
    ^FT199 Shall 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’s definition of Loup-garou is a curious record of superstitious belief. “A 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 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, “set 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.