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| This is the New King James text of the passages. |
Isaiah 13-17
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There's gonna be judgment against Babylon (Isaiah 13)
1 The burden against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
2 “Lift up a banner on the high mountain,
Raise your voice to them;
Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded My sanctified ones;
I have also called My mighty ones for My anger—
Those who rejoice in My exaltation.”
4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together!
The LORD of hosts musters
The army for battle.
5 They come from a far country,
From the end of heaven—
The LORD and His weapons of indignation,
To destroy the whole land.
6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand!
It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore all hands will be limp,
Every man’s heart will melt,
8 And they will be afraid.
Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them;
They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth;
They will be amazed at one another;
Their faces will be like flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes,
Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger,
To lay the land desolate;
And He will destroy its sinners from it.
10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not give their light;
The sun will be darkened in its going forth,
And the moon will not cause its light to shine.
11 “I will punish the world for its evil,
And the wicked for their iniquity;
I will halt the arrogance of the proud,
And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold,
A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens,
And the earth will move out of her place,
In the wrath of the LORD of hosts
And in the day of His fierce anger.
14 It shall be as the hunted gazelle,
And as a sheep that no man takes up;
Every man will turn to his own people,
And everyone will flee to his own land.
15 Everyone who is found will be thrust through,
And everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
16 Their children also will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
Their houses will be plundered
And their wives ravished.
17 “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not regard silver;
And as for gold, they will not delight in it.
18 Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces,
And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb;
Their eye will not spare children.
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It will never be inhabited,
Nor will it be settled from generation to generation;
Nor will the Arabian pitch tents there,
Nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there.
21 But wild beasts of the desert will lie there,
And their houses will be full of owls;
Ostriches will dwell there,
And wild goats will caper there.
22 The hyenas will howl in their citadels,
And jackals in their pleasant palaces.
Her time is near to come,
And her days will not be prolonged.”
The Condition of Babylon in 2008 |
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Pictured here is the Palace Saddam Hussein built over the ruins of Babylon. |
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This photo was taken from the upper level of the palace overlooking Babylon. |
Isaiah is issuing this oracle against the city, not the entire kingdom of Babylon. Notice the comparison between Babylon and another city, Sodom and Gomorrah in verse 19. This took place in 689 B.C. when Sennacherib, the king of Assyria wiped out the city of Babylon. Today Babylon is covered up by sand in Iraq. There was a period after Sennacherib's destruction that Babylon was rebuilt and became a showplace city. In 539 B.C., after having become a world empire, Babylon (the empire) fell again to the Medes and Persians. However, at that time there was no destruction of the city itself as referenced here in chapter 13. The reference in verse 17 to the Medes tends to present a basis for conflicting opinions concerning which historical event fulfills this prophecy. To properly state the historical/prophetical dilemma here: Babylon (the city) was ransacked and conquered in 689 B.C. by Sennacherib, the Assyrian; Babylon (the empire) fell to the Medes and Persians in 539 B.C. leaving the city itself without destruction. Some have suggested that Isaiah was seeing a combination of both events. One thing is for certain: Isaiah's prophecy regarding the fall of Babylon was fulfilled and the city of Babylon remains in ruins until this day as a result of centuries of turmoil.
It should be pointed out, however, that many prophecy teachers are anticipating a rebuilt Babylon on the very spot where ancient Babylon existed which will then be destroyed in Revelation 18 (see notes). They feel that this is necessary for the fulfillment of the violent end prophesied here by Isaiah.
Here's a brief history of the City of Babylon:
The restoration of Israel (Isaiah 14:1-3)
1 For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob.
2 Then people will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the LORD; they will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors.
3 ¶ It shall come to pass in the day the LORD gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve,
These verses are a little curious. They don't actually say that Jacob will literally rule the whole land of Israel at the point in time referenced in these verses, but rather that Jacob's descendants will possess slaves comprised of strangers and their oppressors. This was probably fulfilled during the exile and return from exile following the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and the return of the exiles to Jerusalem beginning in 535 B.C.
Time to poke fun at Babylon (Isaiah 14:4-22)
4 that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say:
“How the oppressor has ceased,
The golden city ceased!
5 The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of the rulers;
6 He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke,
He who ruled the nations in anger,
Is persecuted and no one hinders.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
They break forth into singing.
8 Indeed the cypress trees rejoice over you,
And the cedars of Lebanon,
Saying, “Since you were cut down,
No woodsman has come up against us.’
9 “Hell from beneath is excited about you,
To meet you at your coming;
It stirs up the dead for you,
All the chief ones of the earth;
It has raised up from their thrones
All the kings of the nations.
10 They all shall speak and say to you:
“Have you also become as weak as we?
Have you become like us?
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
And the sound of your stringed instruments;
The maggot is spread under you,
And worms cover you.’
12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
“I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.
16 “Those who see you will gaze at you,
And consider you, saying:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
17 Who made the world as a wilderness
And destroyed its cities,
Who did not open the house of his prisoners?’
18 “All the kings of the nations,
All of them, sleep in glory,
Everyone in his own house;
19 But you are cast out of your grave
Like an abominable branch,
Like the garment of those who are slain,
Thrust through with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit,
Like a corpse trodden underfoot.
20 You will not be joined with them in burial,
Because you have destroyed your land
And slain your people.
The brood of evildoers shall never be named.
21 Prepare slaughter for his children
Because of the iniquity of their fathers,
Lest they rise up and possess the land,
And fill the face of the world with cities.”
22 “For I will rise up against them,” says the LORD of hosts,
“And cut off from Babylon the name and remnant,
And offspring and posterity,” says the LORD.
And why not poke fun at those wicked Babylonians? Jerusalem successfully resisted Assyria's aggression and attempted takeover in 701 B.C. Yet, here in 689 B.C., Babylon (the city) falls to the Assyrians. The inhabitants of Jerusalem surely did taunt the Babylonians for their inability to resist the terrible onslaught of the Assyrians.
By the way, who is this King of Babylon? Could this be Satan? Some Bible teachers today teach that these verses describe Satan himself and his fall from Heaven. They teach this because it seems to fit as a stereotypical description of Satan and seems supernatural in content. In addition, the mention of the character referenced as "Lucifer" seems to lend credibility to this position. However, "Lucifer" and the corresponding Hebrew word ("heylel") is used only once in the Old Testament and means "morning star." It is not used at all in the New Testament. I'm a little hesitant to embrace these as Satan scriptures because of the lack of any conclusive scriptural reference stating that we're not really talking about the actual king of the city of Babylon at its fall. I'm open to the idea that this may be a reference to Satan in this passage, but I don't feel comfortable teaching it as fact. Get back to me in Heaven, and I'll give you a definitive answer...if you're still interested then.
Assyria has theirs coming as well (Isaiah 14:23-27)
23 “I will also make it a possession for the porcupine,
And marshes of muddy water;
I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says the LORD of hosts.
24 The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying,
“Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass,
And as I have purposed, so it shall stand:
25 That I will break the Assyrian in My land,
And on My mountains tread him underfoot.
Then his yoke shall be removed from them,
And his burden removed from their shoulders.
26 This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth,
And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.
27 For the LORD of hosts has purposed,
And who will annul it?
His hand is stretched out,
And who will turn it back?”
Assyria's roll would stop and they would fall. This happened in 625 B.C. when the Assyrians fell to the Babylonians. However, perhaps Isaiah is prophesying concerning the failed Assyrian assault on Jerusalem (701 B.C.) during Hezekiah's reign (of Judah) when God miraculously wiped out 185,000 Assyrian troops who surrounded them, causing the Assyrians to give up their quest to conquer Jerusalem at that time. The Assyrians never got another chance before their fall to the Babylonians. For more information on this failed attempt by the Assyrians to conquer Jerusalem, click here to see the summary on II Kings 18:13-19:37; II Chronicles 32:9-22; Isaiah 36-37.
An Oracle Concerning Philistia (Isaiah 14:28-32)
28 ¶ This is the burden which came in the year that King Ahaz died.
29 “Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia,
Because the rod that struck you is broken;
For out of the serpent’s roots will come forth a viper,
And its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent.
30 The firstborn of the poor will feed,
And the needy will lie down in safety;
I will kill your roots with famine,
And it will slay your remnant.
31 Wail, O gate! Cry, O city!
All you of Philistia are dissolved;
For smoke will come from the north,
And no one will be alone in his appointed times.”
32 What will they answer the messengers of the nation?
That the LORD has founded Zion,
And the poor of His people shall take refuge in it.
Even though the Philistines were just tickled that Israel (Northern Kingdom) and not the land of the Philistines had been taken, their time was coming...and it did. "Philistia" in verses 29 and 31 is translated from the Hebrew word "Plesheth" and should be understood as "Philistines." The KJV translates this word as "Palestina" here and in Exodus 15:14 (see notes) and "Palestine" in Joel 3:4 (see notes). In the other four usages, all found in the Psalms (60:8, 83:7, 87:4 and 108:9), the word is appropriately translated Philistines or Philistia; the NKJV translates it Philistia each time. The actual name of "Palestine" to describe the region of today's Israel was a late designation of the second century ascribed to it by the Romans in an attempt to prevent the Jews from laying claim to the land after the Bar-Kokhba revolt of the early second century A.D. Today "Palestine" is still used as a universally accepted designation for the whole region of the "Holy Land" which is deemed to be politically correct in that it conveys no God-given rights of ownership to the Jewish people.
Isaiah prophesies regarding the defeat of Moab (Isaiah 15:1-16:14)
1 The burden against Moab.
Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste
And destroyed,
Because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste
And destroyed,
2 He has gone up to the temple and Dibon,
To the high places to weep.
Moab will wail over Nebo and over Medeba;
On all their heads will be baldness,
And every beard cut off.
3 In their streets they will clothe themselves with sackcloth;
On the tops of their houses
And in their streets
Everyone will wail, weeping bitterly.
4 Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out,
Their voice shall be heard as far as Jahaz;
Therefore the armed soldiers of Moab will cry out;
His life will be burdensome to him.
5 “My heart will cry out for Moab;
His fugitives shall flee to Zoar,
Like a three-year-old heifer.
For by the Ascent of Luhith
They will go up with weeping;
For in the way of Horonaim
They will raise up a cry of destruction,
6 For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate,
For the green grass has withered away;
The grass fails, there is nothing green.
7 Therefore the abundance they have gained,
And what they have laid up,
They will carry away to the Brook of the Willows.
8 For the cry has gone all around the borders of Moab,
Its wailing to Eglaim
And its wailing to Beer Elim.
9 For the waters of Dimon will be full of blood;
Because I will bring more upon Dimon,
Lions upon him who escapes from Moab,
And on the remnant of the land.”
16:1 Send the lamb to the ruler of the land,
From Sela to the wilderness,
To the mount of the daughter of Zion.
2 For it shall be as a wandering bird thrown out of the nest;
So shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.
3 “Take counsel, execute judgment;
Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day;
Hide the outcasts,
Do not betray him who escapes.
4 Let My outcasts dwell with you, O Moab;
Be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler.
For the extortioner is at an end,
Devastation ceases,
The oppressors are consumed out of the land.
5 In mercy the throne will be established;
And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David,
Judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.”
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab—
He is very proud—
Of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath;
But his lies shall not be so.
7 Therefore Moab shall wail for Moab;
Everyone shall wail.
For the foundations of Kir Hareseth you shall mourn;
Surely they are stricken.
8 For the fields of Heshbon languish,
And the vine of Sibmah;
The lords of the nations have broken down its choice plants,
Which have reached to Jazer
And wandered through the wilderness.
Her branches are stretched out,
They are gone over the sea.
9 Therefore I will bewail the vine of Sibmah,
With the weeping of Jazer;
I will drench you with my tears,
O Heshbon and Elealeh;
For battle cries have fallen
Over your summer fruits and your harvest.
10 Gladness is taken away,
And joy from the plentiful field;
In the vineyards there will be no singing,
Nor will there be shouting;
No treaders will tread out wine in the presses;
I have made their shouting cease.
11 Therefore my heart shall resound like a harp for Moab,
And my inner being for Kir Heres.
12 And it shall come to pass,
When it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place,
That he will come to his sanctuary to pray;
But he will not prevail.
13 ¶ This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning Moab since that time.
14 But now the LORD has spoken, saying, “Within three years, as the years of a hired man, the glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnant will be very small and feeble.”
You may recall that Moab was an enemy of Israel just east of the Dead Sea where Jordan is located today. Well...Isaiah tells them that they will fall also; and they did. Isaiah prophesies that their land will be destroyed, apparently by drought, in addition to being overrun by the Assyrians. And Isaiah prophesies that all of this will happen within three years (16:14) after the giving of this oracle. They are told that they should align themselves with Jerusalem and turn to God. They did not do so. They fell to the Assyrians while Jerusalem endured the onslaught of the Assyrians in 701 B.C. As you recall, Jerusalem never fell to the Assyrians. Moab should have listened to Isaiah.
This does not mark the end of the Moabites...at least not at this time. A century or so later Jeremiah issues a prophecy against them in Jeremiah 48 (see notes) which does spell the end of the Moabites as a distinguishable race once and for all.
And then there was Damascus (Isaiah 17)
1 The burden against Damascus.
“Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city,
And it will be a ruinous heap.
2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken;
They will be for flocks
Which lie down, and no one will make them afraid.
3 The fortress also will cease from Ephraim,
The kingdom from Damascus,
And the remnant of Syria;
They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,”
Says the LORD of hosts.
4 “In that day it shall come to pass
That the glory of Jacob will wane,
And the fatness of his flesh grow lean.
5 It shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain,
And reaps the heads with his arm;
It shall be as he who gathers heads of grain
In the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet gleaning grapes will be left in it,
Like the shaking of an olive tree,
Two or three olives at the top of the uppermost bough,
Four or five in its most fruitful branches,”
Says the LORD God of Israel.
7 In that day a man will look to his Maker,
And his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.
8 He will not look to the altars,
The work of his hands;
He will not respect what his fingers have made,
Nor the wooden images nor the incense altars.
9 In that day his strong cities will be as a forsaken bough
And an uppermost branch,
Which they left because of the children of Israel;
And there will be desolation.
10 Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
And have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold,
Therefore you will plant pleasant plants
And set out foreign seedlings;
11 In the day you will make your plant to grow,
And in the morning you will make your seed to flourish;
But the harvest will be a heap of ruins
In the day of grief and desperate sorrow.
12 Woe to the multitude of many people
Who make a noise like the roar of the seas,
And to the rushing of nations
That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters;
But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away,
And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind,
Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 Then behold, at eventide, trouble!
And before the morning, he is no more.
This is the portion of those who plunder us,
And the lot of those who rob us.
This oracle prophesies the destruction of the capital city of Damascus about 130 miles northeast of Jerusalem on the other side of the Jordan River. The borders of the country itself roughly resemble those of current-day Syria - perhaps a little larger than that - extending up into Mesopotamia. Much of that country rested within the fertile crescent, putting it on course for any invading army approaching Israel or Egypt. It happened as the prophet had foretold. Damascus fell; Rezin was killed (II Kings 16:9, see notes), and Israel was raided (II Kings 15:29, see notes). However, Jerusalem endured.
Currently there is some discussion of a "Damascus prophecy" derived from these verses along with Zechariah 9:1-ff (see notes). It is said that a complete destruction of Damascus (Syria) will lead up to the second coming of Jesus Christ. The discussion centers around the phrasing of verse 1, "The burden against Damascus. “Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, And it will be a ruinous heap." Since there is no record that Damascus ever completely ceased to exist, it is said that this prophecy has not yet been fulfilled. Isaiah issued this prophecy at some point before 732 B.C. In that year, Damascus was destroyed by the Assyrians (Tiglath-Pileser III). As a matter of fact, the Assyrian Annals record (from their perspective) the reduction of much of the city of Damascus to rubble. It seems most likely that Isaiah was prophesying regarding this destruction rather than one yet in our future. The notion that this destruction (according to the understanding of some regarding verse 1) requires that Damascus never revive, I really don't see that suggestion in this verse. This prophecy was undoubtedly fulfilled with the 732 B.C. destruction of Damascus along with the surrounding region.