Against Babylon
1 ① An oracle concerning Babylon,
seen by Isaiah, son of Amoz: 2On a bare hilltop raise a banner;
cry aloud to them,
wave a hand for them
to enter the Gates of the Nobles.
3I have ordered my sacred knights,
I have summoned my mighty warriors –
all those who rejoice in my triumph –
I have commanded them to carry out my wrath.
4Listen, 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.
5From faraway lands,
from the ends of the heavens
they come – Yahweh
and the instruments of his wrath–to destroy the whole earth.
6Wail, for the day of Yahweh is near;
it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
7All arms will go limp,
every human heart will fail him.
8Everyone 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.
9See how the 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.
10The 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.
11I 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. 12I will make mortals scarcer than gold and humans more rare than the gold of Ophir.
13This is why the heavens tremble and the earth shakes its foundation, at the wrath of Yahweh Sabaoth on the day of his burning anger.
14Like a hunted gazelle,
or like a flock without a shepherd everyone returns to his own people, each one flees to his native land.
15Whoever is captured will be butchered, whoever is caught will be slaughtered.
16Their babies will be dashed to pieces before their eyes,
their houses will be looted,
their wives raped.
17Against them I will stir up the Medes,
who don’t crave for money
and are not interested in gold.
18Their bows and arrows will strike down young men
without mercy or compassion.
They do not spare infants and children . 19Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, pride and glory of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when overthrown by God.
20She will never be inhabited, nor dwelt in from age to age. There no Arab will pitch his tent, no shepherd will tend his flock.
21There 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.
22There mad dogs will cry out in her strongholds, and jackals in her palaces.
Her time is close at hand; her days are now numbered.
- Is 13,1 Chapters 13 to 33 are a series of oracles against the neighboring people. The Bible calls them the nations, and since none of these people was addressed the Word of God, 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. Certain among 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 setbacks 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).
