Chapter 13
13:1 The burden of Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amos saw.
13:2 Upon the dark mountain lift up a sign, exalt the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers go into the gates.
13:3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, and have called my strong ones in my wrath, them that rejoice in my glory.
13:4 The voice of a multitude in the mountains, as it were of many people, the voice of the sound of kings, of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts has given charge to the troops of war.
13:5 To them that come from a country afar off, from the end of heaven: the Lord and the instruments of his wrath, to destroy the whole land.
13:6 Howl, for the day of the Lord is near: it shall come as a destruction from the Lord.
13:7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every heart of man shall melt,
13:8 and shall be broken. Gripings and pains, shall take hold of them, they shall be in pain as a woman in labor. Every one shall be amazed at his neighbor, their countenances shall be as faces burnt.
13:9 Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
13:10 For the stars of heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light.
13:11 And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity: and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and will bring down the arrogancy of the mighty.
13:12 A man shall be more precious than gold, yea a man than the finest of gold.
13:13 For this I will trouble the heaven: and the earth shall be moved out of her place, for the indignation of the Lord of hosts, and for the day of his fierce wrath.
13:14 And they shall be as a doe fleeing away, and as a sheep: and there shall be none to gather them together: every man shall turn to his own people, and every one shall flee to his own land.
13:15 Every one that shall be found, shall be slain: and every one that shall come to their aid, shall fall by the sword.
13:16 Their infants shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes: their houses shall be pillaged, and their wives shall be ravished.
13:17 Behold I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not seek silver, nor desire gold:
13:18 but with their arrows they shall kill the children, and shall have no pity upon the sucklings of the womb, and their eye shall not spare their sons.
13:19 And that Babylon, glorious among kingdoms, the famous pride of the Chaldeans, shall be even as the Lord overturned Sodom and Gomorrah.
13:20 It shall no more be inhabited for ever, and it shall not be founded unto generation and generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch his tents there, nor shall shepherds rest there.
13:21 But wild beasts shall rest there, and their houses shall be filled with dragons, and ostriches shall dwell there, and the hairy ones shall dance there:
13:22 And owls shall answer one another there, in the houses thereof, and sirens in the temples of pleasure.
395 . The burden of Babylon . Here he threatens against the Babylonians, who had captured the two tribes. And this is divided into two parts:
in the first, he threatens the destruction of the enemy,
in the second, he promises, from this, the comfort of the Jews: her time is near at hand (ch. 14).
The first of these is divided into two.
First, the title of the threat is set out, and the rebuke: the burden , that is, oppressing misery: if this people, or the prophet, or the priest shall ask you, saying: what is the burden of the Lord? You shall say to them: you are the burden (Jer 23:33).
Second, the threat itself is set out: upon the dark mountain (Isa 13:2).
And this is divided into three parts:
in the first, he sets out the calling together of a ravaging army, namely, the Medes and Persians under Cyrus and Darius, who captured Babylon, as it says in Daniel 5:30–31;
in the second, he shows the affliction of the punishment: howl (Isa 13:6);
in the third, the subsequent desolation of Babylon: and they shall be (Isa 13:14).
Concerning the first, he sets out three things.
First, he calls together the army;
second, he describes the coming of those who are called, where it says, the noise of a multitude (Isa 13:4);
third, the command to those who come is decreed: the Lord of hosts (Isa 13:4).
396 . Concerning the first of these, he does two things.
First, he sets out the calling together; and he calls them together to attack and besiege: lift up a sign , that is, a banner, upon the mountain , of Babylon, dark , because of the smoke from the fire, when it had been burned. Or, upon the mountain , next to the city, dark , hidden by the clouds or its appearance made dark because of its height. He calls them to cry out: exalt the voice , that the enemy should assemble. To join in battle: lift up the hand , to fight. To capture: and let the rulers go into the gates : upon the walls of Babylon set up the standard (Jer 51:12).
Second, he sets out the condition of those who are called as to their suitableness on account of charge of office: my sanctified ones , as if to say: those whom I have sanctified to carry out this office; and as to power: strong ; and as to cheerfulness: them that rejoice : the Lord has sanctified those he has called (Zeph 1:7).
397 . The voice of a multitude . Here he describes the coming of those who are called,
and first, as to the lowly: the voice of a multitude ;
second, as to the great, the voice of the sound of kings : their voice shall roar like the sea (Jer 50:42); below: the tumult of crowds shall come (Isa 17:12).
398 . The Lord of hosts . Here he decrees the command.
And first, he sets out the divine command: the Lord has given charge ;
second, divine help to fulfill the command: from the end of heaven , as though to help; and the instruments of his wrath , that is, all kinds of arms.
399 . Howl . Here he describes the affliction of the punishment. And concerning this he sets out three things:
first, the fear of those to be punished;
second, the affliction: behold, the day (Isa 13:9);
third, the ferocity of the punishers, behold I will stir up (Isa 13:17).
And their fear is expressed, first, as to the groaning of the mouth: howl : howl, woe, woe to the day: for the day is near, yea the day of the Lord is near: a cloudy day, it shall be the time of groaning (Ezek 30:2–3).
Second, as to the abatement of work: therefore shall all hands be faint : the king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands are grown feeble (Jer 50:43).
Third, as to the disturbance of the heart, which is disturbed in three ways.
According to its inner state, either as to cheerfulness: and every heart of man shall melt ; or as to magnanimity: and shall be broken , as though divided into little pieces; or as to security, by the distress of fear: gripings : there were pains as of a woman in labor (Ps 47:7[48:8]).
Second, it is troubled as to lack of help: every one shall be amazed at his neighbor , as though, because of their amazement, they cannot bring help.
As to the outward sign: their countenances shall be as faces burnt , because of the pallor of fear; or literally, because they were killed with such a death: their face is now made blacker than coals (Lam 4:8); the faces of them all are as the blackness of a kettle (Nah 2:10).
400 . Behold, the day . Here he describes the punishment of the afflicted. And concerning this, he sets out three things:
first, the magnitude of the punishment: full of indignation , as to the removal of mercy; and of wrath , as to the delight of punishment; according to the Philosopher: the angry are saddened, but rejoice in punishing ; and fury , as to impetuous vengeance, for fury is wrath inflamed as Gregory says, below: his wrath burns, and is heavy to bear (Isa 30:27). It is also expressed in the removal of comfort: for the stars of heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light , either literally as how they are reckoned, for all things seem dark to the afflicted; or the stars , the princes; the sun in his rising , the king; the moon , the queen: the sun became black as sackcloth of hair (Rev 6:12).
401 . Second, he sets out equity, ordaining the punishment for the fault which they committed against themselves: I will visit , I will avenge, the evils of the world , that is, of Babylon, for it was in that monarchy, or because of the multitude of those assembling from all over; and, as to the fault which they also committed against their subjects, through the oppression of the wicked: and against the wicked ; or the voiding of covenants: infidels ; through the vexation of the better: arrogancy , by which they presumed to subjugate everyone, above: because the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud (Isa 2:12).
402 . Third, he sets out the moderation of the punishment. And he sets out four things:
first, the small number of defenders: more precious , that is, more rare: the word of God was precious (1 Sam 3:1), and a man , who can defend by power, yea a man , who can defend by counsel, the finest of gold , that is, red gold, which is the best, above: they that remain of the trees of his forest shall be so few, that they shall easily be numbered (Isa 10:19).
403 . Second, the commotion of the elements: for this I will trouble the heaven: and the earth shall be moved , as to the literal sense, there could have been a storm in the air and an earthquake in the earth; or this is hyperbole for the magnitude of their evils: I beheld the earth, and lo it was void, and nothing: and the heavens, and there was no light in them (Jer 4:23).
404 . Third, as to the dispersion of those who flee, citizens and warriors as much as captives, a doe , a swift animal: deliver yourself as a doe from the hand (Prov 6:5); my flocks were scattered upon the face of the earth (Ezek 34:6).
405 . Fourth, as to the oppression of those who remain, which occurred in three things:
in the killing of men: every one that shall be found , as to citizens, every one that shall come to their aid , as to foreigners, infants , as to children: with you I will break in pieces the old man and the child (Jer 51:22);
second, in the pillaging of goods: their houses shall be pillaged : our inheritance is turned to aliens: our houses to strangers (Lam 5:2);
third, as to the violation of women: their wives shall be ravished : they humiliated the women in Zion (Lam 5:11).
406 . Behold I will stir up the Medes against them . Here he describes the ferocity of the enemy, which is not appeased by tribute: who shall not seek silver ; or softened by mercy: but with their arrows they shall kill the children , neither on powerless men: the sucklings , nor on little children: their sons : behold, I will bring upon her, and she shall be utterly destroyed (Jer 51:64).
407 . And that Babylon . Here he describes Babylon’s subsequent desolation.
And first, the destruction of the city: turned , that is, overturned, as Sodom, about which Revelation 18:10 says: alas! Alas! That great city, Babylon, that mighty city: for in one hour is your judgment come .
Second, as to its perpetual solitude: it shall no more be inhabited : him that bends his bow shall not live there, and him that is armed with a coat of mail shall not go up (Jer 51:3).
Third, as to the horror of its solitude, which is shown by the flight of shepherds: neither shall the Arabian pitch his tents there , who do not have fixed houses, but wander through the desert, nor shall shepherds of sheep; as to the inhabitation of beasts and the dead: but wild beasts shall rest there , who love solitude. Dragons , who, according to some, are large winged serpents, according to others, are large fish with wet scales, and according to others, are cubit long serpents that eat other serpents and, because of this, poison with the breath of their mouths. Ostriches , animals which have wings but do not fly, indeed, they walk on their feet: the wing of the ostrich is like the wings of the heron (Job 39:13). The hairy ones , that is, hairy animals, like foxes, wolves, and suchlike; or wild men, hairy and shaggy, who are said by some to not be true men, but to have the shape of a man, or of a demon assuming a body in such a shape: frequenting such deserted dwellings, they go about through the night and disturb men in various ways. Owls , birds the size of a raven, spattered with spots, so called because they have a voice like the howling of wolves. Sirens , according to some, crested and winged serpents, or fish of the sea that have the likeness of a woman, or birds that sing sweetly; in the temples of pleasure , that is, places where they would luxuriate, below: and it shall be the habitation of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches, and demons and monsters and the hairy ones shall meet (Isa 34:13–14).
408 . Note on the words, upon the dark mountain (Isa 13:2), that darkness is manifold:
first, that of ignorance: how has the Lord covered with obscurity the daughter of Zion in his wrath (Lam 2:1);
second, of guilt: darkness was under his feet (Ps 17:10[18:9]);
third, of present punishment: how is the gold become dim, the finest color is changed (Lam 4:1);
fourth, of future misery: bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness (Matt 22:13), and Luke 16:26: between us and you, there is fixed a great chaos: so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot .