Isaiah 13

Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · 720 BC – 700 BC · Judah alone · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·

22 verses · 504 words · ~3 min read · ~3 min listen

The Burden against Babylon

¹This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:

²Raise a banner on a barren hilltop;

call aloud to them.

Wave your hand,

that they may enter the gates of the nobles.

³I have commanded My sanctified ones;

I have even summoned My warriors

to execute My wrath

and exult in My triumph.

⁴Listen, a tumult on the mountains,

like that of a great multitude!

Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,

like nations gathered together!

The Lord of Hosts is mobilizing

an army for war.

⁵They are coming from faraway lands,

from the ends of the heavens—

the Lord and the weapons of His wrath—

to destroy the whole country.

⁶Wail, for the Day of the Lord is near;

it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

⁷Therefore all hands will fall limp,

and every manʼs heart will melt.

⁸Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them;

they will writhe like a woman in labor.

They will look at one another,

their faces flushed with fear.

⁹Behold, the Day of the Lord is coming—

cruel, with fury and burning anger—

to make the earth a desolation

and to destroy the sinners within it.

¹⁰For the stars of heaven and their constellations

will not give their light.

The rising sun will be darkened,

and the moon will not give its light.

¹¹I will punish the world for its evil

and the wicked for their iniquity.

I will end the haughtiness of the arrogant

and lay low the pride of the ruthless.

¹²I will make man scarcer than pure gold,

and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.

¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,

and the earth will be shaken from its place

at the wrath of the Lord of Hosts

on the day of His burning anger.

¹⁴Like a hunted gazelle,

like a sheep without a shepherd,

each will return to his own people,

each will flee to his native land.

¹⁵Whoever is caught will be stabbed,

and whoever is captured will die by the sword.

¹⁶Their infants will be dashed to pieces

before their eyes,

their houses will be looted,

and their wives will be ravished.

¹⁷Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes,

who have no regard for silver

and no desire for gold.

¹⁸Their bows will dash young men to pieces;

they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

they will not look with pity on the children.

¹⁹And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,

the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans,

will be overthrown by God

like Sodom and Gomorrah.

²⁰She will never be inhabited

or settled from generation to generation;

no nomad will pitch his tent there,

no shepherd will rest his flock there.

²¹But desert creatures will lie down there,

and howling creatures will fill her houses.

Ostriches will dwell there,

and wild goats will leap about.

²²Hyenas will howl in her fortresses

and jackals in her luxurious palaces.

Babylonʼs time is at hand,

and her days will not be prolonged.

Footnotes (3)

a v6 Hebrew Shaddai
b v21 Literally Daughters of an ostrich or Daughters of an owl
c v22 Or serpents or dragons

Study notes on this chapter · 2

Prophecy & fulfillmentWidely held reading

Babylon overthrown by the Medes

Isaiah foretells that God will stir up the Medes against Babylon and that the city, 'the jewel of kingdoms', will become like Sodom and Gomorrah. Babylon fell to Cyrus of Persia (with Median forces) in 539 BC. The claim that it would never again be inhabited is read differently: the city declined over centuries, but was occupied for a long time afterward.

When: Isaiah, c. 740–700 BC (or later, if the oracle is dated to the exile); Babylon fell in 539 BC and was largely deserted by late antiquity.

Original passageIsaiah 13:17–22Isaiah 13:1–5

Where the New Testament applies itDaniel 5:30–31

Echoed inRevelation 18:2

Ways people read this (3)

Fulfilled in the Persian conquest and the long decline of the city.
The language of total desolation has been read as awaiting a future fulfillment, as in Revelation's picture of Babylon's fall.
Critical scholars often date the oracle to shortly before 539 BC and read it as describing events about to happen.

Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.

Prophecy & fulfillmentDebated

This generation will not pass away

After describing signs, the coming of the Son of Man and the gathering of the elect, Jesus says, 'This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.' The statement is among the most discussed in the gospels, since 'this generation' and 'all these things' can be read in several ways.

When: Jesus' Olivet discourse, c. AD 30–33.

Original passageMatthew 24:32–35Mark 13:28–31

Echoed inIsaiah 13:10Isaiah 34:4Daniel 7:13–14

Ways people read this (5)

'This generation' means Jesus' contemporaries, and the events (destruction of the temple, the coming of the Son of Man in judgment) happened in AD 70 (preterist).
'This generation' means the generation that sees the signs begin, which will also see the end.
'Generation' means 'race' or 'people' (the Jewish people will survive until the end).
'Generation' refers to an evil kind of people, as in Matthew 12:39, 45, and 'these things' are the signs, not the end itself.
Jesus speaks of the destruction of the temple as a first stage and the final coming as a later one, with verse 36 marking the change.