Isaiah 13 contains prophecies about Babylon. Isaiah is speaking from before the time when Babylon carried off God’s people into captivity. He does not specifically foretell the captivity, but he prophecies about Babylon facing judgment and being taken down by the Medes and Persians. Babylon was to be used by God to discipline His people, but their pride was not to be ignored. God already knew before He used them that He would also raise up the Medes and Persians to strike down the Babylonians and set His people free from captivity.
While some of these specific prophecies may seem unimportant on the surface to some today as “irrelevant”, I see several ways in which they are encouraging and relevant. When God brings judgment against His people or when we are in a difficult situation, He already knows how to deliver us, assuming we repent and turn to Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Even if we have done nothing wrong and are facing hard times, like Job, then we can still be encouraged that our Father already knows how and when He will deliver us.
This scripture also reminds us that God loves us. He will discipline those He loves. Do not think He is unwilling to use the godless to do so. He uses them for His own purposes. Sometimes they will appear to have victory for a while, and we may wonder why. However, God already knows how it will end.
Prophecies about Babylon
1The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
2Lift up a standard on the bare hill,
Raise your voice to them,
Wave the hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles.
3I have commanded My consecrated ones,
I have even called My mighty warriors,
My proudly exulting ones,
To execute My anger.
4A sound of tumult on the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A sound of the uproar of kingdoms,
Of nations gathered together!
The LORD of hosts is mustering the army for battle.
5They are coming from a far country,
From the farthest horizons,
The LORD and His instruments of indignation,
To destroy the whole land.
Judgment on the Day of the LORD
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 man’s heart will melt.
8They will be terrified,
Pains and anguish will take hold of them;
They will writhe like a woman in labor,
They will look at one another in astonishment,
Their faces aflame.
9Behold, the day of the LORD is coming,
Cruel, with fury and burning anger,
To make the land a desolation;
And He will exterminate its sinners from it.
10For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash forth their light;
The sun will be dark when it rises
And the moon will not shed its light.
11Thus I will punish the world for its evil
And the wicked for their iniquity;
I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud
And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.
12I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold
And mankind than the gold of Ophir.
13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
And the earth will be shaken from its place
At the fury of the LORD of hosts
In the day of His burning anger.
14And it will be that like a hunted gazelle,
Or like sheep with none to gather them,
They will each turn to his own people,
And each one flee to his own land.
15Anyone who is found will be thrust through,
And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
16Their little ones also will be dashed to pieces
Before their eyes;
Their houses will be plundered
And their wives ravished.
Babylon Will Fall to the Medes
17Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold.
18And their bows will mow down the young men,
They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,
Nor will their eye pity children.
19And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation;
Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there,
Nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.
21But desert creatures will lie down there,
And their houses will be full of owls;
Ostriches also will live there, and shaggy goats will frolic there.
22Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers
And jackals in their luxurious palaces.
Her fateful time also will soon come
And her days will not be prolonged.
Be encouraged that God is never surprised. When He brings or allows difficulty for His people, He already knows how and when He will end it. In this way it is not unlike a parent disciplining a child. They may send the child to their room or ground them for a period of time, but they already know it will end. The child need only focus on obedience and humility, not how or when the situation will end.
I invite you to pray with me:
Father, thank You for encouraging us through Your scripture. Thank You for loving us enough to keep directing us back to You. Help us to trust in You even during the hard times or when it seems like the godless have victory over Your people. You are worthy of praise and trust in all situations. Let us be encouraged to know that You are always in control!
Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ
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