Isaiah 43:14,15

A new section (14 21) commences here with a brief but explicit announcement of the fall of Babylon.

the Lord, your redeemer see on ch. Isaiah 41:14.

I have sent(or perhaps, I will send) to Babylon As object of the verb we must supply, the Persian army, the "consecrated ones" of ch. Isaiah 13:3.

and have brought … ships This sentence is somewhat peculiar in its structure and phraseology, and many emendations have been proposed. Accepting the text as it stands, the best translation is no doubt that of R.V. and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans in the ships of their rejoicing. Since the verb "bring down" cannot be understood in two different senses in the two members, the idea must be that they shall all be sent down the Euphrates as fugitives in ships, which was precisely the manner in which Merodach-baladan made his escape from Sennacherib (see Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions, E. T. vol. II. p. 36). A description of the ships on the Euphrates is to be found in Herod. I. 194; they are here called "ships of rejoicing" as having formerly been used for pleasure. The rendering, however, is not altogether convincing. The "and" before "Chaldæans" seems to make a distinction between them and the fugitives, which is hardly to be explained by supposing that the latter are the foreign merchants referred to in ch. Isaiah 13:14. The probability is that the difficulties are due to somewhat extensive omissions in the text. The word for "fugitives" might (with the change of one vowel) be read as "bolts," and this is taken by A.V., though without any justification, as a metaphor for "nobles." It might, however, be a metaphor for the defences of Babylon, or a symbol of Israel's captivity; "I will bring down the bolts" gives a good enough sense so far as it goes. Another slight emendation which naturally suggests itself is to change "ships" into "lamentations": "and the shouting of the Chaldæans into lamentations."