Isaiah 13:20

Today what remains of Babylon’s beautiful buildings and impressive avenues lies underneath many feet of sand.

woe ~ a very sad cry because there is much pain to come.
Lord ~ God’s name in the Bible. In the original language, God’s names mean ‘head over all’ and ‘God always’.
Mede ~ a person from the country called Media.
Arab ~ a person from a country called Arabia. This may not mean the same people as Arabs today.
BC ~ ‘Before Christ’ (for dates before the birth of Jesus Christ).'

Isaiah: New *Heavens and a New Earth

Countries near Judah

Isaiah Chapter s 13 to 23

Gordon Churchyard

The words in brackets, […], are not in the *Hebrew Bible. They make the book easier to understand in English. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language.

Isaiah Chapter s 7 to 40: God’s king rules God’s people

Section 2 (Isaiah Chapter s 13 to 23): Countries near Judah

The earlier Chapter s of Isaiah contained these things:

• In Chapter s 1 to 5, Isaiah introduced the whole book to the reader.

• In chapter 6, God called Isaiah to serve him, in 736 *B.C.
• In Chapter s 7 to 12, Isaiah gave God’s messages when King Ahaz ruled in 736 to 721 *B.C.

Isaiah probably wrote Chapter s 13 to 23 when Hezekiah was king of Judah. That was in 721 to 694 *B.C. The dates are from a book called ‘The Oxford Bible Atlas’. Chapter s 13 to 22 of Isaiah are about the countries round Judah. Those countries included Babylon, Assyria, Moab and Egypt. And they included a few other countries too. Chapter 23 is about Tyre, an important city in the area.

The Bible says that Hezekiah was a good king. We read this in 2 Kings 18:3. ‘He did what was right.’ But not everything that Hezekiah did was wise. He wanted to make an agreement with some nations, like Egypt and Babylon. He wanted them to support him in a war against Assyria’s army. It seems that one of Hezekiah’s ministers, Shebna, agreed with him. But Isaiah did not agree. Isaiah believed that God did not want Hezekiah to make such an agreement.

‘B.C.’ means ‘years Before Christ came to the Earth’. From about 900 to about 600 B.C., Assyria was the most powerful nation in the world. But between 612 and 605 B.C., Babylon’s army defeated Assyria. Then Babylon became the most powerful nation in the world. Babylon’s power lasted for the next 70 years. But before that, Babylon’s army had tried several times to become more powerful than Assyria’s army. However, each time, Assyria’s army defeated Babylon’s army, as in 710 and 703 B.C. Some Bible students think that Isaiah Chapter s 13 to 14 and Chapter s 21 to 22 refer to those times. Other people think that Isaiah was prophesying (telling what God was saying) about the future. He was saying what would happen in 536 B.C. In that year, Persia’s King Cyrus defeated Babylon’s army and he allowed the *Jews to return to Judah. In the Bible, to ‘prophesy’ means to say what God says. And that often includes what will happen in the future.

We will probably never know which idea is correct. Perhaps Isaiah’s *prophecies came true on both occasions.

Some passages in this section are hard to understand. One way to understand some passages, like the one about Egypt, is this. The events will happen on the New Earth, when God recreates our world to make it new. And that will happen after Jesus returns to the Earth.

We can divide Isaiah 13 to 23 into 6 groups of Chapter s. We can read about many different countries in those groups:

• Chapter s 13 to 14 about Babylon, Assyria and Philistia

• Chapter s 15 to 16 about Moab
• Chapter s 17 to 18 about Syria, Israel, Judah and Cush
• Chapter s 19 to 20 about Egypt and Cush
• Chapter s 21 to 22 about Babylon, Edom, Arabia, Kedar and Judah
• chapter 23 about Tyre (a city).

Each of the 6 sections begins in this way. ‘[This is a] serious message [about]’ a certain place. The *Hebrew for that is one word, ‘massa’. There is no English word for ‘massa’. It means something heavy, something difficult to carry. Some translations have ‘burden’ (a heavy load). Other translations have ‘oracle’ (something very special that somebody, here Isaiah, has said). If we combine those two ideas, we get the true meaning of ‘massa’. It means ‘something that is difficult (heavy) to say’. But Isaiah obeyed God and he said it!

Chapter 13

A message about Babylon

v1 [This is a] serious message [about] Babylon. Isaiah, the son of Amoz, ‘saw’ (understood) that [message].

Note

The word ‘saw’ here has this meaning. Isaiah ‘understood what God told him’. Isaiah was a prophet. A ‘prophet’ did two things:

• He told people what God was saying.

• He told people things that would happen in the future.

Isaiah’s father Amoz was not the *prophet Amos, who wrote a book of the Bible. Read the note about Isaiah 1:1.

v2 Lift up a flag on a bare hill. Shout aloud to them and wave a hand! Then they will go through the princes’ gates.

v3 ‘I myself have sent my holy [ones] with orders. Also, I have ordered my heroes [to show] that I am very angry. [They are] my proud [soldiers], whom nobody has defeated.’

v4 [Listen to] the sound that a huge crowd [makes] on the mountains! [It is a huge crowd] of people. [Listen to] the sound [that] the people [make]. They are shouting as they gather together from many kingdoms (countries that a king rules)! The *LORD of Many [Armies] is preparing an army so that it is ready for battle.

v5 People are coming from a distant country. [They are coming] from the ends of the heavens (skies). The *LORD [is coming] with military arms, [because he is] angry. He will destroy the whole country [called Babylon].

Notes

Verse 2 If there was a flag on a bare hill, everyone could see it. It would call them to the battle. The *Hebrew Bible does not say who ‘them’ and ‘the princes’ are. But this is a sad message (like a heavy load) about Babylon. So ‘them’ probably means the army that will defeat Babylon. The princes are probably the leaders of that army. The gates will be the gates of the army’s camp.

Verse 3 Now God himself speaks. ‘Holy’ means ‘very, very good’. Only God is really holy. But the Bible also calls people whom he uses ‘holy’. It does not mean that they are good. It means that they are doing God’s work. So the holy ones and heroes here are probably the soldiers (‘them’) in verse 2.

Some Bible students think that these verses are about a meeting in heaven (the home of God). The meeting is between God and all his princes in heaven. They are his holy ones and heroes. Somehow they command nations on Earth to fight against Babylon’s army.

Verse 4 ‘LORD’ is a special word for God. It is the name that he calls himself in his covenant. A ‘covenant’ is when two people (or here, God and his people) make a special serious agreement. Here God agrees to help his people. They agree to love him and they agree to obey him. ‘Obey me … and I will be your God’ (Jeremiah 11:4). There is another note about ‘LORD’ at Isaiah 1:1. A ‘kingdom’ is a country that a king (or a queen) rules. ‘LORD of Many [Armies]’ is a name for God. Isaiah and Jeremiah often used it. The ‘Many Armies’ may be God’s armies in heaven, where he lives. But it also means the armies on Earth that he often uses.

Verse 5 Isaiah does not tell us where the distant country is. ‘The ends of the heavens (skies)’ probably means also ‘the ends of the Earth’. Or it may mean ‘a long distance away in the Earth’. The different ideas in the note about verse 3 may both be right. So this verse may link the heroes in heaven and the armies on Earth!

Our translation has ‘military arms [because he is] angry’. The *Hebrew words for that mean ‘arms of his anger’. It probably means soldiers with weapons (tools to fight with). The soldiers will defeat Babylon because God is angry with Babylon’s people.

There is also a message in this verse for King Hezekiah and his minister Shebna. It is this. ‘Do not fight together with Babylon’s army against Assyria. You should not do that, because God will destroy Babylon.’

This verse may also have another meaning. That meaning may have a connection with the time when Jesus returns to the Earth. (In the note below, there is an explanation of that future meaning.)

Note about future meanings of *prophecies

Many *prophecies are not only about things that happened already a long time ago. They are also about things that will happen in our future. They describe the time when the present world will end. That is also when Jesus will return to the Earth. Several passages in the Bible describe that time. Those passages include parts of Isaiah, Daniel, Zephaniah, Zechariah and Revelation. Isaiah 13:2-22 is an example of that. It meant something to Hezekiah, Shebna and the *Jews 2700 years ago. But it also has a second meaning about the end of time. God punished sinners (people that do wrong things) in Isaiah’s time. And similarly, he will do it when the present world ends. ‘Sinners’ are people that do not obey God’s rules. The Day of the *LORD is when God does something special. It happens often. But the most important Day of the *LORD will be when Jesus returns to the Earth. He will return as the King of Everything! Read verses 6-8 below. They mean the same for all these people:

• the people in Babylon when God destroyed it. That was so after the time when Isaiah was alive.

• the people that do not love and obey God. That will be so at the time when the present world ends. After the things in verses 6-8 have happened, then Jesus will be the King. He will be the King in Heaven. And he will be the King of his people on the New Earth.

v6 Weep, because the day of the *LORD is near. It will come when Shaddai (God) *destroys [you].

v7 Everybody’s hands will become weak because of that. And the hearts of all people will become weak.

v8 And terror will affect them strongly! Pain will come to them suddenly and they will suffer. They will be [afraid] like a woman when she gives birth [to a child]. They will look at each other and their faces will [show] very great fear.

Notes

Verse 6 ‘The day of the *LORD’ is when God does something special. This time, he is destroying Babylon. Isaiah tells the people there to weep because Shaddai will destroy them. ‘Shaddai’ is a name for God. In *Hebrew, the word ‘Shaddai’ and the word for ‘destroys’ sound similar. In that way, Isaiah is ‘playing with words’. He uses similar words that have different meanings.

Verses 7-8 People will hear that an army will attack them. Then, these things will happen:

• People’s hands will be so weak that they can do nothing.

• People’s hearts (minds) will be so weak that they have no courage.
• People will be terrified (very, very afraid). (Instead of ‘people’ (verse 7), the word in the *Greek Bible means ‘old men’.)

The *Hebrew text has ‘terror will grip them’. And it has ‘pain will seize them’. In other words, the pain will be sudden, like a woman’s pains when she is having a baby. The *Hebrew words for ‘their faces will [show] very great fear’ mean this. ‘Their faces will be on fire.’ Other people will see that they are afraid.

v9 Look! The day of the *LORD will come [soon! That day will be] terrible. [It will be a day] when there is very much anger, really fierce anger. It will make the country [called Babylon] empty and it will *destroy [all the] sinners (people that do wrong things) in it.

v10 Yes! The stars in the skies, every [star] among them, will give no light. It will be dark at sunrise. The moon will not shine.

v11 ‘I will make very bad things happen to the world. And [I will punish] wicked people for their *sins. I will not allow proud people to think that they are better [than anyone else]. And I will make strong people unimportant if they hurt [weak people].

v12 I will make men rarer than pure gold. And men and women [will be] harder to find than gold from Ophir.

v13 So I will make the heavens (skies) shake. [People will] see the anger of the *LORD of Many [Armies]. And [then] the Earth will tremble.

v14 And people will turn towards each other and they will run away to their own country. They will be like *deer that run away from the hunter. [They will be] like sheep that have nobody to lead them.

v15 [The foreign army] will [kill] with sharp knives anyone that tries to escape. And they will kill with a sword anyone whom they catch.

v16 They will break young children into pieces as [their parents] watch. They will rob [those people’s] homes. And they will force those [people’s] wives to have sex with them.

v17 Look! I will excite the [army from] Media, so that they come [to fight] against [those people]. [The soldiers from Media] do not care about silver. Nor do they worry about gold.

v18 [With] their bows, [they] will kill the young men. They will not be kind to babies and they will be cruel to children.

v19 And Babylon will be like Sodom and Gomorrah, when God destroyed them. [That will happen, even if people in other] kingdoms (countries that a king rules) think these things. “Babylon is beautiful! The people in Chaldea (Babylon) are proud of it.”

v20 It will never have inhabitants. And none among its children will ever live there [in Babylon] again. No Arab will put his tent there. No shepherds (people that look after sheep) will make their animals lie down there.

v21 Only wild animals will lie down there [in Babylon. Its] houses will be full of birds called owls that scream. And ostriches (huge birds that cannot fly) will live there. Wild goats will dance about in [Babylon].

v22 Hyenas (animals like large wild dogs) will bark in its tall buildings and jackals (wild dogs) will live in its beautiful palaces. [The army from Media] will soon destroy Babylon. Not many days remain for it.’

Notes

Verse 9 The ‘day of the *LORD’ is when God does something very special. That day is when God will destroy Babylon. And he will destroy all the people in it. But these verses also have another meaning. That meaning has a connection with the time when Jesus will return to the Earth. Look at the note above that mentions future meanings of *prophecies. For ‘fierce anger’, the *Hebrew text has ‘anger that burns’. ‘Sinners’ are people that do not obey God’s rules.

Verse 10 Many times in the Bible we read that the sun, moon and stars will give no light. Some verses like that are in the section ‘Something to do’. These verses help us to understand that this passage has a special meaning. That meaning has a connection with the time when Jesus will return to the Earth.

Verse 11 Here the *LORD is speaking (by means of Isaiah). He says that ‘very bad’ (or ‘evil’) things will happen. Usually, ‘evil’ means very bad, or wicked. It usually means not to obey God’s rules. But in the Old Testament (the first 39 books in the Bible), it does not always mean that. It often means something bad like a severe storm or a bad *earthquake. In an earthquake, the ground shakes and buildings fall down. Some translations have ‘I will punish the world for its evil [deeds]’. But here the *Hebrew words do not mean that. They do not mean that the world is wicked. They mean that only the people in it are wicked! So God punishes the people. While he does it, evil things happen to the world. The ‘world’ here first meant Babylon. But now some people study the time when Jesus will return. And they think that the ‘world’ also means the whole world. Proud people will become ashamed because of what they have done. ‘Sins’ are the wrong things that we do.

Verse 12 Gold is very difficult to find. But men and women will be more difficult to find than gold, when the day of the *LORD comes. Ophir was famous because the people there produced a lot of gold. Solomon, an earlier king of Israel, obtained his gold from Ophir (1 Kings 9:26-28). Also Psalms 45:9 mentions that. Ophir was in East Africa or South-West Arabia.

Verse 13 This is how poetry describes dramatic (impressive or terrible) events. We can imagine that the earth is trembling. It does that during an *earthquake. But it is hard to imagine that the heavens will shake! We may wonder whether ‘heavens’ means the sky or God’s home. Probably it means the sky with the sun, the moon, and all the stars. There is similar language in Psalms 18:7 and 2 Samuel 22:8. Again, there may be a meaning that we do not yet understand. It may have a connection with the time when Jesus returns to the Earth.

Verse 14 A ‘deer’ (plural also ‘deer’) is a wild animal. It is like a small cow, but it is more graceful. It runs fast when hunters chase it. The people in Babylon (verse 19) will run when the soldiers from Media (verse 17) chase them. When sheep have nobody to lead them, they soon lose their way.

Verse 15 The *Hebrew words for ‘kill with a sharp knife’ are very dramatic. They mean ‘run through with a sword’. That means to push a knife or a sword into somebody, so that it goes through them. So they die. The foreign army will be the army from Media in verse 17.

Verse 16 As the people in Babylon watch, Media’s soldiers will hit their children with rocks. At that time, it was quite usual for soldiers to kill their enemies’ small children in that way. It meant that those children would not grow up to become soldiers. And therefore they would not be able to fight against the soldiers from Media! Psalms 137:9 repeats Isaiah’s *prophecy about the children. Media’s soldiers will also rob the people in Babylon. And Media’s soldiers will have sex with the people’s wives, although the wives do not want it. That is a very cruel thing to do.

Verse 17 The foreign army was acting as God’s tool to punish Babylon’s people. He was using that army to defeat them. So God had to attract the foreign soldiers to carry out that task! And they cared more about the battle than they cared about silver or gold. We do not know how God persuaded them to fight. But the answer may be in the note about verse 3! Media was a country that was east from Babylon. There is a note about the army from Media below. It is below the note about verses 21-22.

Verse 18 The young men were probably the young soldiers in Babylon. It was the arrows from the bows that actually killed people. It was not the bows themselves. The soldiers from Media were so cruel that they killed babies and children.

Verse 19 We read how God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19:23-29. People from other kingdoms (countries that a king rules) think that Babylon is beautiful. And the people from Chaldea (Babylon) themselves are proud of their city. But God will destroy Babylon, although those things are true. ‘Chaldea’ is another name for Babylon.

Verse 20 The army from Media will destroy Babylon so completely that nobody will ever live there again. ‘Its children’ are the children, grandchildren and so on, of the people that live in Babylon. No visitor will put a tent there and no shepherd (person that looks after sheep) will take his sheep there. Babylon will be a city that Media’s army has ruined.

Verses 21-22 Only wild birds and animals will be in Babylon. Bible students are not sure what some birds and animals here are. This translation contains some ideas that they have. An ‘owl’ is a bird that finds its food at night. Some owls make a loud scream that often frightens people. An ostrich is a huge bird with long legs. It cannot fly. The animals called hyenas and jackals kill other animals and then they eat them.

Note about Media and other powerful nations

2500 to 3000 years ago, there were several powerful nations. They defeated the weaker nations round them and they ruled over those nations. Those powerful nations included the ones called Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and Persia. An army from Assyria defeated Israel in 721 *B.C. But then Babylon’s army defeated Assyria’s army. Later, another army from Babylon defeated Judah, in 587 *B.C. But in 537 *B.C., an army from Persia defeated Babylon. In that, Persia’s army had help from Media’s army. Both Persia and Media were near Babylon, on its east side.

Isaiah probably wrote these words before 694 *B.C. He said that Media’s army would destroy Babylon. And he said it more than 150 years before it happened! However, some Bible students think that the *prophecy may be about an earlier battle. For more about this idea, see the notes before chapter 13, and the notes on chapter 21. But the important things to realise are these:

(1) God knows what will happen in the future!

(2) It is God who controls the affairs of all nations. He is the God of the whole world, not just Judah and Israel!

Something to do

1. Read the story about the end of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is in Genesis chapter 19.

2. If you can, find a map of Israel and the surrounding countries. Look for all the places in the list above. The list is in the note before chapter 13.

3. Study other books from which we can learn about Jesus’ return. Examples are Zephaniah, Zechariah and Revelation.

4. Compare verses 16, 18 and 20 with the end of Psalms 137.

Chapter 14

A message about Babylon, Assyria and Philistia

v1 The *LORD will pity Jacob (Jacob’s family, Israel’s people) and he will choose Israel’s people again. Then he will give them rest in their own country. Also, foreigners will come to be together with the people that live in Jacob (Israel). And they (those foreigners) will really unite with them.

v2 And the [foreign] people will take the people [that had come from Israel]. And they will bring them (Israel’s people) [back] to their own country. Israel’s people will possess the foreigners in the *LORD’s country. They (the foreigners) will become male and female slaves. So the people that have made [Israel’s people] prisoners will be prisoners themselves! [Israel’s people] will rule over the people that were cruel to them.

Notes

Verse 1 Isaiah 13:1-14 is nearly all about Babylon. But here there are just two verses about Israel’s people. That probably means all the *Jews, from both the southern country called Judah and the northern country called Israel. They were God’s people. ‘*LORD’ is a special name for God. There is a note about it at Isaiah 1:1. ‘Jacob’ is another name for Israel’s people, the nation that came from Jacob’s family. In verse 1, ‘he’ means ‘the *LORD’ each time.

Verse 2 The words ‘they’ and ‘them’ appear many times in verses 1 and 2. The words in brackets, (…), help us to identify who ‘they’ all are. Those words are not in the *Hebrew Bible. The people from Israel lived as prisoners in Assyria and Babylon. They lived in ordinary houses, but they could not go home to Israel and Judah. The people from Assyria and Babylon were very cruel to them. But Isaiah says that all that will finish. One day, the people in Babylon will send the *Jews home. So will people from other countries. Then those foreign people will serve the *Jews. The foreigners will unite with them (verse 1). They will do that to be part of what the *LORD is doing.

v3 In those days, this will happen. The *LORD will give you rest from [these things]:

• all your pain and the things that you suffer.

• the cruel way that [your enemies] forced you to work.

v4 You will laugh at the king of Babylon. Then you will say [to him], ‘Now you cannot be cruel to us. Neither can you attack us!

v5 The *LORD has destroyed the authority of wicked people. He has broken the power of the rulers [of Babylon].

v6 They were angry, so they hit [people in many] countries. The blows never stopped. In great anger, they attacked [other] nations. They were always fighting against them.

v7 [But now] the whole world has peace and [it can] rest. Everyone is singing [because they are so joyful]!

v8 Even the trees [called] pines are happy. And the trees [called] cedars in Lebanon [are happy]. [They say this] to you, [king of Babylon]. “Since your defeat, nobody has come to chop us down!”

v9 When you arrive [down] below, [that] will excite [the spirits in] *Sheol. [They will come] to meet you! It will wake up the Rephaim (wicked spirits), all [those] that were leaders of the Earth. [They will] come to greet you. All [those] that were kings of the nations will stand up from their seats.

v10 They will all speak to you. They will say, “Even you have become as weak as us! You have become like us!”

v11 Your proud attitude will bring you [down] to *Sheol. [And] the noise of your harps (musical instruments) [will come] with [you]. Underneath you, [there] will be a bed of maggots (animals like very tiny snakes in dead bodies). And [over you, there] will be a blanket of worms (animals like tiny snakes in the soil).

v12 Look at you! You have fallen from the heavens (the skies and God’s home),

“One that Shines”, “Son of the Dawn”!

You made the nations low, but now you are low yourself!

[God has thrown you down] to the earth.

v13 You said in your heart, “I will go up into the heavens (the skies and God’s home).

I will put my seat above the stars of God.

I will sit on the [special] mountain where there are meetings in the distant north.

v14 I will rise above the tops of the clouds. I will be like the Most High [God].”

v15 But he has brought you down to *Sheol, to the deepest hole!

v16 Those [people] that see you will stare at you. They will think this about you. “This [does not look like] the man that made the earth shake. [This does not look like the man that made] kingdoms (countries that a king rules) tremble.

v17 This [does not look like the man] that made the world like a desert. And [this does not look like the man that] ruined its cities. He did not allow his prisoners to go [back to their] homes.”

v18 All the kings of the nations lie down in honour. Yes! They all do. Each one is in his own grave.

v19 But you, they will throw you out without a grave! You will be like a branch [that someone has] put aside. Or [you will be like] a dead man’s clothes. [That is, the clothes of a dead man] that a sword has cut. [You will be like] someone that fell into a deep hole. [And they fell] onto the stones [there]. Or [you will be like] a dead body on which people jump.

v20 They will not bury you with the other [kings of Babylon]. [That will be] for these reasons:

• You have destroyed your country.

• You have killed your [own] people.

Nobody will ever remember this son of wicked people again!

v21 Prepare a place where people will kill his (that king’s) children as legal punishment. [They will do that] because their ancestors (relatives that lived before them) had *sinned. Then his children will not rule the world and [they will not] fill it with cities.’

Notes

Verse 3 The word ‘rest’ links verse 3 with verse 1. ‘Those days’ will be when the *LORD ‘chooses Israel’s people again’ (verse 1).

Verse 4 This verse starts something that the *Jews would say. They would laugh at the king of Babylon. And they would laugh at his people that were with them. The *Jews lived in Judah and Israel.

Verse 6 The soldiers from Babylon were so cruel that they were always ‘hitting’ people. But they did not hit people with sticks. They fought them with swords. They defeated people.

Verse 7 Again, the word ‘rest’ links back to verses 1 and 3. This is what will happen ‘in those days’.

Verse 8 Pine trees and cedar trees both have leaves all the year. People use the wood of those trees to build things. There were great forests in Lebanon. But the builders in Babylon would not cut down Lebanon’s trees again, and the trees seem to know it! The trees speak directly to the men of Babylon.

Verse 9 The description now changes from events on the earth. It changes to events under the earth. The *Jews used to say that dead people went to Sheol. ‘Sheol’ was a dark place under the ground. When people arrived there from Babylon, that excited the spirits in Sheol! Sheol caused the Rephaim (wicked spirits) to greet the people from Babylon. The ‘Rephaim’ were wicked spirits in Sheol. They were the spirits of the people’s leaders. And they were the spirits of the nations’ kings. The *Hebrew word for ‘leader’ here really means ‘strong goat’. This part of the chapter is a description that a poet would write. Isaiah was a great poet.

Verse 10 Isaiah probably meant that the Rephaim (wicked spirits in *Sheol) will laugh at the people from Babylon. The *Jews would also do that, in verse 4.

Verse 11 The people were proud in a bad way. ‘Harps’ are musical instruments with strings. The noise that the harps made meant the music at parties. The people would not lie in comfortable beds any more. Instead, they would be in the ground. They would lie on maggots, and worms would cover them. A maggot is a soft animal like a very tiny snake. It changes into a fly. It often lives in dead bodies. And a worm is also a small soft animal, like a tiny snake. But it lives in the soil. One old *Hebrew copy of the Book of Isaiah has words that mean ‘dead bodies’ instead of ‘harps’. That copy was among the collection of ancient books that people discovered in caves near the Dead Sea.

Verses 12-15 Many Bible students think that here Isaiah is repeating an old story or poem. It is in dark letters. The poem is about someone that tried to make himself more important than God. But he could not do that. He finished his life in the deepest hole in *Sheol. Some Bible students think that these are the meanings of some words here:

• ‘One that Shines’ and ‘Son of the Dawn’ are stars’ names. The early translation in Latin (the language that people in ancient Rome spoke) had ‘Lucifer’ instead of ‘One that Shines’. In Latin, ‘Lucifer’ means ‘someone that brings light’. It is a name for Venus. Venus is a planet (a round object that shines like a bright star). It is also called the Morning Star, because one can see it early in the morning.

• The ‘mountain where there are meetings in the distant north’ was a special place. Some people believed that all the gods met together there. The *Hebrew word for ‘distant north’ is ‘Zaphon’. It is also in Psalms 48:2, where it describes Jerusalem. Here it is somewhere where the gods met. But it may not actually be in the north, if ‘Zaphon’ is the name of a place!
• ‘The Most High’ is a name for God.
• The deepest hole in *Sheol was the worst place in Sheol. People that went into that very deep hole never came out. It was in a corner of Sheol.

If Isaiah did not write these words himself, then he probably used an old poem or story. Isaiah used it to describe the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon wanted to be the most important king on Earth. However, he finished in the worst part of *Sheol!

Some Christians think that this old poem is also a description of something else. It describes what had happened to the devil a long time ago. Afterwards, the devil wanted to persuade Adam and Eve not to obey God. They were in God’s special garden in the area called Eden. They obeyed the devil instead of God. And that is the cause of the *sins and troubles in the world today. The account about that is in Genesis chapter 3. The devil is also called Satan or Lucifer. (Read about the name ‘Lucifer’ in the note above.)

Verses 16-17 The people that stare are those people from verse 9. They cannot believe that Babylon’s king is there in that bad place with them!

Verses 18-20 People usually bury kings in graves with much honour. But that will not happen to the king of Babylon. They will throw his body away like a bit of dead wood. They will throw it away like dirty clothes.

Verse 21 People would kill the king’s children to punish them as criminals. So then the children would not be able to behave as their ancestors did. ‘Ancestors’ are relatives that lived before you. In other words, they are your father, your grandfathers, their fathers and grandfathers, and so on.

v22 ‘I will act against them’, says the *LORD of Everything. The *LORD also says [this]. ‘I will remove the name of Babylon. And I will remove the people that remain [there]. [I will remove the name of] their children and [I will remove the name of] their children’s children.’

v23 The *LORD of Everything says this as well. ‘I will make [Babylon] into a place where owls (birds that hunt at night) live. And there will be pools of [dirty] water there. And I will sweep it away completely, [as if I am sweeping it] with a brush.’

Notes

Verses 22-23 The *LORD will make sure that not much remains in Babylon. There will only be such birds as owls and there will be pools of dirty water. ‘Owls’ are birds that eat small animals. Those birds hunt for their food by night. God will sweep everything else away ‘with the brush that destroys’. That is the actual meaning of the *Hebrew words. Here we have translated them as ‘completely, [as if I am sweeping it] with a brush’. In other words, God will remove everything from Babylon, like someone who uses a brush to sweep a room clean. The *LORD of Everything is a name for God. Some translations have ‘*LORD of Armies of Angels’. An ‘angel’ is a servant of God in heaven (the place where God lives).

v24 The *LORD of Everything has made a serious promise. ‘It will happen as I have *planned it to happen. I will really carry out my purpose.

v25 [My purpose is this.] I will destroy (overcome) the person from Assyria that is in my country. Also, I will put him under my feet on my mountains. Then, he will not be cruel to my people. Also, they will not have to be his servants again.’

v26 This is the plan that [he (God)] made for the whole Earth. And this is the hand that [he] lifted over all the nations.

v27 This is the plan of the *LORD of Everything. Nobody can spoil it. He has lifted up his hand. Nobody can turn it back.

Notes

Verses 24-27 This is a short section about Assyria. In verses 26 and 27, ‘lifted up the hand’ means ‘did something’. When God has a plan, nobody can stop it. This plan will not only happen in Assyria, but it will also happen everywhere on the whole Earth. As we see in Psalms 2, God rules OK! (See the EasyEnglish Psalms by Gordon Churchyard.)

v28 In the year when King Ahaz died, these words came [to Isaiah].

v29 ‘Do not feel happy, you people from Philistia. [The *LORD] has broken the stick that struck you. But from that snake will come a more poisonous snake. And from that [second snake] will come a snake that can fly!

v30 But poor people will feed [the] first [animals] that are born [to their mothers]. And people that need many things will rest safely. Then I will make your root, [the people called Philistines,] die in a famine (general lack of food). And I will kill the people that remain.

v31 Gate [of the city], cry! [People in the] city [itself], cry very loudly [like an animal]! Disappear, all you people from Philistia! Because smoke will come from the north. And nobody in [that] army will be slow.’

v32 [You may say,] ‘What shall we say to the people that bring messages from that nation?’ Say that the *LORD has built Zion (Jerusalem and its surroundings). And [say] that his poor people will find safety there.

Notes

Verses 28-32 This short section is about Philistia, a country that was west from Judah. The people called Philistines lived there. King Ahaz of Judah died in 716 B.C. ‘B.C.’ means ‘years Before Christ came to the Earth’. The passage means that God will destroy Philistia completely. And he will rescue his poor people from the Philistines’ cruelty. But Bible students do not agree about everything in this passage. There are different ideas about the meaning of ‘the stick that struck you’. It might mean Assyria, or the northern part of Israel.

Here is one possible idea:

‘The stick that struck you’ means King David, an earlier king. And it also means the other kings in Jerusalem until Ahaz. Isaiah remembers the time when the *Jews went out from Egypt. Moses led them away from there to the country called Canaan. Here, Isaiah uses these ideas from that account:

• sticks that become snakes (Exodus 7:8-13);

• the first baby that a human mother or an animal has (Exodus 12:12).

King Ahaz was dead. So now the Philistines thought that there would be no more ‘stick to strike’ them! Because from now, Assyria’s king would rule over Jerusalem’s kings. The kings in Jerusalem would not be free to ‘strike’ the Philistines with the stick. But the stick would turn into a snake. Therefore it would be more dangerous to Philistia. The ‘snake’ meant an army that would come from the north (verse 31). It would probably be the army from Assyria itself. People would see from a distance the smoke that the army made. That army would come all together. Nobody in it would come a long way behind the other soldiers. They would all arrive at once in Philistia. They would break in through the gates of all Philistia’s cities. Then they would destroy the cities themselves. The Philistines would disappear because of their fear! The people would cry very loudly, because they were angry or afraid. And they would also cry because of the pain that they suffered.

We may wonder who the poor people were in verses 30 and 32. They were probably the people that lived between Jerusalem and Philistia. The Philistines (people from Philistia) were often cruel to them. But that would stop. The poor people would sleep calmly and their animals would feed in safety. God would make the ‘root’ of the people called Philistines die. It means that God would destroy their entire nation. It is like when someone destroys an entire tree. And not one root lives to grow again. The speaker at the end of verse 30 is the *LORD (God). ‘Zion’ in verse 32 means Jerusalem and the country round it. Isaiah does not say where the people with messages come from.

Something to do

1. Study Isaiah chapter 14 together with Isaiah chapter 13. Remember that Isaiah 13:1-14 is all about Babylon, except 14:1-2.

2. Read about Satan (the devil) in Genesis chapter 3; Job Chapter s 1 and 2; Ezekiel 28:11-19; Zechariah chapter 3; and Revelation chapter 12.

3. Learn to say Isaiah 14:32 by heart. (In other words, you will not need to look at the words while you say it.) In Psalms 87 and Galatians 4:26, we learn that we can all find safety in Zion (Jerusalem). Study Psalms 87 to discover how we can do that.

heavens ~ either the home of God or the skies.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
Jews ~ people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
Jews ~ people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
prophecy ~ the words of a prophet.
prophet ~ someone who tells people what God is saying.
prophet ~ someone who tells people what God is saying.
lord ~ master. With a capital L, it can be a name for God.
LORD ~ LORD is a special name of God. In the Hebrew language it is YAHWEH. It may mean ‘always alive’. So LORD is a sign that the Hebrew word is YAHWEH.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
Jews ~ people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
destroy ~ to punish people in the most severe manner possible, usually by death or in exile. Also, to ruin their cities and their land.
exile ~ an exile is a person who lives away from his home and country. We say that he or she is ‘in exile’.
Greek ~ the language that people spoke in Greece.
sin ~ not to obey God; or, what you do when you do not obey God.
deer ~ an animal like a small cow.
earthquake ~ when the ground shakes.
Sheol ~ where people go when they die. In the Old Testament (the first 39 books in the Bible), people used this word to describe death.