ISAIAH
CHAPTER 13
Destruction of Babylon is a type of destruction at Second Coming—It shall be a day of wrath and vengeance—Babylon (the world) shall fall forever—Compare 2 Nephi 23.
[ Chapter 13 prophesies the type of destruction that will come upon Babylon and then likens it to the destruction of the wicked at the time of the Second Coming. The pattern of the chapter is similar to chapter 10, which prophesied Assyria's destruction. Concerning the Lord's power to prophesy such events as the forthcoming destruction of Babylon, LeGrand Richards has written:
The Prophet Mormon gave us to understand that all the promises of the Lord would be fulfilled:
"For the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises shall be fulfilled." (Mormon 8:22.) In a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith given at Hiram, Ohio, February 16, 1832, the Lord gave the prophet to understand that "his purposes fail not:" [Quoted D&C 76:14.] In light of these declarations, it is not difficult to understand how the Prophet Isaiah could declare, one hundred and seventy years in advance, the destruction of the great city Babylon, the greatest city in all the world at that time, and declare in positive terms that it should never be rebuilt. (See Isaiah 13:19-22.) And it never has been rebuilt.
(IDYK, p. 211.)]
1 aTHE burden of Babylon, [ The cultural, commercial center to the east. ] which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
2 Lift ye up a banner [ An ensign. The word from which ensign was translated here is nês. Nês is translated multiple ways in the KJV. In Isaiah alone it’s translated 3 different ways as: ensign, banner, and standard. Verses from Isaiah that translate the word "nez" (Isaiah 5:26; 11:10,12; 13:2; 18:3; 30:17; 31:9; 49:22; and 62:10). ] upon the high mountain, [ This is the place where Nephi, and Ezekiel as well as a great many others saw latter-day visions, they were carried away to an exceeding high mountain. Modern day temple. ] exalt [ To raise high; to elevate with joy or confidence. ] the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. [ Of an ancient and splendid family as nobel by descent,which is distinguished from commoners by rank and title. ]
3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. [ Joseph Smith Translation: "I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones, for mine anger is not upon them that rejoice in my highness." ]
4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, [ The sanctified ones from verse 3. ] , like as of a great people; a tumultuous [ Uproar. ] noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. [ This is the same army that Ezekiel saw in the valley of dry bones in Ezek 37:10. Their purpose is to burn the sinners from without of the land. Or to purify the earth before his coming. ]
5 They [ This mighty army. ] come from a far country, from the end of heaven, [ This host is coming from the end of heaven under the direction of the Lord. Ezekiel saw the hosts return with star like objects "wheels within a wheel" moving like frisbees and coming from the North Ezekiel chapter 1. Did Moses say that a portion of Israel would return from the outmost parts of heaven, and this is that group? The Hebrew word for north is tsafon (צָפוֹן). Tsafon is a feminine noun that means "hidden" or "dark". In the Bible, it's used to refer to the north as a quarter, which is considered gloomy and unknown.
In the Bible, the words for left and right are used to refer to the south and north, respectively. This is because the Bible assumes that east is the frame of reference, as Adam was created facing east. ] even the L ORD, [ It is God who is in charge of them and they are under his direction. ] and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: [ This birth metaphor is descriptive of the fears and uncertainties that will come upon the wicked at the time of the Lord’s judgments. A mother in childbirth may fearfully wonder if she will live. Will her baby live? Will her baby be healthy and whole? How long will these waves of pain endure? All—particularly the spiritually unprepared—may ask similar questions related to their spiritual well-being: Will I live? Will my loved ones live? How long must I suffer?11 (Note: This metaphor is missing in the Book of Mormon’s version of the verse.) ] they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, [ When they are learned they think themselves to be wise, but they are not nor anywhere near. ] and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. [ The wicked that boast in their own strength and abandon the counsel of the Lord and His servants will face the terrible day when the Lord “will punish the world”…As we walk through mortality with the gospel of Jesus Christ as our guiding light, we have a clearer view of the world and of the great and spacious buildings of pride, arrogance, and sin (see Isa. 13:11). The allure of such enticements is powerful, but our charge is to live in this world but not be of it. We seek a higher life. As we pursue a higher, eternal life, we will be observers, not fatalities, of the fall of modern Babylon, “whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall” (D&C 1:16). Our gospel covenants, when kept, protect us from the damning influences of Babylon. ]
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; [ Man will be more precious than fine gold calls to mind two things: a great number of people will be slaughtered during the destructions identified in this section, so that those who remain on the earth will be more scarce than a precious metal like gold; and those who remain after the decreed desolations and survive the furnace of affliction will be purified like gold; they will no longer possess dross (sin). ] even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
14 And it shall be as the [ Or a hunted deer; Animals run swiftly and without direction when frightened. A “chased roe” is a “hunted deer” (Isaiah 13:14, footnote a). Isaiah also mentions fleeing sheep, which “no man taketh up,” in other words, without a shepherd to care for and protect them. ] chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.
15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. [ The sword represents war and its instruments (2 Ne. 1:18; 3 Ne. 2:19; D&C 45:33). In the last days, the wicked will destroy themselves during the many wars and battles of which the prophets have testified. ] [Joseph Smith Translation: "Every one that is proud shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined to the wicked shall fall by the sword."]
16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. [ The symbolic hunted deer and shepherdless sheep will be pursued (13:14) and destroyed by the sword (13:15), and their children and wives will find no mercy from the destructive armies. The murder of children and the ravishing of wives is not new to history but represents here both an increase of the hideous crimes against nature and man’s savage inclination. Meanwhile, righteous men, with their wives and children gathered around them, will reside in “a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the Most High God…And it shall come to pass among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety…and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another” (D&C 45:66–69). ]
17 Behold, I will stir up the [ A nation that had at one time formed an alliance with Babylon, but which would eventually attack and conquer its former ally (in about 538 B.C.). ] Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. [ They despise everything. Verses 16–18: These verses, in addition to depicting horrible vengeance to be meted out at the Second Coming, take us back also to the original type, less than two centuries after Isaiah’s time, when the Medes would overrun the Babylonians with viciousness and cruelty. In 539 b.c. the Lord did indeed stir up the Medes (and Persians), who, uninterested in monetary gain, wreaked merciless vengeance upon those who opposed them. ]
19 ¶ And Babylon, [ In the centuries following Isaiah’s prophecy, Babylon was sacked and destroyed by a number of invading armies and became a heap of ruins. Similarly, the world’s great cities will be destroyed at Christ’s coming. ] the glory of kingdoms, [ Note that this is plural. ] the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew sodom and Gomorrah. [ Or total destruction. There is nothing there were once the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah once proudly stood. ]
20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. [ The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Yet, Babylon fell without a struggle before the armies of Cyrus of Persia. He and his men dug a canal into which they diverted the waters of the Euphrates, which normally flowed into Babylon, so they could penetrate into the heart of the city via the dry river bed. By this means vegetation ceased growing in the city, and the city began deteriorating, leading to the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prediction that it would be uninhabited; there wouldn’t even be an Arab to pitch a tent or a shepherd to make a sheepfold there. Total desolation was predicted, and it was an accurate prophecy. Isaiah’s prophecy was gradually but literally fulfilled within a few centuries, by the Roman period. ]
21 But wild beasts [ HEB he-goats, or demons.
Isaiah poetically employs two fictional beasts usually associated with superstitious traditions in this description of desolation. “Satyrs” are in Hebrew seirim, meaning “hairy” or “rough” ones. In mythology, a satyr is half man and half goat. “Dragons” are jackals or wild dogs. ]
of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. [The Joseph Smith Translation adds the following statement at the end of the King James verse: "for I will destroy her speedily; yea, for I will be merciful unto my people, but the wicked shall perish." ]