1 The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
2 On a bare hill raise a signal; cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter
the gates of the nobles.
3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones.
4 The sound of a tumult is on the mountains as of a great multitude! The sound of an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together! The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle.
5 They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt.
8 They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.
10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light.
11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.
14 And like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, each will turn to his own people, and each will flee to his own land.
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
16 Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.
Comment: Do you often use the word ‘oracle’? What does it mean? It means – a divine communication or utterance of God! So the above is spoken/recorded by Isaiah but the author is God, and the Bible says that the Scripture is overseen by God to ensure its truthfulness! Our Pastor keeps telling us to be honest with God – I guess that makes sense because God reads the heart and not the lips! I must say ‘God, I don’t like this passage much! Not because I think that You are unjust in Your actions, but because I have seen so much in tribal fighting and people’s cruelty to one another and read so much and seen in the media so much that reflects the absolute horror of this passage.’
The message is dramatic and powerful. I can see the man on the hilltop directing those whom God has called to be the attackers; indicating that they are to go, as God’s chosen agents, into the centre of the city of the the proud and arrogant Babylonians. I can hear the noise of the battlecry and the shrieks of the populous as houses are plundered, women ravished, infants dashed, men slaughtered. I see people trying to escape and fleeing like gazelles only to be speared or shot by arrows and to lie dead in the fields! I know that this historically occurred about 170 years later after the Babylonians had captured Israel and treated them none too nicely! ‘I know that You, God, have said – “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.”; and I know that You are Holy and Just and that we are evil; and I know that we deserve Your discipline.’
Why don’t I like it? It rings so true of the life I see being lived around me in 2025! We don’t seemed to have learned anything from God’s persistent goodness and loving discipline. I can hear the cries ‘How dare I call this loving discipline?’ But discipline (punishment) must be appropriate, and if after i) repeated warnings and ii) even God sending His own Son to show us what a life should be like and iii) then dying to renew our relationship with His Father, (if we choose to accept His offer) iv) if we still don’t listen – is a slap on the wrist adequate punishment?
Proverbs 23: 13-14 – Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.
Prayer: Help me to realize that You are Just and Holy and Loving with a Steadfast Father’s Love!
As I read it! 