Add parallel Print Page Options

Wail, for the Lord’s day of judgment[a] is near;
it comes with all the destructive power of the Sovereign One.[b]
For this reason all hands hang limp,[c]
every human heart loses its courage.[d]
They panic—
cramps and pain seize hold of them
like those of a woman who is straining to give birth.
They look at one another in astonishment;
their faces are flushed red.[e]
Look, the Lord’s day of judgment[f] is coming;
it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger,[g]
destroying[h] the earth[i]
and annihilating its sinners.
10 Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations
no longer give out their light;[j]
the sun is darkened as soon as it rises,
and the moon does not shine.[k]
11 [l] I will punish the world for its evil,[m]
and wicked people for their sin.
I will put an end to the pride of the insolent,
I will bring down the arrogance of tyrants.[n]
12 I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold,
and people more scarce[o] than gold from Ophir.
13 So I will shake the heavens,[p]
and the earth will shake loose from its foundation,[q]
because of the fury of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
in the day he vents his raging anger.[r]
14 Like a frightened gazelle[s]
or a sheep with no shepherd,
each will turn toward home,[t]
each will run to his homeland.
15 Everyone who is caught will be stabbed;
everyone who is seized[u] will die[v] by the sword.
16 Their children will be smashed to pieces before their very eyes;
their houses will be looted
and their wives raped.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 13:6 tn Heb “the day of the Lord” (so KJV, NAB).
  2. Isaiah 13:6 tn Heb “like destruction from the Sovereign One it comes.” The comparative preposition (כ, kaf) has here the rhetorical nuance, “in every way like.” The point is that the destruction unleashed will have all the earmarks of divine judgment. One could paraphrase, “it comes as only destructive divine judgment can.” On this use of the preposition in general, see GKC 376 §118.x.sn The divine name used here is שַׁדַּי (shaddai, “Shaddai”). Shaddai (or El Shaddai) is the sovereign king/judge of the world who grants life/blesses and kills/judges. In Genesis he blesses the patriarchs with fertility and promises numerous descendants. Outside Genesis he both blesses/protects and takes away life/happiness. The patriarchs knew God primarily as El Shaddai (Exod 6:3). While the origin and meaning of this name is uncertain (see discussion below), its significance is clear. The name is used in contexts where God appears as the source of fertility and life. In Gen 17:1-8 he appears to Abram, introduces himself as El Shaddai, and announces his intention to make the patriarch fruitful. In the role of El Shaddai God repeats these words (now elevated to the status of a decree) to Jacob (35:11). Earlier Isaac had pronounced a blessing upon Jacob in which he asked El Shaddai to make Jacob fruitful (28:3). Jacob later prays that his sons will be treated with mercy when they return to Egypt with Benjamin (43:14). The fertility theme is not as apparent here, though one must remember that Jacob viewed Benjamin as the sole remaining son of the favored and once-barren Rachel (cf. 29:31; 30:22-24; 35:16-18). It is quite natural that he would appeal to El Shaddai to preserve Benjamin’s life, for it was El Shaddai’s miraculous power which made it possible for Rachel to give him sons in the first place. In 48:3 Jacob, prior to blessing Joseph’s sons, tells him how El Shaddai appeared to him at Bethel (cf. chapter 28) and promised to make him fruitful. When blessing Joseph on his deathbed Jacob refers to Shaddai (we should probably read “El Shaddai,” along with a few Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, and Syriac) as the one who provides abundant blessings, including “blessings of the breast and womb” (49:25). (The direct association of the name with שָׁדַיִם [shadayim, “breasts”] suggests the name might mean “the one of the breast” [i.e., the one who gives fertility], but the juxtaposition is probably better explained as wordplay. Note the wordplay involving the name and the root שָׁדַד [shadad, “destroy”] here in Isa 13:6 and in Joel 1:15.) Outside Genesis the name Shaddai (minus El, “God”) is normally used when God is viewed as the sovereign king who blesses/protects or curses/brings judgment. The name appears in the introduction to two of Balaam’s oracles (Num 24:4, 16) of blessing upon Israel. Naomi employs the name when accusing the Lord of treating her bitterly by taking the lives of her husband and sons (Ruth 1:20-21). In Ps 68:14; Isa 13:6; and Joel 1:15 Shaddai judges his enemies through warfare, while Ps 91:1 depicts him as the protector of his people. (In Ezek 1:24 and 10:5 the sound of the cherubim’s wings is compared to Shaddai’s powerful voice. The reference may be to the mighty divine warrior’s battle cry which accompanies his angry judgment.) Last but not least, the name occurs 31 times in the Book of Job. Job and his “friends” assume that Shaddai is the sovereign king of the world (11:7; 37:23a) who is the source of life (33:4b) and is responsible for maintaining justice (8:3; 34:10-12; 37:23b). He provides abundant blessings, including children (22:17-18; 29:4-6), but can also discipline, punish, and destroy (5:17; 6:4; 21:20; 23:16). It is not surprising to see the name so often in this book, where the theme of God’s justice is primary and even called into question (24:1; 27:2). The most likely proposal is that the name means “God, the one of the mountain” (an Akkadian cognate means “mountain,” to which Heb. שַׁד [shad, “breast”] is probably related). For a discussion of proposed derivations see T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 70-71. The name may originally depict God as the sovereign judge who, in Canaanite style, rules from a sacred mountain. Isa 14:13 and Ezek 28:14, 16 associate such a mountain with God, while Ps 48:2 refers to Zion as “Zaphon,” the Canaanite Olympus from which the high god El ruled. (In Isa 14 the Canaanite god El may be in view. Note that Isaiah pictures pagan kings as taunting the king of Babylon, suggesting that pagan mythology may provide the background for the language and imagery.)
  3. Isaiah 13:7 tn Heb “drop”; KJV “be faint”; ASV “be feeble”; NAB “fall helpless.”
  4. Isaiah 13:7 tn Heb “melts” (so NAB).
  5. Isaiah 13:8 tn Heb “their faces are faces of flames.” Their faces are flushed with fear and embarrassment.
  6. Isaiah 13:9 tn Heb “the day of the Lord.”
  7. Isaiah 13:9 tn Heb “[with] cruelty, and fury, and rage of anger.” Three synonyms for “anger” are piled up at the end of the line to emphasize the extraordinary degree of divine anger that will be exhibited in this judgment.
  8. Isaiah 13:9 tn Heb “making desolate.”
  9. Isaiah 13:9 tn Or “land” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT).
  10. Isaiah 13:10 tn Heb “do not flash forth their light.”
  11. Isaiah 13:10 tn Heb “does not shed forth its light.”
  12. Isaiah 13:11 sn The Lord is definitely speaking (again?) at this point. See the note at v. 4.
  13. Isaiah 13:11 tn Or “I will bring disaster on the world.” Hebrew רָעָה (raʿah) could refer to the judgment (i.e., disaster, calamity) or to the evil that prompts it. The structure of the parallel line favors the latter interpretation.
  14. Isaiah 13:11 tn Or perhaps, “the violent”; cf. NASB, NIV “the ruthless.”
  15. Isaiah 13:12 tn The verb is supplied in the translation from the first line. The verb in the first line (“I will make scarce”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse.
  16. Isaiah 13:13 tn Or “the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
  17. Isaiah 13:13 tn Heb “from its place” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV).
  18. Isaiah 13:13 tn Heb “and in the day of the raging of his anger.”
  19. Isaiah 13:14 tn Or “like a gazelle being chased.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
  20. Isaiah 13:14 tn Heb “his people” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “his nation” (cf. TEV “their own countries”).
  21. Isaiah 13:15 tn Heb “carried off,” i.e., grabbed from the fleeing crowd. See HALOT 764 s.v. ספה.
  22. Isaiah 13:15 tn Heb “will fall” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NLT “will be run through with a sword.”