Isa. 13 God’s armies, Isa. 13:1–5. The destruction of Babylon by the Persians and Medes: their great distress and anguish; and their utter desolation, Isa. 13:6–22.

The burden: this title is commonly given to sad prophecies, which indeed are grievous burdens to them upon whom they are laid. See 2 Kings 9:25, Jer. 23:33, Jer. 23:36.

Lift ye up a banner, to gather soldiers together for this expedition. Upon the high mountain; whence it may be discerned at a considerable distance. Withal he seems to intimate that their enemies should come from the mountainous country of Media. Unto them; to the Medes, who are named below, Isa.

My sanctified ones; the Medes and Persians, fitly so called, because they were solemnly designed and set apart by God for his own service, and for this holy work of executing his just vengeance upon them. My mighty ones; those whom I have made mighty for this work.

The kingdoms of nations; the Medes and Persians, and other nations which served under them in this war; of which see Jer. 25:14, Jer. 27:7, Jer. 50:41.

From the end of heaven; from the ends of the earth under heaven, as Matt. 24:30; which is not to be understood strictly and properly, but popularly and hyperbolically, as such expressions are commonly used in sacred and profane authors.

It shall come as a destruction; or rather, a destruction or devastation shall come, as the LXX. and vulgar Latin render it. For this was not as a destruction, but was a destruction indeed.

They shall be amazed one at another, to see so populous and impregnable a city as Babylon was, so easily and unexpectedly taken. Flames, Heb. faces of flame; either pale with fear, or inflamed with rage and torment, as men in misery frequently are.

Cruel both with wrath and fierce anger; divers words are heaped together, to signify the extremity of his anger. The sinners thereof; the inhabitants of that city, who were guilty of so much idolatry and cruelty, and all sorts of luxury.

The constellations; which consist of many stars, and therefore give a greater light. The sun shall be darkened; either, 1. Properly and really, by an eclipse; for prodigies in heaven do sometimes go before or accompany great and public calamities upon earth. Or, 2. Figuratively, and in appearance.

The world; the Babylonish empire, which is called the world, as the Roman empire afterward was, Luke 2:1, because it was extended to a great part of the world, and because it was vastly populous, and Babylon itself looked more like a world than one city.

The city and nation shall be so depopulated, that few men shall be left in it.

I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place; a poetical and prophetical description of great errors and confusions, as if heaven and earth were about to meet together.

And it, to wit, Babylon, shall be as the chased roe; fearful in itself, especially when it is pursued by the hunter. As a sheep that no man taketh up; in a most forlorn and neglected condition.

That is found in Babylon, at the taking of it; the expectation whereof made them flee away with all speed.

Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes, as a just recompence for the like cruelty acted by them upon the Jews, 2 Chron. 36:17, which also was foretold, Ps. 137:9.

The Medes; under whom he comprehends the Persians, who were their neighbours and confederates in this expedition. They shall not delight in it; which is to be understood comparatively.

Their bows; under which are comprehended their arrows, and possibly other weapons of war; for so generally sometimes is the bow used in Scripture, as 2 Sam. 1:18, Ps. 78:9, Isa. 41:2. Shall dash the young men to pieces; or, shall pierce the young men through, as the Chaldee readers it.

The glory of kingdoms; which once was the most noble and excellent of all the kingdoms then in being, and Was more glorious than the succeeding empires, whence it was represented by the head of gold, Dan. 2:32.

It shall never be inhabited, after the destruction threatened shall be fully accomplished. Neither shall the Arabian, who dwelt in tents, and wandered from place, where they could find pasture; but shall avoid this place, either because the land, once noted for great fruitfulness, is now become…

Wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; the land being forsaken by men, shall be possessed by wild beasts, which love solitary places. What the Hebrew words used here, and in the next verse, signify, the learned may see in my Latin Synopsis; and for others, it may suffice to know that in which…

Her time is near to come; so it was, though not according to man’s rash judgment and impatient expectation, yet according to God’s estimation, and to the eye of faith, whereby Abraham saw Christ’s day as present, many ages before it came, John 8:56; and comparatively; for it happened within two…