What does Isaiah 13:19 mean?

Isaiah acknowledges the grandeur of the city-state of Babylon during this time. He calls it the "glory of kingdoms." As well as the splendor of the Chaldeans. Modern excavations of the ruins of the city have revealed a beautiful metropolis ahead of its time. It was world-famous for a reason for its culture, civility, and ceremonial pomp. The people of Babylon believed themselves to be important and powerful. They saw themselves as a step above the brutes that had dominated the world for so long.

That pride and arrogance, along with their evil practices, is what drew the anger of the Lord to fall on them so fiercely. Proverbs 16:5 says, "Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished."

Isaiah now writes that the self-confident city of Babylon will end up like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The implication of this reference would have been clear to the original audience: that the city would be utterly wiped out by the hand of the Lord. Most people associate Sodom and Gomorrah with the homosexuality and rape described in the story of Lot's last night in those cities (Genesis 19). The prophet Ezekiel, quotes the Lord's central complaints about Sodom, making the connection with Babylon clear:

"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it" (Ezekiel 16:49–50).