Isaiah 23:13 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not; Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.

NIV: Look at the land of the Babylonians, this people that is now of no account! The Assyrians have made it a place for desert creatures; they raised up their siege towers, they stripped its fortresses bare and turned it into a ruin.

NASB: Behold, the land of the Chaldeans—this is the people that did not exist; Assyria allocated it for desert creatures—they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin.

CSB: Look at the land of the Chaldeans— a people who no longer exist. Assyria destined it for desert creatures. They set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They made it a ruin.

NLT: Look at the land of Babylonia — the people of that land are gone! The Assyrians have handed Babylon over to the wild animals of the desert. They have built siege ramps against its walls, torn down its palaces, and turned it to a heap of rubble.

KJV: Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.

NKJV: Behold, the land of the Chaldeans, This people which was not; Assyria founded it for wild beasts of the desert. They set up its towers, They raised up its palaces, And brought it to ruin.

Are the people of Tyre and Sidon utterly convinced the Lord God of Israel cannot destroy them by means of an invading army? They may very well have been. After all, business was good. Life went on as normal. They had escaped destruction repeatedly (Isaiah 23:7–8).

The prophet's oracle reminds them about another powerful city-state. Babylon, in the land of the Chaldeans, once stood proud and was renowned around the world for its strength, wisdom, and beauty. By the time Isaiah wrote this prophecy, the Babylonians were no longer a significant power in the world.

What happened to the Babylonians? The Lord used the Assyrians to destroy them. By way of the Assyrians, the Lord transformed the once-great city into a place occupied only by wild beasts (Isaiah 13:21–22). The Assyrians arrived, put up their siege towers, and tore the city down. The carried off anything of value from the palaces of Babylon and killed or enslaved all the people. When they were done, only a ruin remained where a major metropolis once had stood.

The Assyrians were not ultimately responsible the razing of Babylon. Behind it all, it was the Lord God of Israel who did it. In this passage, He is warning those in Tyre and Sidon that He will do the same to their cities (Isaiah 23:1–12).

One remarkable thing about Isaiah and other books of Israelite prophecy is that they do not brag about their God. The typical pattern was for nations to declare that their gods would give their armies victory in battle over their enemies. The God of Israel declares that He will bring down nations by using the armies of other nations, not Israel. Even more strange, this is declared when His own people have been nearly wiped out.

Isaiah 23:13–18 completes predictions about the future of Tyre and Sidon. Previous verses indicated the city would be destroyed. Here, Isaiah offers other examples of God's judgment. He then indicates that Tyre's ruin will last seventy years. After comes a form of restoration. However, this will not be the proud status of the past. Instead, the city will be like a prostitute returning to that role. In some way, the profit of Tyre's return will help God's people.

Isaiah's final oracle against the nations describes the aftermath of God's judgment on the port city of Tyre. This city was a great center of trade and shipping in the world. The sailors returning will mourn when they get the news the city and its port is wiped out. The mourning will extend to the Phoenician people, the sea itself, the Egyptian grain industry, and the people of Tarshish. The prophet is clear that the Lord has done this in judgment against Tyre's pride. After 70 years of being forgotten, Tyre will thrive again as a prostitute to the nations. The Lord's people will receive her wages.

Prior chapters included prophecies about the nations surrounding Israel. Most of these have been arranged to warn Israel not to assume those neighbors would make effective allies against God's judgment. Chapter 23 is the final of these "oracles." Tyre was a great center of shipping and trade on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel. When it is destroyed, it will be mourned all around the great sea. After this, the predictions expand to a worldwide focus, with implications for the end times.

Isaiah is among the most important prophetic books in the entire Bible. The first segment details God's impending judgment against ancient peoples for sin and idolatry (Isaiah 1—35). The second part of Isaiah briefly explains a failed assault on Jerusalem during the rule of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36—39). The final chapters predict Israel's rescue from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40—48), the promised Messiah (Isaiah 49—57), and the final glory of Jerusalem and God's people (Isaiah 58—66).