Isaiah 13:2
1 This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:
Raise a banner on a barren hilltop; call aloud to them. Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph.
4 Listen, a tumult on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations gathered together! The LORD of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war.
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Raise a banner on a barren hilltop; call aloud to them. Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
- KJV
- Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
- WEB
- Set up a banner on the bare mountain! Lift up your voice to them! Wave your hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
- ASV
- Set ye up an ensign upon the bare mountain, lift up the voice unto them, wave the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
- DARBY
- Lift up a banner upon a bare mountain, raise the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
- BLB
- Upon the bare mountain lift up a banner! Raise high your voice to them. Wave a hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
- ÅB
- Reis et banner på et bart fjell, rop høyt til dem, vink med hånden at de kan dra inn gjennom voldsherrenes porter!
- OTB
- Reis et banner på den bare høyden, løft opp din stemme til dem; vink med hånden så de kan gå inn gjennom portene til de fornemme.
- B1930
- Reis et banner på et bart fjell, rop høit til dem, vink med hånden at de kan dra inn gjennem voldsherrenes porter!
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Jeremiah 51:58
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled, and her high gates consumed by fire. So the labor of the people will be for nothing; the nations will exhaust themselves to fuel the flames.”
Read in contextIsaiah 5:26
He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come!
Read in contextJeremiah 50:2
“Announce and declare to the nations; lift up a banner and proclaim it; hold nothing back when you say, ‘Babylon is captured; Bel is put to shame; Marduk is shattered, her images are disgraced, her idols are broken in pieces.’
Read in contextJeremiah 51:25
“Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who devastate the whole earth, declares the LORD. I will stretch out My hand against you; I will roll you over the cliffs and turn you into a charred mountain.
Read in contextIsaiah 45:1–3
This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut:
Read in contextIsaiah 10:32
Yet today they will halt at Nob, shaking a fist at the mount of Daughter Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.
Read in contextIsaiah 18:3
All you people of the world and dwellers of the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it; when a ram’s horn sounds, you will hear it.
Read in contextIsaiah 11:15
The LORD will devote to destruction the gulf of the Sea of Egypt; with a scorching wind He will sweep His hand over the Euphrates. He will split it into seven streams for men to cross with dry sandals.
Read in context