Isaiah 13:19

13:19 Babylon, the most admired ¹  of kingdoms,

the Chaldeans’ source of honor and pride, ² 

will be destroyed by God

just as Sodom and Gomorrah were. ³ 

Isaiah 14:4

14:4 you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: ⁴ 

“Look how the oppressor has met his end!

Hostility ⁵  has ceased!

Isaiah 39:7

39:7 ‘Some of your very own descendants whom you father ⁶  will be taken away and will be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

Isaiah 48:20

48:20 Leave Babylon!

Flee from the Babylonians!

Announce it with a shout of joy!

Make this known!

Proclaim it throughout the earth! ⁷ 

Say, ‘The Lord protects ⁸  his servant Jacob.

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¹ tn Or “most beautiful” (NCV, TEV).

² tn Heb “the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans.”

sn The Chaldeans were a group of tribes who lived in southern Mesopotamia. The established the so-called neo-Babylonian empire in the late seventh century b.c. Their most famous king, Nebuchadnezzar, conquered Judah in 605 b.c. and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 b.c.

³ tn Heb “and Babylon…will be like the overthrow by God of Sodom and Gomorrah.” On מַהְפֵּכַת (mahpekhat, “overthrow”) see the note on the word “destruction” in 1:7.

⁴ tn Heb “you will lift up this taunt over the king of Babylon, saying.”

⁵ tc The word in the Hebrew text (מַדְהֵבָה, madhevah) is unattested elsewhere and of uncertain meaning. Many (following the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a) assume a dalet-resh (ד-ר) confusion and emend the form to מַרְהֵבָה (marhevah, “onslaught”). See HALOT 548 s.v. II *מִדָּה and HALOT 633 s.v. *מַרְהֵבָה.

⁶ tn Heb “Some of your sons, who go out from you, whom you father.”

⁷ tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

⁸ tn Heb “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.