Isaiah 13:2-4

The Voice

Isaiah, like many prophets, bears a burden: speaking as God’s mouthpiece in the world. But the burden he bears is nothing compared to the punishing burden Babylon will face for the violence it inflicts on the small nations it is annexing. Isaiah “sees” this message; no one knows how. Was it a vision? Was it a dream? Was it an insight gleaned from some ordinary moment in his extraordinary life?

²Eternal One: Raise a signal on a bare mountaintop;
        flash the message; broadcast it widely.
    Shout out to the nations to assemble an army;
        wave them on and welcome them at the gates of the nobles.
³    I have enlisted them to be the ones to execute My fierce anger.
        They are mine—I have commanded and consecrated them—these high and mighty ones.

⁴Listen! There is restlessness and rumbling on the mountains,
    as a powerful company assembles.
Listen! There is an uproar among the nations
    as they gather their might together.
The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
    is mustering an army—thousands, maybe millions—for war.