Footnotes

1. Isaiah 13:1 The oracles grouped together in chapters 13–23 arose in historical situations that were very diverse and often remote from one another in time. Some of the oracles were composed by Isaiah, others by some of his later disciples. These inspired men saw in the development of events and the collisions of peoples a fulfillment of the judgment of God, who offers salvation to every people that turns to him. Discreetly but firmly, the national boundaries of Israel are ignored, and the theme of the call of the nations makes its appearance.
2. Isaiah 13:1 The editor of the Book attributes this lament to Isaiah himself. This lament describes the fall of Babylon after the manner of the fall of Nineveh. In fact, the city conquered by Cyrus in 539 B.C., was not destroyed, but the disappearance of the Assyrian capital, like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, always remained a paradigm for the prophets.