Judgment of Babylon
Behold, the day the Lord comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
and to destroy its sinners from it.
-Isaiah 13:9
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.
-Isaiah 13:13
The Restoration of Jacob
The Lord would have compassion on Jacob and would again choose Israel. He would set them in their own land, and sojourners would join them, and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.
The people would take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel would possess them in the Lord’s land as male and female slaves. They would take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.
Israel’s Remnant Taunts Babylon
After the Lord had given them rest from their pain and turmoil and the hard service which they were made to serve, they were to take up a taunt against the king of Babylon.
The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
they break forth into singing.
-Isaiah 14:7
Prepare slaughter for his sons
because of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the earth,
And fill the face of the world with cities.
-Isaiah 14:21
The Lord would raise up against them and would cut them off from the Babylon name and remnant, descendants, and posterity. He would “sweep it with the broom of destruction.”
Oracles
The next section was made up of oracles concerning Assyria, Philistia, and Moab.
When the oppressor is no more,
and destruction has ceased,
and he who tramples underfoot
has vanished from the land,
then a throne will be established
in steadfast love,
and on it will sit in faithfulness
in the tent of David
one who judges and seeks justice
and is swift to do righteousness.
-Isaiah 16:4-5