Isaiah 12 Isaiah’s name means “Jehovah is salvation,” and “salvation” is a key theme in this song. “In that day” refers to the day of Israel’s regathering and reunion and the righteous reign of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. The Jewish remnant will have come through the time of tribulation on earth (“the time of Jacob’s trouble,” Jer. 30:7), seen their Messiah, repented, and received Him by faith (Zech. 12:10–13:1; 14:4–11). Cleansed and established in their promised kingdom, the nation will praise the Lord and extol Him among the Gentiles. After chapters of judgment, warning, and messianic hope, Isaiah ends with a song of praise. This chapter looks forward to the day when Judah and Israel will be united, restored and redeemed and will respond with joy and thanksgiving for the salvation of the Lord. This chapter is both a prophetic picture of Israel’s national salvation (Romans 11:26) and an expression of praise for every believer in Yeshua. It looks ahead to the Messianic Kingdom when the King, Immanuel, reigns from Jerusalem.
V 1 Following God’s discipline for Israel’s sin, His wrath is replaced by comfort. This is an ongoing motif with God’s prophets – a word of judgment and discipline followed by a call to repentance and restoration. This comfort will come when Israel looks to the coming Messiah who will satisfy God’s righteous wrath for sin by His death on the cross. Israel and all nations will find comfort, peace and blessing in His redemption. We all can acknowledge God’s mercy. Our praise is rooted in the reality that His anger at our sin has been removed because of Messiah’s atoning work (Isaiah 53:4–5).
V 2 The Hebrew word for salvation here is Yeshua a direct linguistic link to the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Here Isaiah echoes the song of Moses from Ex. 15:2 write after God’s deliverance from the army of Egypt. It was also song at the rededication of the temple in Ezra’s day (Ps. 118:14) and at the close of every Passover Seder likely the Lord’s at His last Passover with His disciples (Mat. 26:30). Israel’s past redemption becomes the pattern for future deliverance. This verse proclaims trust over Ahaz’s fears in Isaiah 7:2. Fear fades when we fix are hope and confidence on the Lord as both our Redeemer and Defender. In times of uncertainty, we too need declare who God is when we are during our fears.
V 3 In Scripture, water often symbolizes life, cleansing, and the Spirit (John 4:14; 7:37–39). The plural “wells” points to the richness and abundance of God’s salvation in Messiah, past deliverance, present sanctification, and future glory. During Sukkot, the water-pouring ceremony at the Temple drew from this imagery. Yeshua used this backdrop to declare Himself the source of living water (John 7:37). Believers must draw daily from the “wells” through prayer, Scripture, and fellowship with the Spirit.
V 4–5 Israel’s restoration is never inward-only, it’s a call to declare God’s salvation to the nations (Genesis 12:3; Psalm 96:3). It is the same for us, “let the redeemed of the Lord say so” (Ps. 107:2). The “name” of the LORD speaks of His character and covenant faithfulness. Salvation naturally overflows into witness. We are not merely recipients but voices of God’s goodness, mercy and grace. Here the emphasis shifts to giving thanks and to proclaiming the Name of the Lord among all the nations of the earth. In that day of the Messiah’s kingdom, the remnant of Israel who have been redeemed will have a burning desire to let the whole world know what the Lord has done for them. With hearts bursting with joy over God’s wonderful salvation, they will be shouting and encouraging one another to praise the Lord. They will call to the nations to join them in exalting the Lord’s Name, for great is the Holy One of Israel who was now living among them. This is the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who has returned to establish God’s kingdom on earth. He will be sitting in Jerusalem as the ruler of the world.
V 6 The climax is not just what God has done, but that God dwells among His people (Zechariah 2:10; Revelation 21:3). “Holy One of Israel” is a title Isaiah uses 25 times pointing to God’s transcendence and covenant faithfulness. In Yeshua, God tabernacled among us (John 1:14). In the coming Kingdom, His presence will fill the nation with unending joy. Our ultimate hope is God’s presence, not merely His gifts.
In this chapter we learn that God’s discipline has a purpose and ends in comfort for those who repentant. The name Yeshua in the text ties the prophecy directly to Jesus. We see God’s abundant grace in the plural “wells” demonstration God’s salvation is inexhaustible. Israel’s worship moves outward to the nations who join with Israel in proclaim Praise. The joy of Zion is rooted in the indwelling presence of the Holy One.
Isaiah 12 is a prophetic preview of the redeemed remnant of Israel and the nations worshiping together in the Messianic Kingdom. But it’s also a song every believer can sing now. Today we can in Messiah turn from fear to faith, drawing joyfully from Messiah’s living water. Together we can join God’s mission to make His deeds known to all peoples and long for the day when the Holy One of Israel reigns visibly in Zion.
V 1-5 Isaiah 13 begins a section through chapter 23 that is described as God’s Word against the Nations. It begins with God’s decrees against Babylon. Babylon at this time was not yet the world empire it would later become under Nebuchadnezzar. In Isaiah’s time (8th century BC), Assyria was the dominant power. Yet God gave Isaiah a vision of Babylon’s rise and ultimate fall. Isaiah uses the phrase “oracle” or “burden” to mark a prophetic pronouncement of judgment. The chapter looks forward not only to Babylon’s destruction by the Medes (539 BC), but also to the future “Day of the LORD.”
The word “Babel” means “gateway to a god” and sounds like the Hebrew word balal, which means “confusion” (Gen. 10:8–10; 11:1–9). In Scripture, Babylon symbolizes the world system man has built in defiance of God. Jerusalem and Babylon are contrasting cities: One is the chosen city of God, the other the wicked city of man. The city of God will last forever, but the rebellious city of man will ultimately be destroyed (Rev. 14:8; 16:19; 17–18). In these verses God musters His army. God as sovereign over all can call any army He desires, to accomplish any task He assigns. In Isa. 7:18 He called them with a whistle. Here God musters the army of the Medes (v. 17; 21:2); and calls them “My sanctified ones.” Even though they did not believe in The Lord, the Medes were set apart by God to do His holy work. These “mighty ones” are instruments of His wrath. Though they think they act for their own gain, they are under God’s sovereign direction. This anticipates the coalition of the Medes and Persians, who conquered Babylon in 539 BC (cf. Daniel 5). God raises up nations to fulfill His purposes, even to bring down empires that seem unshakable.
V 6-8 Isaiah looks beyond Babylon to “the day of the Lord” (v. 6). He describes creation shaken pointing to God’s judgment of the earth (vv. 9–10). We find similar descriptions in Joel 2, Matthew 24, and Revelation 6 describing God’s coming judgment. Man’s response is described as terror with hearts melting, hands going limp, and pain like a woman in childbirth with faces aflame (vv. 7–8). Babylon is a prototype of all the nations who will be judged for their rebellion against God.’
Throughout these judgments on the nations in chapters 13–20, Isaiah is making one the point that the God of Israel is not a local deity and not a tribal god. He is the Lord of the nations, they are all accountable to him, their fates and fortunes are in his hands alone, he will have the final word, and he will vindicate the faith of his people. We learn that individuals are judged in eternity, but nations are judged in time. Nations rise and fall based on God’s purposes and will.
V 9-12 In these verses the judgment on Babylon expands to cover the whole world. What follows in vv.10–13 strongly suggest that there is a transition to not just one nation but all nations. Matthew 24 shows Jesus, doing the same thing transitioning from a local judgment that was to fall on Jerusalem to the great events that would lead up to his second coming and the end of the age.
God created the world as an ideal environment for mankind, as Genesis 1 reveals. The Fall however disturbed this order as we see in the events that follow. Paul describes this in Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. In v.10 we see God’s hand of judgment falling on the heavens, whose regular courses provide a witness of an ordered universe. But their light-giving functions will be compromised and man will begin to experience a growing terror of impending judgment.
Isaiah points to what he cited in Israel, arrogance and pride as a prime reason for God’s judgment (v.11; cf. 2:11–18; 3:16–24; 10:8–16). Human pride is an insult to the God who is highly exalted and to whom all should acknowledge in worship and thanksgiving. Men will become scarce as God’s judgment falls on the nations.
V 13-16 – The people will be scattered and confused and hunted like wild animals and without a leader. Like scenes that will have been described when Israel’s enemies attacked them the Lord will cause them to turn against one another just to stay alive. They are compared to wild game that are captured and killed (13:14). No one will be left alive; every man, woman, and child will die. Even the small innocent children will be savagely killed while their parents helplessly watch. Their wives will be raped; anarchy and inhumanity will reign. There will be no safe place where one can hide, not even in one’s own home (13:16). These verses picture the horrors of war and the suffering of those who are defeated in battle. We should not think that God is happy about these events, but this is the result that sin leads to. The picture is more horrible than what anyone can imagine or describe. The earth will be in disarray as nature itself collapses. Government, respect, civility, kindness, and hope will totally disappear and chaos will reign until God will finally eradicate it all from the face of the earth.
V 17–22 God specifically names the Medes as the agents of Babylon’s fall (v. 17)—an amazing prediction since the Medes were not a significant power in that day.
Having described the horrors of God’s judgment of the “Day of the Lord”, the prophet now turns to apply that principle regarding Babylon’s judgment. The reference to the Medes as the nation that God will use to defeat the Babylonians is parallel to God’s use of Assyria as his rod of punishment in 10:5 or God’s sending Nebuchadnezzar to defeat Judah in Jer 25:1, 9. In each case God was the one directing the course of history through the use of strong armies. These examples provide parallels to how God controls history even today and how he will bring about his will through historical events in every era.
God’s will “stir up, arouse” the Medes to act against Babylon (13:19). They will destroy their enemies, without having “compassion” on anyone, not even infants or young children (13:18). Their ruthlessness is described as showing no pity (v. 18). Babylon, once the “beauty of kingdoms” will be overthrown like Sodom and Gomorrah and left completely desolate, never to be inhabited again. History confirms that after Babylon’s capture, it slowly declined, and by the early centuries AD it was largely uninhabited. Today it remains ruins. God’s word of judgment is precise, accurate, and fulfilled—both in history and in the future.
Chapter 13 continues to demonstrate God’s sovereignty over nations and toppling empires. Babylon’s pride and splendor could not protect it from divine judgment. In their judgment we have a foreshadowing of the Day of the Lord. Babylon typifies man’s pride and God’s response of judgment. Babylon represents human pride, arrogance, and rebellion against God (Genesis 11, Revelation 17–18). Its fall is a warning to all powers who exalt themselves.
In response we need to trust in God, not nations: Political and military powers rise and fall, but the Lord rules history. In light of this we should live each day with eternity in mind. The Day of the Lord reminds us that human pride will be humbled, but those who seek refuge in the Messiah will stand both today and in the future. This should also remind us that we can find comfort in God’s justice. God does not overlook arrogance and cruelty. Babylon’s downfall assures us that God will set all things right.
