Isaiah 13:13

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

⁶Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty. ⁷Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man's heart will melt. ⁸Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look in astonishment at one another, their faces aflame with fear. ⁹Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming-cruel, with fury and burning anger-to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners within it. ¹⁰For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened when it rises, and the moon will not give its light. ¹¹I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will end the haughtiness of the arrogant and humiliate the pride of tyrants. ¹²I will make man scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir. ¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts on the day of His burning anger.¹⁴Like a hunted gazelle and like a sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land. ¹⁵Whoever is caught will be stabbed, and whoever is captured will die by the sword.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I will: Joel 3:16, Haggai 2:6, Haggai 2:7, Haggai 2:21, Haggai 2:22, Matthew 24:29, Hebrews 12:26, Hebrews 12:27, Revelation 6:13, Revelation 6:14

the earth: Jeremiah 4:23, Jeremiah 4:24, Matthew 24:35, 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 20:11

in the wrath: Psalms 110:5, Psalms 110:6, Lamentations 1:12, Nahum 1:4-6

Reciprocal: Job 9:6 - shaketh Psalms 29:8 - shaketh Jeremiah 51:29 - the land Luke 21:25 - signs

Cross-References

Genesis 6:11
Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence.

Genesis 10:9
He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; so it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD."

Genesis 13:4
to the site where he had built the altar. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

Genesis 13:6
But the land was unable to support both of them while they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they were unable to coexist.

Genesis 13:8
So Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no contention between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen. After all, we are brothers.

Genesis 13:9
Is not the whole land before you? Now separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left."

Genesis 13:11
So Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan for himself and set out toward the east. And Abram and Lot parted company.

Genesis 15:16
In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete."

Genesis 18:20
Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,

Genesis 38:7
But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the LORD's sight; so the LORD put him to death.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Therefore will I shake the heavens,.... Some think this was literally fulfilled at the taking of Babylon, when the heavens were shook with dreadful thunders and lightnings; as well as what is said above of the sun, moon, and stars, not giving their light; and so is likewise what follows,

and the earth shall remove out of her place; and that there was a violent shock by an earthquake at the same time; but rather all this is to be understood figuratively, as expressive of the great confusion men would then be in, it being as if all nature was convulsed, and heaven and earth were coming together, or rather dissolving:

in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger; when that should be; or through it, or because of it, as the Septuagint, see Isaiah 13:6 compare with this Revelation 16:18 which expresses the destruction of mystical Babylon in much such language.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Therefore I will shake the heavens - A strong, but common figure of speech in the Scriptures, to denote great commotions, judgments, and revolutions. The figure is taken from the image of a furious storm and tempest, when the sky, the clouds, the heavens, appear to be in commotion; compare 1 Samuel 22:8 :

Then the earth shook and trembled,

The foundation of heaven moved and shook,

Because he was wroth.

See also Isaiah 24:19-20; Haggai 2:6-7.

And the earth shall remove out of her place - A common figure in the Scriptures to denote the great effects of the wrath of God; as if even the earth should be appalled at his presence, and should tremble and flee away from the dread of his anger. It is a very sublime representation, and, as carried out often by the sacred writers, it is unequalled in grandeur, probably, in any language. Thus the hills, the mountains, the trees, the streams, the very heavens, are represented as shaken, and thrown into consternation at the presence of God; see Habakkuk 3:6, Habakkuk 3:10 :

He stood and measured the earth;

He beheld and drove asunder the nations;

And the everlasting mountains were scattered.

The perpetual hills did bow;

His ways are everlasting.

The mountains saw thee and they trembled;

The overflowing of the water passed by;

The deep uttered his voice,

And did lift up his hands on high.

See Revelation 20:11 : ‘And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.’ The figure in Isaiah is a strong one to denote the terror of the anger of God against Babylon.