Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole 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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole 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.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Image for mighty revolutions (Isaiah 24:19; Isaiah 34:4; Habakkuk 3:6, Habakkuk 3:10; Haggai 2:6, Haggai 2:7; Revelation 20:11).

Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

Thus does the wrath of God prevail among men, casting down and destroying; and the natural world above and below cannot fail to take part in it. “Therefore I shake the heavens, and the earth trembles away from its place, because of the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and because of the day of His fierce anger.” The two Beths have a causative meaning (cf., Isaiah 9:18). They correspond to ‛al - cēn (therefore), of which they supply the explanation. Because the wrath of God falls upon men, every creature which is not the direct object of the judgment must become a medium in the infliction of it. We have here the thought of Isaiah 13:9 repeated as a kind of refrain (in a similar manner to Isaiah 5:25). Then follow the several disasters. The first is flight.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

Therefore — A poetical and prophetical description of great horrors and confusions, as if heaven and earth were about to meet together.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

Isaiah 13:13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

Ver. 13. Therefore I will shake the heavens,] i.e., For the pride, arrogance, cruelty, and other impieties of these Babylonians, I will bring upon them tragic calamities and horrid confusions, so that they shall think that heaven and earth are blended together, and each be ready to say,

“ In me omnis terraeque, polique, marisque, ruiua est. ”

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place; a poetical and prophetical description of great errors and confusions, as if heaven and earth were about to meet together.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

13.Therefore — Rather, because; because of the wickedness described in Isaiah 13:11.

Shake the heavens’ earth shall remove — Strong figures are now resumed; and what the darkening of the lights of heaven before expressed is here denoted by the general commotion of the frame of nature. Similar examples in the use of such figures are in 1 Samuel 22:8; Habakkuk 3:6; Habakkuk 3:10; Revelation 20:11.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Heaven. With thunders.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

I will shake the heavens - image for mighty revolutions (Isaiah 24:19; Isaiah 34:4; Habakkuk 3:6; Habakkuk 3:10; Haggai 2:6-7; Revelation 20:11).

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) Therefore I will shake.—The description of the great day of the Lord meets us in like terms in Haggai 2:6, Hebrews 12:26, carried in both instances beyond the overthrow of Babylon or any particular kingdom to that of every world-power that resists the righteousness of God.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

I will

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

the earth

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

in the wrath

Psalms 110:5,6; Lamentations 1:12; Nahum 1:4-6

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

13.Therefore I will shake the heavens. This is another figure of speech which contributes in a similar manner to heighten the picture. God cannot too earnestly urge this doctrine, not only to terrify the wicked, but to afford consolation to the godly, who are often distressed when it is well with the wicked, and when everything succeeds to their wish. David acknowledges that this happened to himself; for he says,

Surely in vain have I purified my heart,
and washed any hands in innocency. (Psalms 73:13.)

Properly, therefore, are these pictures set before our eyes, that they may plainly declare to us the destruction of the wicked. Thus it is as if Isaiah had said, “Though heaven and earth be moved, that the ungodly may be shaken and destroyed, nevertheless this will take place.” They think that they are out of all danger, and that they have struck their roots so deep that they cannot be rooted out; but he shows that they are greatly deceived, for the Lord will move both heaven and earth rather than not cast them down headlong. Hence it follows that, though the world present to us a thousand supports both above and below, still there will be no permanency but through the favor of God. And if this is made known in judgments of God relating to particular cases, how much more in the universal judgment, when Christ will ascend his magnificent judgment-seat, to destroy the ungodly!