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They prepare the table, they set the watch, they eat, they drink: rise up, you princes, anoint the shield.
Verse Takeaways
1
Babylon's Final Feast
Commentators unanimously identify this verse as a vivid, prophetic snapshot of the night Babylon fell. It depicts the leaders feasting in reckless revelry, as recorded in the book of Daniel and by secular historians. The scene shifts abruptly from partying ('prepare the table, eat, drink') to panic ('rise up... anoint the shield'), capturing the moment the surprise attack by Cyrus began.
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Book Overview
Isaiah
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6
18th Century
Presbyterian
Prepare the table - This verse is one of the most striking and remarkable that occurs in this prophecy, or indeed in any part of Isaiah. It …
19th Century
Anglican
Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower.—These words (a historical infinitive) are better understood as indicative:
16th Century
Protestant
Prepare the table. These verbs may be taken for participles; as if he had said, “While they were preparing the table and appointing a gua…
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17th Century
Reformed Baptist
Prepare the table Set it, spread it, furnish it with all kind of provisions, as at a feast; and such an one Belshazzar ma…
Babylon was a flat country, abundantly watered. The destruction of Babylon, so often prophesied by Isaiah, was typical of the destruction of the gr…
13th Century
Catholic
The burden of the desert of the sea. Here the prophet threatens the enemies who oppressed Israel by taking their goods, e…
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