21:1–10 This cryptic poem about the Desert by the Sea forms a small-scale parallel to 13:1–14:23. First, it concerns the fall of Babylon, although this is not made explicit until near the end. The hearers thus remain in suspense. Second, it relates both to the situation of Isaiah’s day, when Babylon was one of the powers encouraging the assertion of independence over against Assyria, and to the later context of Isaiah 40–55 when Babylon was about to fall to Persia.

Third, the vision once again starts in the middle of things. Perhaps this was how it came to the prophet. In the winter, strong desert storms sweep north from the Negeb toward Jerusalem, and the vision begins with something like such a whirlwind. What does it stand for? It comes from a land of terror, the description used in 18:2…