Isaiah 13:2 - Exposition

Lift ye up a banner ; rather, a standard — " an ensign ," as in Isaiah 5:26 : Isaiah 11:12 . "Ensigns" were used both by the Assyrians and the Egyptians. "Banners," or flags, do not seem to have been employed in the ancient world. Upon the high mountain ; rather, upon a bare mountain—one that was clear of trees, so that the signal might be the better seen from it. God's army having to be summoned against Babylon, the summons is made in three ways:

The whole description is, of course, pure metaphor. That they may go into the gates of the nobles . Either that they may enter into the palaces of the grandees in Babylon, or that they may take the towns of the tributary princes.