The somewhat strange heading of this chapter, which does not make it immediately clear what the prophecy is about, is found nowhere else in the Bible. Some translations have the desert of the sea
instead. The phrase is thought to describe the area around the Persian Gulf. It is possible that Isaiah simply used this phrase to describe Babylon as a great plain with mighty rivers.
1 The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land.