The dark day of the Lord (Isa 13:9-13:10)

“See!

The day of Yahweh comes!

It will be cruel!

There will be wrath

With fierce anger.

He will make the earth

A desolation.

He will destroy its sinners.

The stars of the heavens

Will not give their light.

Their constellations

Will not give their light.

The sun will be dark at its rising.

The moon

Will not shed its light.”

If the preceding section was about Babylon, this is a wider apocalyptic total destruction on the day of Yahweh, a kind of dark end of time. This day of the Lord will be a cruel day with wrath and anger. The earth will become desolate as sinners will be destroyed. All the heavenly lights will be extinguished. The stars in the heavens as well as the constellations will no longer give any light. Even the rising sun will be dark, while the moon will no longer glow. This will be a time of total darkness.

The stars (Sir 43:9-43:10)

“The glory

Of the stars

Is the beauty

Of heaven.

There are

A gleaming array,

In the heights

Of the Lord.

On the orders

Of the Holy One,

They stand

As ordered.

They never relax

In their watches.”

Sirach indicates that the stars show the glory of the heavens. They glow in the heights as ordered by the Lord. They stand there fixed by the Holy One as they never relax. Once again, we see a static view of the universe with everything in their fixed place according to God.