Isaiah 5:28

28 their arrows are sharp; all their bows drawn; their horses' hooves are like flint; their wheels like the whirlwind.

Isaiah 5:28 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 5:28

Whose arrows [are] sharp, and all their bows bent
Ready to shoot their arrows upon any occasion; and which being sharp, penetrated deep, and were deadly. This includes all kind of warlike instruments, with which they should come furnished, and ready prepared to do execution: their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint;
by those who rode upon them; who knowing how strong and firm they were, and that they were not worn out, nor hurt by the length of the way they came, would not spare to make haste upon them: and their wheels like a whirlwind;
that is, the wheels of their chariots, they used in battle, as Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret it; and so the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it: this metaphor denotes both the swiftness with which they should come, and the noise and rattling they should make, and the power and force in bearing down all before them. The Targum is,

``and his wheels swift as a tempest.''

Isaiah 5:28 In-Context

26 God will raise a signal to a nation from far away and whistle to them from the end of the earth— now look—hurrying, swiftly they come!

27 Not one is tired; not one stumbles; they don't rest or sleep; no belt is loose; no sandal broken;

28 their arrows are sharp; all their bows drawn; their horses' hooves are like flint; their wheels like the whirlwind.

29 Their roaring is like the lion; they roar like young lions; they growl, seize their prey, and carry it off, with no one to rescue.

30 On that day, they will roar over it like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks toward the land, there's darkness. Tyre and the Nile will be darkened by the clouds.