Isaiah 13:8

8 Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.

Isaiah 13:8 in Other Translations

8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

8 They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.

8 and people are terrified. Pangs of anguish grip them, like those of a woman in labor. They look helplessly at one another, their faces aflame with fear.

8 and unstrung, Doubled up in pain like a woman giving birth to a baby. Horrified - everyone they see is like a face out of a nightmare.

8 They will be horrified; pain and agony will seize [them]; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look at each other, their faces flushed with fear.

Isaiah 13:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 13:8

And they shall be afraid
Troubled, dismayed, frightened, at the sudden taking of the city, and at the sight of Cyrus's troops marching up into the very heart of it, and to the king's palace: pangs and sorrow shall take hold of them;
as convulsions, pains in the bowels more fully explained in the next clause: they shall be in pain, as a woman that travaileth;
that is in labour, and ready to bring forth her child, whose pains are very sharp, and agonies great; the same is said of the king of Babylon, ( Jeremiah 50:43 ) : they shall be amazed one at another;
that so great a city should be so surprised, and so suddenly taken; and that they shall not be able to help one another; and that such as were so famous for courage and valour should be at once so dispirited: their faces [shall be as] flames;
not red with blushing, through shame, as Kimchi; but pale with fear, as the colour of flame, or, as the faces of smiths, that work at a forge: the words may be rendered, "their faces are as the faces of Lehabim" ^F4; the name of a people mentioned in ( Genesis 10:13 ) the same with the Libians, which were of a blackish or tawny colour; so Jarchi interprets it, and says they were a people of a yellow complexion: and Aben Ezra observes, that some interpret it of a nation like the Ethiopians; and so it denotes, that the Babylonians, their faces should be black with distress and anguish; see ( Joel 2:6 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (Mhynp Mybhl ynp) "ut facies Lehabim, [sive] Lybiorum facies eorum", Gataker.

Isaiah 13:8 In-Context

6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.

7 Because of this, all hands will go limp, every heart will melt with fear.

8 Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.

9 See, the day of the LORD is coming —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger— to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.

10 The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.

Cross References

• 1. S Psalms 31:13; S Psalms 48:5; S Isaiah 21:4
• 2. Exodus 15:14
• 3. S Genesis 3:16; S John 16:21
• 4. Joel 2:6; Nahum 2:10