Isaiah 13:15

15 But tough luck to stragglers - they'll be killed on the spot, throats cut, bellies ripped open,

Isaiah 13:15 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 13:15

Every one that is found shall be thrust through
With a sword, spear, or lance, and be slain; that is, everyone that is found in the city of Babylon; and so the Targum adds,

``and everyone that is found in it shall be slain;''

so Kimchi, in the midst of it, or without; in the street, as Jarchi. The orders of Cyrus ^F8 were, that those that were found without (in the streets) should be slain; and to proclaim in the Syriac language, that those that were within doors should continue there, but, if they were found without, they should be put to death; which orders were executed, and well agrees with this prophecy: and everyone that is joined [unto them] shall fall by the sword;
or "added" unto them; any of other nations that joined them as auxiliaries, see ( Revelation 18:4 ) or "that is gathered"; so the Septuagint, "they that are gathered"; that are gathered together in a body to resist the enemy, and defend themselves. Some render the word, "every one that is consumed", with age; neither old nor young, as follows, should be spared. The Targum is,

``everyone that enters into the fortified cities,''

flees there for safety and protection.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F8 Xenophon. Cyropaedia, l. 7. sect. 23.

Isaiah 13:15 In-Context

13 And yes, I'll even make the sky shake, and the earth quake to its roots Under the wrath of God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the Judgment Day of his raging anger.

14 Like a hunted white-tailed deer, like lost sheep with no shepherd, People will huddle with a few of their own kind, run off to some makeshift shelter.

15 But tough luck to stragglers - they'll be killed on the spot, throats cut, bellies ripped open,

16 Babies smashed on the rocks while mothers and fathers watch, Houses looted, wives raped.

17 "And now watch this: Against Babylon, I'm inciting the Medes, A ruthless bunch indifferent to bribes, the kind of brutality that no one can blunt.