Isaiah 13:18

18 The attacking armies will shoot down the young men with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for children.”

Isaiah 13:18 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 13:18

[Their] bows also shall dash their young men to pieces,
&c.] That is, the bows of the Medes should dash in pieces the young men of the Babylonians. The meaning is, either that they should put them into their bows, instead of arrows, and shoot them upon the ground, or against a wall, and so dash them to pieces; or that they should first shoot them through with their arrows, and then dash them with their bows; according to Xenophon ^F12, Cyrus came to Babylon with great numbers of archers and slingers: and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb;
even of those that were in the womb, but should rip up women with child, and cut them in pieces: their eyes shall not spare children;
in the arms of their parents, or running to them, shrieking and crying, and in the utmost fright; and yet their tender and innocent age would meet with no mercy. The Medes were notorious for their cruelty ^F13, and which issued at last in the ruin of their empire.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Cyropaedia, l. 2. sect. 1.
F13 Ammian. Marcellin. l. 23. c. 6. Diodor. Sicul. l. 13. p. 342.

Isaiah 13:18 In-Context

16 Their little children will be dashed to death before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked, and their wives will be raped.

17 “Look, I will stir up the Medes against Babylon. They cannot be tempted by silver or bribed with gold.

18 The attacking armies will shoot down the young men with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for children.”

19 Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms, the flower of Chaldean pride, will be devastated like Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them.

20 Babylon will never be inhabited again. It will remain empty for generation after generation. Nomads will refuse to camp there, and shepherds will not bed down their sheep.