Isaías 13:18

18 con arcos barrerán a los jóvenes, no tendrán compasión del fruto del vientre, ni de los niños tendrán piedad sus ojos.

Isaías 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.

Isaías 13:18 In-Context

16 También sus pequeños serán estrellados delante de sus ojos; serán saqueadas sus casas y violadas sus mujeres.

17 He aquí, incitaré contra ellos a los medos, que no estiman la plata ni se deleitan en el oro;

18 con arcos barrerán a los jóvenes, no tendrán compasión del fruto del vientre, ni de los niños tendrán piedad sus ojos.

19 Y Babilonia, hermosura de los reinos, gloria del orgullo de los caldeos, será como cuando Dios destruyó a Sodoma y a Gomorra;

20 nunca más será poblada ni habitada de generación en generación; no pondrá tienda allí el árabe, ni los pastores harán descansar allí sus rebaños;