Isaiah 13:18

18 And [their] bows will shatter young men. And they will not show mercy on [the] fruit of [the] womb; their eyes will not look compassionately on 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 And their children will be dashed into pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered, and their wives will be raped.

17 Look! I [am] stirring the Medes up against them, who do not value silver and do not delight in gold.

18 And [their] bows will shatter young men. And they will not show mercy on [the] fruit of [the] womb; their eyes will not look compassionately on children.

19 And Babylon, [the] glory of kingdoms, the splendor of the Chaldeans' pride, will be like {when God overthrew} Sodom and Gomorrah.

20 It will not be inhabited forever, and it will not be dwelled in {forever}; and no Arab will pitch a tent there, and shepherds will not allow [their flocks] to lie down there.