Isaiah 13:18

King James Version (KJV)

Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

Their bows also shall dash "Their bows shall dash" - Both Herodotus, 1:61, and Xenophon, Anab. iii., mention, that the Persians used large bows τοξα μεγαλα : and the latter says particularly that their bows were three cubits long, Anab. 4. They were celebrated for their archers, see Isaiah 22:6; Jeremiah 49:35. Probably their neighbours and allies, the Medes, dealt much in the same sort of arms. In Psalm 18:34, and Job 20:24, mention is made of a bow of steel; if the Persian bows were of metal, we may easily conceive that with a metalline bow of three cubits' length, and proportionably strong, the soldiers might dash and slay the young men, the weaker and unresisting of the inhabitants (for they are joined with the fruit of the womb and the children) in the general carnage on taking the city. תרתשנה terattashnah, shall be broken or shivered to pieces. This seems to refer, not to נערים nearim, young men, but to קשתות keshathoth, their bows. The bows of the young men shall be broken to pieces.

On the fruit, etc. "And on the fruit," etc. - A MS. of Dr. Kennicott's reads פרי ועל veal peri and on the fruit. And nine MSS. (three ancient) and two editions, with the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac, add likewise the conjunction ו vau, and, to על al, upon, afterwards.

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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

Their bows also - Bows and arrows were the usual weapons of the ancients in war; and the Persians were particularly skilled in their use. According to Xenophon, Cyrus came to Babylon with a great number of archers and slingers (Cyrop. ii. 1).

Shall dash the young men … - That is, they shall dash the young men to pieces, or kill them by their bows and arrows. Vulgate, ‹And with their arrows shall they slay the young.‘ The meaning of the word here rendered ‹dash to pieces,‘ is to smite suddenly to the ground.

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

We have here the terrible desolation of Babylon by the Medes and Persians. Those who in the day of their peace were proud, and haughty, and terrible, are quite dispirited when trouble comes. Their faces shall be scorched with the flame. All comfort and hope shall fail. The stars of heaven shall not give their light, the sun shall be darkened. Such expressions are often employed by the prophets, to describe the convulsions of governments. God will visit them for their iniquity, particularly the sin of pride, which brings men low. There shall be a general scene of horror. Those who join themselves to Babylon, must expect to share her plagues, Re 18:4. All that men have, they would give for their lives, but no man's riches shall be the ransom of his life. Pause here and wonder that men should be thus cruel and inhuman, and see how corrupt the nature of man is become. And that little infants thus suffer, which shows that there is an original guilt, by which life is forfeited as soon as it is begun. The day of the Lord will, indeed, be terrible with wrath and fierce anger, far beyond all here stated. Nor will there be any place for the sinner to flee to, or attempt an escape. But few act as though they believed these things.

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SDA Bible Commentary (limited)
Volume 1-7

19. The glory of kingdoms. It was not until a century after the time of Isaiah that, under the Chaldean dynasty, Babylon reached the peak of fame and achieved universal renown for its splendor and beauty.

Sodom. See on Gen. 19:24. Jeremiah, who saw Babylon at the height of its power, also predicted that its overthrow would be like that of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jer. 50:40). Its destruction would be absoluteâ€”it would never be rebuilt (Jer. 51:64). Such is also to be the fate of mystical Babylon at the end of the world (Rev. 18:21). During the lifetime of Isaiah the city of Babylon was utterly destroyed by Sennacherib (see on v. 17), yet it was soon rebuilt by Sennacherib’s son, Esarhaddon. Later, when Nebuchadnezzar became king of Babylon, he made it one of the most beautiful cities of the ancient world. Upon capturing Babylon in 539 the Medes and Persians did not destroy the city, but made it their capital. Half a century later, when the city rebelled, Xerxes partly destroyed it. Thenceforth it was never completely restored and lost its former pre-eminence. However, it became, in a partly ruined state, a capital of Alexander the Great after he took it in 331. This prophecy of Isaiah was therefore not fulfilled till some centuries after his death.

Not until the reign of Seleucus Nicator (312-280 b.c.) over the eastern division of Alexander’s empire (see on Dan. 7:6) did Babylon lose its place of importance. About 305 this king established a new capital on the Tigris 34 mi. (54 km.) north-northeast of Babylon, on the site of Opis, and named it Seleucia, after himself. The materials and part of the population of the new city were taken from Babylon, whose pre-eminence was thus permanently destroyed. Yet Babylon continued to be of some importance for perhaps two centuries more. By the time of Strabo, about 20 b.c. or a little later, the greater part of the city had become a vast desolation (Strabo xvi. 1. 5), though still inhabited. In the reign of Trajan (a.d. 98-117) it was a complete ruin.

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Cross References

shall dash

their eye

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Isaiah 13:18