Isaiah 13:17-22 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 13:6-18

We have here a very elegant and lively description of the terrible confusion and desolation which should be made in Babylon by the descent which the Medes and Persians should make upon it. Those that were now secure and easy were bidden to howl and make sad lamentation; for, I. God was about to appear in wrath against them, and it is a fearful thing to fall into his hands: The day of the Lord is at hand (Isa. 13:6), a little day of judgment, when God will act as a just avenger of his own and... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 13:19-22

The great havoc and destruction which it was foretold should be made by the Medes and Persians in Babylon here end in the final destruction of it. 1. It is allowed that Babylon was a noble city. It was the glory of kingdoms and the beauty of the Chaldees? excellency; it was that head of gold (Dan. 2:37, 38); it was called the lady of kingdoms (Isa. 47:5), the praise of the whole earth (Jer. 51:41), like a pleasant roe (so the word signifies); but it shall be as a chased roe, Isa. 13:14. The... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 13:17

Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them ,.... The Babylonians; this explains who are meant by the sanctified and mighty ones, Isaiah 13:3 the Medes were a people that descended from Medai, one of the sons of Japheth, Genesis 10:2 as Josephus observes F9 Antiqu. Jud. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1. ; under these the Persians are included, though they are only mentioned, because Cyrus was sent by Cyaxares king of Media on this expedition against Babylon, and was made by him general of the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 13:18

Their bows also shall dash their young men to pieces ,.... 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 Cyropaedia, l. 2. sect. 1. , Cyrus came to Babylon... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 13:19

And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms ,.... The first and most ancient kingdom, Genesis 10:10 and now, at the time of its fall, the largest and most extensive; wherefore of the image Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, which was a representation of several kingdoms, this was the head, the head of gold, Daniel 2:31 so Babylon is called the "lady of kingdoms", Isaiah 47:5 the word here used for "glory" is the same with that which is rendered a "roe", Isaiah 13:14 . Babylon was once as a... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 13:20

It shall never be inhabited ,.... As it has not been since its utter destruction. Pausanias F16 Arcadica sive, l. 8. p. 509. , who lived in the times of Adrian, says, Babylon, the greatest city that ever the sun saw, that then there was nothing left of it but a wall: what is now called Babylon is a new city, and built in another place: neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation ; which is the same thing repeated in other and stronger terms, for the confirmation of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 13:21

But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there ,.... What sort of creatures are meant is not certain. The Targum renders it by a word which signifies monstrous, astonishing creatures; the Latin interpreter of it calls them apes. Jarchi and Kimchi say such are intended as are called martens or sables, a creature of the weasel kind. The Hebrew word does not much differ from the Arabic one used for "wild cats": and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures ; whose voices are very... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 13:22

And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses ,.... The Targum and Syriac version, "in their palaces", and so the Vulgate Latin; or "with their widows", such as have lost their mates: what creatures are here meant is very uncertain; we in general call them the wild beasts of the islands, because the word is sometimes used for islands; the Targum renders it "cats", wild ones; the Syriac version, "sirens"; and the Arabic, the "hyaenae"; the Septuagint version,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 13:17

Which shall not regard silver "Who shall hold silver of no account" - That is, who shall not be induced, by large offers of gold and silver for ransom, to spare the lives of those whom they have subdued in battle; their rage and cruelty will get the better of all such motives. We have many examples in the Iliad and in the Aeneid of addresses of the vanquished to the pity and avarice of the vanquishers, to induce them to spare their lives. Est domus alta: jacent penitus defossa talenta ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 13:18

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... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 13:6-18

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 13:19-22

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 13:17

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 13:18

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 13:19

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 13:20

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 13:21

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 13:22

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 13:17

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 13:18

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