Discovery BoxIsaiah 13:14-18 
Context13:14 Like a frightened gazelle 1
or a sheep with no shepherd,
each will turn toward home, 2
each will run to his homeland.
13:15 Everyone who is caught will be stabbed;
everyone who is seized 3 will die 4 by the sword.
13:16 Their children will be smashed to pieces before their very eyes;
their houses will be looted
and their wives raped.
13:17 Look, I am stirring up the Medes to attack them; 5
they are not concerned about silver,
nor are they interested in gold. 6
13:18 Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; 7
they have no compassion on a person’s offspring, 8
they will not 9 look with pity on children.
1 tn Or “like a gazelle being chased.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
2 tn Heb “his people” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “his nation” (cf. TEV “their own countries”).
3 tn Heb “carried off,” i.e., grabbed from the fleeing crowd. See HALOT 764 s.v. ספה.
4 tn Heb “will fall” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NLT “will be run through with a sword.”
5 tn Heb “against them”; NLT “against Babylon.”
6 sn They cannot be bought off, for they have a lust for bloodshed.
7 tn Heb “and bows cut to bits young men.” “Bows” stands by metonymy for arrows.
8 tn Heb “the fruit of the womb.”
9 tn Heb “their eye does not.” Here “eye” is a metonymy for the whole person.
