Discovery BoxIsaiah 13:5 
Context13:5 They come from a distant land,
from the horizon. 1
It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment, 2
coming to destroy the whole earth. 3
Isaiah 13:17-18
Context13:17 Look, I am stirring up the Medes to attack them; 4
they are not concerned about silver,
nor are they interested in gold. 5
13:18 Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; 6
they have no compassion on a person’s offspring, 7
they will not 8 look with pity on children.
Isaiah 13:20
Context13:20 No one will live there again;
no one will ever reside there again. 9
No bedouin 10 will camp 11 there,
no shepherds will rest their flocks 12 there.
1 tn Heb “from the end of the sky.”
2 tn Or “anger”; cf. KJV, ASV “the weapons of his indignation.”
3 tn Or perhaps, “land” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT). Even though the heading and subsequent context (see v. 17) indicate Babylon’s judgment is in view, the chapter has a cosmic flavor that suggests that the coming judgment is universal in scope. Perhaps Babylon’s downfall occurs in conjunction with a wider judgment, or the cosmic style is poetic hyperbole used to emphasize the magnitude and importance of the coming event.
4 tn Heb “against them”; NLT “against Babylon.”
5 sn They cannot be bought off, for they have a lust for bloodshed.
6 tn Heb “and bows cut to bits young men.” “Bows” stands by metonymy for arrows.
7 tn Heb “the fruit of the womb.”
8 tn Heb “their eye does not.” Here “eye” is a metonymy for the whole person.
9 tn Heb “she will not be inhabited forever, and she will not be dwelt in to generation and generation (i.e., forever).” The Lord declares that Babylon, personified as a woman, will not be inhabited. In other words, her people will be destroyed and the Chaldean empire will come to a permanent end.
10 tn Or “Arab” (NAB, NASB, NIV); cf. CEV, NLT “nomads.”
11 tn יַהֵל (yahel) is probably a corrupted form of יֶאֱהַל (ye’ehal). See GKC 186 §68.k.
12 tn The words “their flocks” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text does not supply the object here, but see Jer 33:12.
