Isaiah 13:18

Young's Literal Translation

And bows dash young men to pieces, And the fruit of the womb they pity not, On sons their eye hath no pity.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Their bows will cut young men to pieces.They will have no compassion on offspring;they will not look with pity on children.

Hebrew Names Version
[Their] bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

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

English Standard Version
Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children.

New American Standard Bible
And their bows will mow down the young men, They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, Nor will their eye pity children.

New Century Version
Their soldiers will shoot the young men with arrows; they will show no mercy on children, nor will they feel sorry for little ones.

Amplified Bible
Their bows will cut down the young men [of Babylon]; They will take no pity on the fruit of the womb, Their eyes will not look with compassion on the children.

World English Bible
[Their] bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

Geneva Bible (1587)
With bowes also shall they destroy ye children, and shall haue no compassion vpon the fruit of the wombe, and their eies shall not spare the children.

Legacy Standard Bible
And their bows will dash the young men to pieces,They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,Nor will their eye pity children.

Berean Standard Bible
Their bows will dash young men to pieces; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; they will not look with pity on the children.

Contemporary English Version
Their arrows will slaughter the young men; no pity will be shown to babies and children.

Complete Jewish Bible
Their bows will tear young men to pieces, they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb, their eye will not spare children."

Darby Translation
And [their] bows 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.

Easy-to-Read Version
They will walk on the bows of the young soldiers of Babylon. The enemy soldiers will not show any kindness or mercy even to the babies and young children.

George Lamsa Translation
The bows of young men shall be broken in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eyes shall not spare children.

Good News Translation
With their bows and arrows they will kill the young men. They will show no mercy to babies and take no pity on children.

Lexham English Bible
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.

Literal Translation
And bows shall also smash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare sons.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then shall yonge mens bowes be knapped asunder. The Medes shal haue no pitie vpo wome wt childe, & their faces shall not spare ye childre.

American Standard Version
And their bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

Bible in Basic English
In their hands are bows and spears; they are cruel, violently putting the young men to death, and crushing the young women; they have no pity for children, and no mercy for the fruit of the body.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And their bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

King James Version (1611)
Their bowes also shall dash the yong men to pieces, and they shall haue no pitie on the fruit of the wombe; their eye shall not spare children.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
With bowes shall they destroy the young men, and haue no pitie on women with chylde, and their faces shall not spare the chyldren.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
They shall break the bows of the young men; and they shall have no mercy on your children; nor shall their eyes spare thy children.

English Revised Version
And their bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
but thei shulen sle litle children bi arowis, and thei schulen not haue merci on wombis yyuynge mylk, and the iye of them schal not spare on sones.

Update Bible Version
And [their] bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare sons.

Webster's Bible Translation
[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.

New English Translation
Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; they have no compassion on a person's offspring, they will not look with pity on children.

New King James Version
Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces, And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; Their eye will not spare children.

New Living Translation
The attacking armies will shoot down the young men with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for children."

New Life Bible
Their bows will cut down the young men. They will have no pity on babies. Their eyes will not pity children.

New Revised Standard
Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, bows, shall dash the young to pieces, - And on the fruit of the womb, will they have no pity, Over children, will their eye throw no shield.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But with their arrows they shall kill the children, and shall have no pity upon the sucklings of the womb, and their eye shall not spare their sons.

Revised Standard Version
Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And their bows will mow down the young men, They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, Nor will their eye pity children.

Contextual Overview

⁶ Howl ye, for near [is] the day of Jehovah, As destruction from the Mighty it cometh. ⁷ Therefore, all hands do fail, And every heart of man doth melt. ⁸ And they have been troubled, Pains and pangs they take, As a travailing woman they are pained, A man at his friend they marvel, The appearance of flames -- their faces! ⁹ Lo, the day of Jehovah doth come, Fierce, with wrath, and heat of anger, To make the land become a desolation, Yea, its sinning ones He destroyeth from it. ¹⁰ For the stars of the heavens, and their constellations, Cause not their light to shine, Darkened hath been the sun in its going out, And the moon causeth not its light to come forth. ¹¹ And I have appointed on the world evil, And on the wicked their iniquity, And have caused to cease the excellency of the proud, And the excellency of the terrible I make low. ¹² I make man more rare than fine gold, And a common man than pure gold of Ophir. ¹³ Therefore the heavens I cause to tremble, And the earth doth shake from its place, In the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts, And in a day of the heat of his anger. ¹⁴ And it hath been, as a roe driven away, And as a flock that hath no gatherer, Each unto his people -- they turn, And each unto his land -- they flee. ¹⁵ Every one who is found is thrust through, And every one who is added falleth by sword.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

shall dash: Isaiah 13:16, 2 Kings 8:12, Hosea 13:16, Nahum 2:1, Nahum 3:10

their eye: 2 Chronicles 36:17, Ezekiel 9:5, Ezekiel 9:6, Ezekiel 9:10

Reciprocal: Genesis 45:20 - regard not 2 Chronicles 36:22 - the Lord stirred Psalms 109:12 - favour Isaiah 9:17 - have no joy Isaiah 9:19 - no man Isaiah 21:1 - from Isaiah 21:2 - Go up Isaiah 21:5 - arise Isaiah 40:30 - General Isaiah 48:14 - he will do Jeremiah 6:23 - They shall Jeremiah 21:7 - he shall Jeremiah 28:8 - prophesied Jeremiah 50:3 - out of the Jeremiah 50:9 - none Jeremiah 50:14 - in array Jeremiah 50:25 - opened Jeremiah 50:41 - General Jeremiah 50:42 - they are cruel Jeremiah 50:45 - surely he Jeremiah 51:11 - the Lord hath Daniel 7:5 - Arise Revelation 17:16 - these

Cross-References

Genesis 8:20
And Noah buildeth an altar to Jehovah, and taketh of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and causeth burnt-offerings to ascend on the altar;

Genesis 13:4
unto the place of the altar which he made there at the first, and there doth Abram preach in the name of Jehovah.

Genesis 13:7
and there is a strife between those feeding Abram's cattle and those feeding Lot's cattle; and the Canaanite and the Perizzite [are] then dwelling in the land.

Genesis 13:8
And Abram saith unto Lot, `Let there not, I pray thee, be strife between me and thee, and between my shepherds and thy shepherds, for we [are] men -- brethren.

Genesis 14:13
And one who is escaping cometh and declareth to Abram the Hebrew, and he is dwelling among the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner, and they [are] Abram's allies.

Genesis 18:1
And Jehovah appeareth unto him among the oaks of Mamre, and he is sitting at the opening of the tent, about the heat of the day;

Genesis 23:2
and Sarah dieth in Kirjath-Arba, which [is] Hebron, in the land of Caanan, and Abraham goeth in to mourn for Sarah, and to bewail her.

Genesis 35:27
And Jacob cometh unto Isaac his father, at Mamre, the city of Arba (which [is] Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac have sojourned.

Genesis 37:14
and he saith to him, `Go, I pray thee, see the peace of thy brethren, and the peace of the flock, and bring me back word;' and he sendeth him from the valley of Hebron, and he cometh to Shechem.

Numbers 13:22
and they go up by the south, and come in unto Hebron, and there [are] Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, children of Anak (and Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt),

Gill's Notes on the Bible

[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 l, 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 m, and which issued at last in the ruin of their empire.

l Cyropaedia, l. 2. sect. 1. m Ammian. Marcellin. l. 23. c. 6. Diodor. Sicul. l. 13. p. 342.

Barnes' Notes on the 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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 13:18. Their bows also shall dash - "Their bows shall dash"] Both Herodotus, i. 61, and Xenophon, Anab. iii., mention, that the Persians used large bows τοξαμεγαλα: and the latter says particularly that their bows were three cubits long, Anab. iv. They were celebrated for their archers, see Isaiah 22:6; Jeremiah 49:35. Probably their neighours and allies, the Medes, dealt much in the same sort of arms. In Psalms 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, &c. - "And on the fruit," &c.] A MS. of Dr. Kennicott's reads ועל פרי 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.