Isaiah 13:14

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

⁶Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty. ⁷Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man's heart will melt. ⁸Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look in astonishment at one another, their faces aflame with fear. ⁹Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming-cruel, with fury and burning anger-to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners within it. ¹⁰For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened when it rises, and the moon will not give its light. ¹¹I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will end the haughtiness of the arrogant and humiliate the pride of tyrants. ¹²I will make man scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir. ¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts on the day of His burning anger. ¹⁴Like a hunted gazelle and like a sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land.¹⁵Whoever is caught will be stabbed, and whoever is captured will die by the sword.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

as the: Isaiah 17:13, 1 Kings 22:17, 1 Kings 22:36

they shall: Isaiah 47:15, Jeremiah 50:16, Jeremiah 51:9, Revelation 18:9, Revelation 18:10

Reciprocal: Job 9:6 - shaketh Isaiah 14:6 - is persecuted Isaiah 16:2 - as Jeremiah 51:29 - the land Nahum 2:8 - Stand Nahum 3:18 - thy people Luke 21:25 - signs

Cross-References

Genesis 13:10
And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

Genesis 28:14
Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

Deuteronomy 3:27
Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west and north and south and east. See the land with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.

Isaiah 49:18
Lift up your eyes and look around. They all gather together; they come to you. As surely as I live, declares the LORD, you will wear them all as jewelry and put them on like a bride.

Isaiah 60:4
Lift up your eyes and look around: They all gather and come to you; your sons will come from afar, and your daughters will be carried on the arm.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And it shall be as the chased roe,.... That is, Babylon, and the inhabitants thereof, shall be like a roe when hunted by the dogs; which is a very fearful creature, and at the sight and noise of the dogs flies here and there for safety; just so should be the most courageous of the Babylonians, when their city should be taken. The Syriac version renders it, "they shall be"; and the Septuagint and Arabic versions, "they that are left shall be as the fleeing roe", such who fall not by the sword. Kimchi interprets it of people of other nations that should be in Babylon when taken, which agrees with the latter part of the verse:

and as a sheep that no man taketh up; the Septuagint and Arabic versions read, "as a straying sheep", that flees from the wolf; and there being none to fetch it back, and bring it to the flock, it wanders about and perishes:

they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee everyone into his own land; this is to be understood of such foreigners, who were called in by the king of Babylon to his assistance, and the defence of the city; who perceiving it to be taken, or in danger, fled to their own countries, from whence they came, and so left the city naked and defenceless, see Jeremiah 50:16.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And it shall be - Babylon shall be.

As the chased roe - Once so proud. lofty, arrogant, and self-confident; it shall be as the trembling gazelle, or the timid deer pursued by the hunter, and panting for safety. The word (צבי ts^ebı̂y) denotes a deer of the most delicate frame; the species that is most fleet and graceful in its movements; properly the “gazelle” (see Bochart’s “Hieroz.” i. 3. 25). ‘To hunt the antelope is a favorite amusement in the East, but which, from its extraordinary swiftness, is attended with great difficulty. On the first alarm, it flies like an arrow from the bow, and leaves the best-mounted hunter, and the fleetest dog, far behind. The sportsman is obliged to call in the aid of the falcon, trained to the work, to seize on the animal, and impede its motions, to give the dogs time to overtake it. Dr. Russel thus describes the chase of the antelope: “They permit horsemen, without dogs, if they advance gently, to approach near, and do not seem much to regard a caravan that passes within a little distance; but the moment they take the alarm, they bound away, casting from time to time a look behind: and if they find themselves pursued, they lay their horns backward, almost close on the shoulders, and flee with incredible swiftness. When dogs appear, they instantly take the alarm, for which reason the sportsmen endeavor to steal upon the antelope unawares, to get as near as possible before slipping the dogs; and then, pushing on at full speed, they throw off the falcon, which being taught to strike or fix upon the cheek of the game, retards its course by repeated attacks, until the greyhounds have time to get up.”’ - (Burder’s “Orient. Cus.”)

As a sheep - Or like a scattered flock of sheep in the wilderness that has no shepherd, and no one to collect them together; an image also of that which is timid and defenseless.

That no man taketh up - That is astray, and not under the protection of any shepherd. The meaning is, that that people, once so proud and self-confident, would become alarmed, and scattered, and be afraid of everything.

They shall every man turn unto his own people - Babylon was the capital of the pagan world. It was a vast and magnificent city; the center of many nations. It would be the place, therefore, where numerous foreigners would take up a temporary residence, as London and other large cities are now. Jeremiah Jeremiah 50:37 describes Babylon as containing a mingled population - ‘and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her’ - that is, “the colluvies gentium,” as Tacitus describes Rome in his time. Jeremiah also Jeremiah 50:28 describes this mingled multitude as fleeing and escaping out of the land of Babylon, when these calamities should come upon them. The idea in Isaiah is, that this great and mixed multitude would endeavor to escape the impending calamities, and flee to their own nations.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 13:14. "And the remnant"] Here is plainly a defect in this sentence, as it stands in the Hebrew text; the subject of the proposition is lost. What is it that shall be like a roe chased? The Septuagint happily supply it, οι καταλελειμμενοι, שאר shear, the remnant. A MS. here supplies the word יושב yosheb, the inhabitant; which makes a tolerably good sense; but I much prefer the reading of the Septuagint.

They shall - turn - "They shall look"] That is, the forces of the king of Babylon, destitute of their leader, and all his auxiliaries, collected from Asia Minor, and other distant countries, shall disperse and flee to their respective homes.