6 Wail , for the day of the Lord is near ! It will come as destruction from the Almighty . 7 Therefore e all hands will fall limp , And every man's heart will melt . 8 They will be terrified , Pains and anguish will take hold of them; They will writhe like a woman in labor , They will look at one another in astonishment , Their faces aflame . 9 Behold , the day of the Lord is coming , Cruel , with fury and burning anger , To make the land a desolation ; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. 10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light ; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light . 11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity ; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless . 12 I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold And mankind than the gold of Ophir . 13 Therefore e I will make the heavens tremble , And the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the Lord of hosts In the day of His burning anger . 14 And it will be that like a hunted gazelle , Or like sheep with none to gather them, They will each turn to his own people , And each one flee to his own land . 15 Anyone who is found will be thrust through , And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword . 16 Their little ones also will be dashed to pieces Before their eyes ; Their houses will be plundered And their wives ravished . 17 Behold , I am going to stir up the Medes against them, Who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold . 18 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 .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Isaiah 13:6-18
Commentary on Isaiah 13:6-18
(Read Isaiah 13:6-18)
We have here the terrible desolation of Babylon by the Medes and Persians. Those who in the day of their peace were proud, and haughty, and terrible, are quite dispirited when trouble comes. Their faces shall be scorched with the flame. All comfort and hope shall fail. The stars of heaven shall not give their light, the sun shall be darkened. Such expressions are often employed by the prophets, to describe the convulsions of governments. God will visit them for their iniquity, particularly the sin of pride, which brings men low. There shall be a general scene of horror. Those who join themselves to Babylon, must expect to share her plagues, Revelation 18:4. All that men have, they would give for their lives, but no man's riches shall be the ransom of his life. Pause here and wonder that men should be thus cruel and inhuman, and see how corrupt the nature of man is become. And that little infants thus suffer, which shows that there is an original guilt, by which life is forfeited as soon as it is begun. The day of the Lord will, indeed, be terrible with wrath and fierce anger, far beyond all here stated. Nor will there be any place for the sinner to flee to, or attempt an escape. But few act as though they believed these things.