Isaiah 13:16-18

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; ¹ 

they are not concerned about silver,

nor are they interested in gold. ² 

13:18 Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; ³ 

they have no compassion on a person’s offspring, ⁴ 

they will not ⁵  look with pity on children.

[13:17]  ¹ tn Heb “against them”; NLT “against Babylon.”

[13:17]  ² sn They cannot be bought off, for they have a lust for bloodshed.

[13:18]  ³ tn Heb “and bows cut to bits young men.” “Bows” stands by metonymy for arrows.

[13:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “the fruit of the womb.”

[13:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “their eye does not.” Here “eye” is a metonymy for the whole person.