Isaiah 13:8

Isa 13:8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces [shall be as] flames.

Ver. 8. And they shall be afraid.]

“ Conturbabuntur -

Innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus. ”

They shall be amazed one at another.] Amused, amazed, amated, as being at their wits’ ends.

Their faces shall be as flames.] So Jer 30:5-6, a voice of fear and trembling, every man with his hands on his loins, the posture of a travailling woman, and all faces turned into paleness. The prophet here alludeth, saith Musculus, to the face of a smith at dark night, when he standeth blowing his fire, for his face appears as if it had no blood in it, most wan and pale. Or, as others think, to a man frightened, who first looketh pale, the blood running to the heart to relieve it, afterwards, upon the return of the blood to the outward parts, he looketh red, and of a flame colour.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13:8 Pangs . . . like those of a woman in labor: The day of the Lord brings sudden and overpowering pain and fear for the wicked (see also Jer 30:6; Hos 13:13; Mic 4:9, 10; 5:3).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Babylonians’ anger and grief shall be so much, that their faces shall burn as fire.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

pangs--The Hebrew means also a "messenger." HORSLEY, therefore, with the Septuagint translates, "The heralds (who bring word of the unexpected invasion) are terrified." MAURER agrees with English Version, literally, "they shall take hold of pangs and sorrows."

woman . . . travaileth-- (Th1 5:3).

amazed--the stupid, bewildered gaze of consternation.

faces . . . flames--"their visages have the livid hue of flame" [HORSLEY]; with anguish and indignation.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. And they shall be afraid - "And they shall be terrified"] I join this verb, ונבהלו venibhalu, to the preceding verse, with the Syriac and Vulgate.

Pangs and sorrows shall take hold on them - "Pangs shall seize them"] The Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee read יאחזום yochezum, instead of יאחזון yochezun, which does not express the pronoun them, necessary to the sense.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. they shall be amazed one at another] i.e. “look in horror on each other.”

their faces shall be as flames] Lit. faces of flames are their faces, burning with feverish excitement, or perhaps with shame (Eze_7:18). There are no exact parallels to the expression; cf. Joe_2:6; Nah_2:10.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they shall be afraid,.... Troubled, dismayed, frightened, at the sudden taking of the city, and at the sight of Cyrus's troops marching up into the very heart of it, and to the king's palace:

pangs and sorrow shall take hold of them; as convulsions, pains in the bowels, &c. more fully explained in the next clause:

they shall be in pain, as a woman that travaileth; that is in labour, and ready to bring forth her child, whose pains are very sharp, and agonies great; the same is said of the king of Babylon, Jer 50:43,

they shall be amazed one at another; that so great a city should be so surprised, and so suddenly taken; and that they shall not be able to help one another; and that such as were so famous for courage and valour should be at once so dispirited:

their faces shall be as flames; not red with blushing, through shame, as Kimchi; but pale with fear, as the colour of flame, or, as the faces of smiths, that work at a forge: the words may be rendered, "their faces are as the faces of Lehabim" (d); the name of a people mentioned in Gen 10:13 the same with the Libians, which were of a blackish or tawny colour; so Jarchi interprets it, and says they were a people of a yellow complexion: and Aben Ezra observes, that some interpret it of a nation like the Ethiopians; and so it denotes, that the Babylonians, their faces should be black with distress and anguish; see Joe 2:6.

(d) "ut facies Lehabim, sive Lybiorum facies eorum", Gataker.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

They shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth - This comparison is often used in the Scriptures to denote the deepest possible pain and sorrow, as well as the suddenness with which any calamity comes upon a people Psa 48:6; Isa 21:3; Isa 42:14; Jer 6:24; Jer 13:21; Jer 22:23; Jer 49:24; Jer 50:43; Hos 13:13; Mic 4:9-10; Joh 16:21; Gal 4:19; 1Th 5:3.

They shall be amazed one at another - They shall stare with a stupid gaze on one another, indicating a state of great distress, anxiety, and alarm. They shall look to each other for aid, and shall meet in the countenances of others the same expressions of wonder and consternation.

Their faces shall be as flames - Their faces shall glow or burn like fire. When grief and anguish come upon us, the face becomes inflamed. The face in fear is usually pale. But the idea here is not so much that of fear as of anguish; and, perhaps, there is mingled also here the idea of indignation against their invaders.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Burnt. Black with despair, Nahum ii. 10., and Joel ii. 6.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

They shall be amazed one at another, to see so populous and impregnable a city as Babylon was, so easily and unexpectedly taken.

Flames, Heb. faces of flame; either pale with fear, or inflamed with rage and torment, as men in misery frequently are. Some render it the faces of Lehabim, a people descending from Mizraim, Gen 10:13; 1Ch 1:11, i.e. black with pain, as men use to be; of which see Joe 2:6; Nah 2:10.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. Afraid — Dismayed. Poetic power is manifest in the figures here used, which are to the effect that contortions from agonizing pain fall on the people; men stare at each other in helpless fright; their faces are faces of flame — red as fire.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They shall be afraid; rather, dismayed. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; literally, they shall take hold of pangs and sorrows. They shall be amazed; rather, look aghast. Their faces shall be as flames. I know no better explanation than that of Dr. Kay, that a sudden transition is intended flora despondency to extreme excitement.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

“And they (the Babylonians) shall be confounded, pangs and throes shall seize (them), like the travailing (woman) they shall writhe, each at his neighbor, they shall wonder, faces of flames (shall be) their faces.” The expression ‘wonder at each other’ occurs once in historical prose (Gen 43:33). It seems here to denote not simply consternation and dismay, but stupefaction at each other’s aspect and condition, q. d. each man at his friend shall stand aghast. The last clause is a continued description of the terror and distress of the Chaldeans. In the expression faces of flame, the point of comparison according to some is redness, here referred to as a natural symptom of confusion and shame. But as this seems inappropriate in the case before us, others understand the aspect indicated to be one of paleness, as produced by fear. Others understand the glow or flush produced by anguish and despair to be intended.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

pangs and throes (צִירִים וַחֲבָלִים) These are expressions of pains of a woman who kneels to give birth, for the hinges (צִירִים) of her womb break apart to open.

they shall writhe Heb. יְחִילוּן. חִיל, חַלְחָלָה are expressions of shivering.

each man shall be amazed at his fellow The Babylonians will be amazed at those who advanced against them, for they are peculiar.

their faces are faces of flames A nation whose faces are red and very frightful, [or alternatively, because they are a pensive people, and he compares the Babylonians to them because of the amazement.]

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

פני להבים A face of flames. A face burnt by the intensity of the pains. According to others: The face of the Lehabim; Lehabim being the name of a nation similar to the Ethiopians.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.