Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on Isaiah 13:8
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
And they shall be afraid, &c.] 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, (<245043>Jeremiah 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”f247; the name of a people mentioned in (<011013>Genesis 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 <290206>Joel 2:6).
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