Bible Strands
Isaiah 13:16
Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be ravished.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God pronounces judgment on a conquered people, positioned between a warning of imminent slaughter and the declaration that He will stir up the Medes against them.
The words — יְרֻטְּשׁ֖וּ (ye.ru.te.Shu) means they will be dashed in pieces, and יִשַּׁ֙סּוּ֙ (yi.Sha.su) means they will be plundered.
The thread — The imagery of infants dashed to pieces appears in Hosea 10:14 and Nahum 3:10, while Psalms 137:8 only speaks of repaying Babylon and does not mention that violence.
Why it lands — The text states that conquered families will suffer total physical and domestic destruction. It requires the reader to acknowledge the absolute severity of divine judgment without softening its graphic reality.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
Cross-references
- Hosea 10:14 the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be demolished as Shalman devastated Beth-arbel in the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to pieces along with their children.
- Nahum 3:10 Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains.
- Psalms 137:8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.
- Isaiah 13:18 Their bows will dash young men to pieces; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; they will not look with pity on the children.
- Lamentations 5:11 Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.
- Zechariah 14:2 For I will gather all the nations for battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.