Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 22:2

"O thou that art full of shoutings, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; thy slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle." — Isaiah 22:2 (ASV)

A joyous city ... —It would seem from Isaiah 32:13 that this was the characteristic on which Jerusalem, like Athens afterwards (Thucydides 2.40), especially prided itself.

Your slain men are not slain with the sword ... —The words imply something like a reproach of cowardice. Those who had perished had not died fighting bravely in battle, but by the pestilence which then, as at all times, was prevalent in the crowded streets of a besieged city.