John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 13:16

"Their infants also shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be rifled, and their wives ravished." — Isaiah 13:16 (ASV)

Their children shall be dashed in pieces. He draws a picture of extreme cruelty. It is the utmost degree of ferocity exercised by an invading army, when no age is spared, and infants, who cannot defend themselves because of their age, are slain.

He represents it as still more shocking when he adds, “in the sight of their parents.” What follows about plundering houses and ravishing wives serves the same purpose; for these things happen when the enemies have forgotten all humanity, are inflamed to cruelty, and wish that those whom they have subdued, and even their very name, should be rooted out.