ישעיהו, פרק י״ג, פסוק ט״ו

The fall of Babylon is painted as an event of total, indiscriminate ruin. It is a scene of absolute devastation where no one is granted a safe haven or immunity, and even foreigners who simply happen to be present will pay with their lives. The initial wave of violence ensures that anyone discovered will be violently thrust through with a sword [מצודת ציון, רד״ק]. This is a brutal strike, delivered with absolute cruelty and zero mercy [אבן עזרא]. Opinions vary on exactly who these discovered individuals are. Some suggest it refers to people caught out in the open [רש״י], or individuals found wandering alone on the roads [מלבי״ם]. However, the primary approach among commentators is that it includes absolutely anyone inside Babylon, specifically catching foreign citizens in the crossfire. This blind, sweeping danger is exactly why there is a mass panic of people fleeing back to their homelands, desperately trying to escape the impending slaughter [מלבי״ם, שד״ל].

The violence extends further, ensuring that anyone swept up in the chaos will also fall by the sword. The primary approach among commentators understands this group as people who were somehow added to the city's existing population. This could mean foreigners who integrated with the locals [רד״ק, מצודת דוד], people who fled into the city seeking shelter from the siege [רש״י, ביאור שטיינזלץ], or even those who enlisted in the Babylonian army to fight [מלבי״ם]. Viewed this way, the reality of the violence simply echoes across the entire population, leaving no one untouched [מצודת דוד, רד״ק]. Building on this idea of being added to the death toll, another perspective suggests it refers to innocent bystanders caught in the disaster purely by chance. They become additional victims of a tragedy that was not originally aimed at them, simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time [שד״ל]. Finally, a different approach views this fate through the lens of ultimate destruction and an end to life. It emphasizes that anyone whose natural time has come to die during this period will not pass away peacefully in their bed, but will instead meet a violent end by the sword [רד״ק].