Isaiah describes the enemies’ terror when Yahweh’s army assaults them. He suggests that the enemy will not expect Yahweh’s wrath. They will be “amazed” at seeing the fear in each other’s faces. “Their faces shall be as flames” may describe the burning sensation they feel because they are ashamed. In the shame-based society of the Mediterranean, the shame of improper actions (such as fear before an enemy) would be as bad, if not worse, than the fear of that enemy.
Variant/Translation: The Book of Mormon version of verse 8 does not contain a phrase found in KJV Isaiah 13:8: “And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.”
Tvedtnes hypothesizes that this sentence was missing from the brass plates. Such an explanation does not provide a reason. It is not the same kind of close linguistic analysis that provided Tvedtnes’s plausible reason for the variation in verse 3. Nor does Joseph Smith’s participation as a translator offer a reason. He did not make this type of change in the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. This verse is simply an unexplained variant. Skousen notes that the original manuscript is not extant at this point, so it is possible that Oliver simply skipped the phrase or perhaps that Joseph simply did not dictate it.