Isaiah 13:9
in Isaiah 13Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming—cruel, with fury and burning anger—to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners within it.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
KJV
Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
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This verse in Isaiah 13
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(Verse 9) Behold, the cruel day of the Lord is coming, full of indignation, wrath, and fury, to make the earth a desolation and to crush sinners out of it. For the phrase 'the earth' the Seventy interpreted it as 'the inhabited world', that is, the globe. And for 'cruel' they translated it as 'incurable'. For when the day of judgment or death comes, that will be fulfilled which is read in the sixth psalm: 'For in death, who will give you thanks?' (Ps. VI, 6). For that time is not a time of repentance, but of punishment.
This site's exposition
Day of the LORD is coming
on Isaiah 13:9-13
The oracle is headed against Babylon, and a darkened sun is the prophets' figure for a ruling power's fall. The punishment of "the world for its evil" reaches wider, toward the final Day of the LORD the prophets name, and the text allows both.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Concerning that day, hear the prophets, saying, "The day of the Lord is incurable, full of anger and wrath." For there will be none to stand by, none to rescue, nowhere the face of Christ, so mild and calm. But as those who work in the mines are delivered over to certain cruel men, and see none of their friends, but those only that are set over them; so will it be then also: or rather not so, but even far more grievous. For here it is possible to go unto the king, and entreat, and free the condemned person: but there, no longer; for He permits it not, but they continue in the scorching torment, and in so great anguish, as it is not possible for words to tell.
(Verse 9.) Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel and full of indignation, wrath and fury, to make the earth a desolation, and to destroy its sinners. He calls it a cruel day, not because of its own merit, but because of the people. For he is not cruel who kills the cruel, but because he appears cruel to those who suffer. For even the thief hanging on the gallows considers the judge cruel. At the same time, the solitude and desolation of the land of Babylon are announced, and the cause of the desolation is explained, because all these things happen because of its inhabitants.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Behold, the day. Here he describes the punishment of the afflicted. And concerning this, he sets out three things: first, the magnitude of the punishment: full of indignation, as to the removal of mercy; and of wrath, as to the delight of punishment; according to …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Behold, the day of the Lord cometh,....
Fury is not with God, and yet his day of reckoning with the Babylonians is said to be cruel with wrath and fierce anger. God will deal in severity with them for the severities they exercised upon God's people; with the froward, with the cruel, he will show himself froward, will show himself cruel, and give the blood-thirsty blood to drink.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The day of the Lord cometh - See Isa 13:6. Cruel - (אכזרי 'akezārı̂y). This does not mean that “God” is cruel, but that the ‘day of Yahweh’ that was coming should be unsparing and destructive to them. It would be the exhibition of “justice,” but not of “cruelty;” and the word stands opposed here to mercy, and means that God would not spare them. The effect would be that the inhabitants of Babylon would be destroyed.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Compare Isa 13:10 with Mt 24:29; The sins of Babylon, arrogancy (Isa 13:11; 47:7, 8), cruelty, false worship (Jer 50:38), persecution of the people of God (Isa 47:6), are peculiarly characteristic of the Antichristian world of the latter days (Da 11:32-37;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הִנֵּ֤ה | hineh | there! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| יוֹם־ | yom- | [the] day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| יְהוָה֙ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| בָּ֔א | ba' | [is] coming | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אַכְזָרִ֥י | ʾakhzari | a cruel [day] | H394 → | |
| וְעֶבְרָ֖ה | veevrah | and wrath | H5678 → | 34 times |
| וַחֲר֣וֹן | vacharon | and burning of | H2740 → | |
| אָ֑ף | ʾaf | anger | H639 → | 276 times |
| לָשׂ֤וּם | lasum | to make | H7760 → | 584 times |
| הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| לְשַׁמָּ֔ה | leshamah | <into> a waste | H8047 → | 39 times |
| וְחַטָּאֶ֖יהָ | vechataeiha | and sinners its | H2400 → | 19 times |
| יַשְׁמִ֥יד | yashmid | he will destroy | H8045 → | 90 times |
| מִמֶּֽנָּה׃ | mimenah | from it | H4480 → | 1188 times |
הִנֵּ֤הthere!
hinehH2009 →843 times
יוֹם־[the] day of
yom-H3117 →2304 times
יְהוָה֙Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
בָּ֔א[is] coming
ba'H935 →2568 times
אַכְזָרִ֥יa cruel [day]
ʾakhzariH394 →
וְעֶבְרָ֖הand wrath
veevrahH5678 →34 times
וַחֲר֣וֹןand burning of
vacharonH2740 →
אָ֑ףanger
ʾafH639 →276 times
לָשׂ֤וּםto make
lasumH7760 →584 times
הָאָ֙רֶץ֙the land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
לְשַׁמָּ֔ה<into> a waste
leshamahH8047 →39 times
וְחַטָּאֶ֖יהָand sinners its
vechataeihaH2400 →19 times
יַשְׁמִ֥ידhe will destroy
yashmidH8045 →90 times
מִמֶּֽנָּה׃from it
mimenahH4480 →1188 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Malachi 4:1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of…
it leads to
- Malachi 3:2
But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8
in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
- 2 Peter 3:7
And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
- Isaiah 47:14
Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside.
- Isaiah 5:24
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected…
- Malachi 3:2
Through
Isaiah 13:6Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
it leads to
Through
Nahum 1:6Who can withstand His indignation? Who can endure His burning anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; even rocks are shattered before Him.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 10:10
But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.
- Jeremiah 10:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Chrysostom, Homily 43 on the Gospel of Matthew; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.