Isaiah 13:11

11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless.

Isaiah 13:11 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 13:11

And I will punish the world for [their] evil
Not the whole world, but the kingdom of Babylon, so called because of its large extent, and the number of its inhabitants, just as the Roman empire is called the whole world, ( Luke 2:1 ) "evil" may be meant, either of the evil of sin, which was the cause of punishment, or else of the evil of punishment itself; and the sense be this, I will visit, or, in a way of visitation, I will bring evil, or evils, upon the world; so the Targum, and the wicked for their iniquity,
or "on the wicked their iniquity"; that is, I will visit on them, or inflict upon them, the punishment of their iniquity; meaning the notorious and abandoned sinners among them, see ( Isaiah 13:9 ) : and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and I will
lay low the haughtiness of the terrible:
such as Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, famous for their pride, arrogance, and haughtiness, tyranny and oppression, whereby they became terrible to others.

Isaiah 13:11 In-Context

9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.

10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light.

11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless.

12 I will make men more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir.

13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.