Isaiah 13:11

11 I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. I will end the haughtiness of the arrogant and lay low the pride 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 is coming— cruel, with fury and burning anger— to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners within it.

10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.

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

12 I will make man scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.

13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts on the day of His burning anger.