Isaiah 13:9

9 Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the earth desolate; and he will destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

Isaiah 13:9 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 13:9

Behold, the day of the Lord cometh
Or "is come" F5; said in ( Isaiah 13:6 ) to be at hand, but now it is represented in prophecy as already come: cruel both with wrath and fierce anger;
which, whether referred to "the Lord", or to "the day", the sense is the same; the day may be said to be cruel, and full of wrath and fury, because of the severity and fierceness of the Lord's anger, exercised upon the Babylonians in it; and he may be said to be so, not that he really is cruel, or exceeds the bounds of justice, but because he seemed to be so to the objects of his displeasure; as a judge may be thought to be cruel and severe by the malefactor, when he only pronounces and executes a righteous judgment on him; a heap of words are here made use of, to express the greatness and fierceness of divine wrath: to lay the land desolate;
the land of the Chaldeans: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it;
this shows that what is before said most properly belongs to the Lord, to whom the destruction of Babylon, and the country belonging to it, must be ascribed; and indeed it was such as could not be brought about by human force; the moving cause of which was the sin of the inhabitants, some of whom were notorious sinners, for whose sakes it was destroyed by the Lord, and they in the midst of it, or out of it; see ( Psalms 104:35 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F5 (ab) "venit", Piscator; "veniens", Montanus.

Isaiah 13:9 In-Context

7 Therefore shall all hands be feeble, and every heart of man shall melt,
8 and they shall be terrified: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them, they shall writhe as a woman that travaileth; they shall be amazed one at another, their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the earth desolate; and he will destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will make the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will bring low the haughtiness of the violent.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.