Bible Strands
Isaiah 13:9
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet pronounces impending judgment amid a sequence describing terror, cosmic darkening, and mass slaughter. The declaration functions as the theological anchor for the surrounding images of collapse and violence.
The words — יוֹם יְהוָה (yom Yahweh) literally identifies the "day of Yahweh," while אַכְזָרִי ('akh.za.Ri) characterizes it as "cruel" or brutal.
The thread — The motif of inescapable divine wrath recurs in Nahum 1:6, where even stone cannot withstand His burning anger, and Malachi 4:1, which frames the day as a furnace consuming the arrogant. The physical execution of this judgment is detailed in Isaiah 13:15.
Why it lands — The text states that God is actively bringing fury to desolate the earth and destroy its sinners. It requires readers to recognize the certainty and severity of divine judgment without softening its terms.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Nahum 1:6 Who can withstand His indignation? Who can endure His burning anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; even rocks are shattered before Him.
- 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 Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”
- Isaiah 13:15 Whoever is caught will be stabbed, and whoever is captured will die by the sword.
- Isaiah 13:6 Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
- Psalms 104:35 May sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Hallelujah!
- Isaiah 47:10 You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’
- Jeremiah 6:22 This is what the LORD says: “Behold, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is stirred up from the ends of the earth.
- Jeremiah 50:40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah along with their neighbors,” declares the LORD, “no one will dwell there; no man will abide there.
- Jeremiah 51:35 May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” says the dweller of Zion. “May my blood be on the dwellers of Chaldea,” says Jerusalem.
- Nahum 1:2 The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and full of wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on His foes and reserves wrath for His enemies.