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.

ISAIAH 13:9KJV
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Isaiah 13:9 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 13:9 mean?

Isaiah 13:9 announces a coming time when the LORD will act against sinners with severe anger. The result will be devastation for the land and destruction for the sinners in it. The verse presents this as an act of judgment, not merely as an ordinary disaster.

After the fear pictured in verse 8, Isaiah describes the day itself as “cruel.” That word gives the coming event a harsh, unsparing character. The land and its inhabitants are both in view: the land is laid waste, while its sinners are destroyed.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 13:9

  • “wrath” — עֶבְרָה (ʿevrah): This word conveys intense anger. Alongside “fierce anger,” it piles up language to stress the severity of the LORD’s response.
  • “desolate” — שַׁמָּה (shammah): This word describes a place made waste or deserted. Here, the damage is pictured as affecting the land itself, not only the people living there.
  • “sinners” — חַטָּאִים (ḥaṭṭaʾim): This word refers to people who do wrong. Isaiah 13:9 identifies them as the people who will be destroyed from the land.

Why Isaiah 13:9 matters

  • The passage points toward Babylon as the setting for this announcement. Isaiah 13:1 introduces the message as concerning Babylon, and verse 19 names Babylon again.
  • The coming day is described as the LORD’s action, even though other people have a role in the wider passage. Verse 17 names the Medes as a people stirred up against Babylon.

Where else these words appear

“cruel” Hebrew H394 · used in 8 verses

  • Proverbs 5:9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
  • Proverbs 12:10 A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
  • Jeremiah 6:23 They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.

“sinners” Hebrew H2400 · used in 18 verses

  • Genesis 13:13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
  • Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
  • Proverbs 1:10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

“wrath” Hebrew H5678 · used in 34 verses

  • Genesis 49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
  • Proverbs 21:24 Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath.
  • Ezekiel 7:19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

“desolate” Hebrew H8047 · used in 39 verses

  • Deuteronomy 28:37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.
  • Jeremiah 18:16 To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
  • Jeremiah 49:17 Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.