Berean Standard Bible
Isaiah 9:18
18For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes the thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets, which roll upward in billows of smoke.
Isaiah 9:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.
- New International Version (NIV)Surely wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns, it sets the forest thickets ablaze, so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.
- English Standard Version (ESV)For wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns; it kindles the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For wickedness burns as the fire; It shall devour the briers and thorns, And kindle in the thickets of the forest; They shall mount up like rising smoke.
Context of Isaiah 9:18
16For those who guide this people mislead them, and those they mislead are swallowed up. 17Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men; He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For every one of them is godless and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised. For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes the thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets, which roll upward in billows of smoke. 19By the wrath of the LORD of Hosts the land is scorched, and the people are fuel for the fire. No man even spares his brother. 20They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they eat what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own offspring.
Read all of Isaiah 9Isaiah 9:18 word by word
כִּֽי־בָעֲרָ֤ה כָאֵשׁ֙ רִשְׁעָ֔ה שָׁמִ֥יר וָשַׁ֖יִת תֹּאכֵ֑ל וַתִּצַּת֙ בְּסִֽבְכֵ֣י הַיַּ֔עַר וַיִּֽתְאַבְּכ֖וּ גֵּא֥וּת עָשָֽׁן׃Read the interlinear
- Forכִּיkîy · forH3588
- wickednessרִשְׁעָהrish‛âh · wickednessH7564
- burnsבָּעַרbâ‛ar · to burn: burnH1197
- like a fireאֵשׁ'êsh · fireH784
- that consumesאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
- the thornsשַׁ֫יִתshayith · thornbushH7898
- and briersשָׁמִירshâmîyr · thornH8068
- and kindlesיָצַתyâtsath · to kindleH3341
- the forestיַ֫עַרya‛ar · woodH3293
- thicketsסְבַךְsebâk · thicketH5442
- which roll upwardאָבַךְ'âbak · to roll upH55
- in billowsגֵּאוּתgê'ûth · majestyH1348
- of smokeעָשָׁן‛âshân · smokeH6227
Cross-references for Isaiah 9:18
- Isaiah 1:31The strong man will become tinder and his work will be a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the flames.
- Isaiah 30:30And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.
- Isaiah 33:12The peoples will be burned to ashes, like thorns cut down and set ablaze.
- Isaiah 34:8For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
- Isaiah 66:16For by fire and by His sword, the LORD will execute judgment on all flesh, and many will be slain by the LORD.
- Numbers 11:1Soon the people began to complain about their hardship in the hearing of the LORD, and when He heard them, His anger was kindled, and fire from the LORD blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.
- Deuteronomy 32:22For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.
- Job 31:11For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged.
- Amos 7:4This is what the Lord GOD showed me: The Lord GOD was calling for judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land.
- Nahum 1:6Who 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.”
- Matthew 13:49So will it be at the end of the age: The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous
- Matthew 25:41Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
- Mark 9:43If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.
- Isaiah 10:16Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts will send a wasting disease among Assyria’s stout warriors, and under his pomp will be kindled a fire like a burning flame.
- Isaiah 27:4I am not angry. If only thorns and briers confronted Me, I would march and trample them, I would burn them to the ground.
Commentaries on Isaiah 9:18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18For wickedness - Wickedness rageth like a fire, destroying and laying waste the nation: but it shall be its own destruction, by bringing down the fire of God's wrath, which shall burn up the briers and the thorns; that is, the wicked themselves. Briers and thorns are an image frequently applied in Scripture, when set on fire, to the rage of the wicked; violent, yet impotent, and of no long continuance. "They are extinct as the fire of thorns," Psalm…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 18For wickedness - This commences the third part of the prophecy, which continues to the end of the chapter. It is a description of prevailing impiety. The effects and prevalence of it are described by the image of a raging, burning flame, that spreads everywhere: first among the humble shrubbery - the briers and thorns, then in the vast forests, until it spreads over the land, and sends a mighty column of flame and smoke up to heaven. Burneth as the fire…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 8-21Verses 8-21 Those are ripening apace for ruin, whose hearts are unhumbled under humbling providences. For that which God designs, in smiting us, is, to turn us to himself; and if this point be not gained by lesser judgments, greater may be expected. The leaders of the people misled them. We have reason to be afraid of those that speak well of us, when we do ill. Wickedness was universal, all were infected with it. They shall be in trouble, and see no way…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 18-21After the leaders were destroyed, the nation would fall into chaos. With no strong leadership, people would turn against one another. Civil war would then destroy the nation. It would spread quickly and cause great damage, like a brushfire that no one can control.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 18-2118-21. Third strophe. burneth--maketh consumption, not only spreading rapidly, but also consuming like fire: sin is its own punishment. briers ... thorns--emblem of the wicked; especially those of low rank (Is 27:4; 2Sa 23:6). forest--from the humble shrubbery the flame spreads to the vast forest; it reaches the high, as well as the low. mount up like ... smoke--rather. "They (the thickets of the forest) shall lift themselves proudly aloft [the Hebrew is…Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 9:18
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 9
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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