Isaiah 9:18

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

16The leaders of this nation lead them away from what is true. They confuse the people that they are leading. 17So the Lord God is not pleased with their young men. He will not help their widows or their children who have no family. Nobody respects God and they all do evil things. They only speak about foolish things. But the Lord is still angry. His hand is ready to hit them again. The evil things that the people do destroy everything. They are like a fire that destroys thorn bushes. They burn up all the bushes in the forest. Clouds of smoke rise up from a great fire. 19The Lord Almighty is very angry. He punishes the land of Israel, like a fire that burns everything. The people are like wood that makes the fire burn well. None of them try to help each other. 20People eat whatever food they can get, on their right side or their left side. But they are still hungry. They even eat their own family!

Isaiah 9:18 word by word

כִּֽי־בָעֲרָ֤ה כָאֵשׁ֙ רִשְׁעָ֔ה שָׁמִ֥יר וָשַׁ֖יִת תֹּאכֵ֑ל וַתִּצַּת֙ בְּסִֽבְכֵ֣י הַיַּ֔עַר וַיִּֽתְאַבְּכ֖וּ גֵּא֥וּת עָשָֽׁן׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• For wickednessרִשְׁעָהrish‛âh · wickednessH7564
• burnethבָּעַרbâ‛ar · to burn: burnH1197
• as the fireאֵשׁ'êsh · fireH784
• it shall devourאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
• the briersשָׁמִירshâmîyr · thornH8068
• and thornsשַׁ֫יִתshayith · thornbushH7898
• and shall kindleיָצַתyâtsath · to kindleH3341
• in the thicketsסְבַךְsebâk · thicketH5442
• of the forestיַ֫עַרya‛ar · woodH3293
• and they shall mount upאָבַךְ'âbak · to roll upH55
• the lifting upגֵּאוּתgê'ûth · majestyH1348
• of smokeעָשָׁן‛âshân · smokeH6227

Cross-references for Isaiah 9:18

• Isaiah 1:31Even your most powerful men will disappear. They will be like a piece of string that burns in a fire. Their sins will be the fire that destroys them. They and their sins will burn together, and nobody will put out the fire.
• Isaiah 30:30Then the Lord will shout with royal authority. People will know that he has come with great power to punish his enemies. His anger will be like a fire that burns everything. He will come with a great storm of rain, thunder and hail that destroys everything.
• Isaiah 33:12Your people will be like wood for the fire, and only ashes will remain. They will burn as easily as thorn bushes that people cut down and throw on the fire.
• Isaiah 34:8The Lord has chosen a day for punishment. It will be a time when he punishes Zion's enemies, because they have attacked his people.
• Isaiah 66:16The Lord will use fire and his sword to judge all people. The Lord will kill many people.
• Numbers 11:1But the people started to complain about their problems. The Lord heard them and he became very angry. He sent fire. The Lord sent his fire to burn among them. It destroyed some parts of the camp at the edge.
• Deuteronomy 32:22I will become so angry that I punish them very much. I will destroy them like a hot fire. It will be like a fire that reaches deep down into the place of dead people. It will destroy the ground and everything that grows on it. It will burn deep down to the foundations of the mountains.
• Job 31:11I would not have been faithful to my wife. I would have done a wicked thing and I would deserve punishment.
• Amos 7:4After that, the Lord God showed to me a vision of a fire. He was ready to send it to punish us. I saw that it caused the deep sea to become dry. It also burnt all the land.
• Nahum 1:6Nobody can fight God when he is very angry. The Lord pours his anger out like fire and he breaks the rocks in his path.
• Malachi 4:1‘The great day when I come to judge people will certainly happen. Punishment will come like the great fire of a hot oven. It will destroy all the proud people who do evil things. It will completely destroy them, like a fire that destroys dry grass. Nothing will remain.’ That is what the Lord Almighty says.
• Matthew 13:49This is what will happen when the world's time comes to an end. God will send his angels. They will put wicked people in one place. And they will put God's righteous people in a separate place.
• Matthew 25:41Then the king will say to those people who are at his left side, “Go away from me. God has decided to punish you. He has prepared a fire that will burn for ever. He has prepared it for Satan and his servants. You will also go into that fire.
• Mark 9:43If your hand causes you to do wrong things, you should cut it off. You will only have one hand, but you can have God's true life. It will be much worse for you if you keep both your hands and go to hell. There, the fire always burns and never stops.
• Isaiah 10:16So the Lord, the Almighty Lord, will punish Assyria's soldiers. They are now fat and healthy, but they will become thin! It will be like a fire that burns them, with all their proud strength.
• Isaiah 27:4I am not angry now. If there were thorn bushes or weeds in my vineyard, I would attack them. I would burn them all.

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

• Backsliders
• Ephraim
• Famine
• Isaiah
• Israel, Prophecies Concerning
• Sin
• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• Ahaz
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• Kindle
• Poetry
• Prince
• Snatch
• Adamant
• Ezekiel
• Fire
• Forest

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