the Week of Proper 20 / Ordinary 25
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Isaiah 9:18
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For wickedness burns like a fire;It consumes briars and thorns;It even sets the thickets of the forest aflame,And they roll upward in a column of smoke.
For wickedness burns like a fire; It consumes briars and thorns; It even sets the thickets of the forest aflame And they roll upward in a column of smoke.
For vngodlynesse burneth as a fire, and shall deuour bryers and thornes, and it shall burne as in the thicket of a wood, and [the wicked] aduaunce them selues, as the smoke is caryed vp.
For wickedness burneth as a fire: it devoureth briars and thorns, and kindleth in the thickets of the forest, and they go rolling up like a pillar of smoke.
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.
For wickedness burns like a fire; it shall devour the briers and thorns and shall kindle the thickets of the forest; and they shall roll upward, like the going up of smoke.
That evil was like a small fire that started among the weeds and thorns and then spread to the larger bushes in the forest. Finally, it became a giant fire, and everything went up in smoke.
For wickedness burns as the fire; it devours the briers and thorns; yes, it kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
For wickednes burneth as the fire: it shall deuoure the briers and thornes, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forrest, and they shall mount vp like the lifting vp of smoke.
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.
For the vngodly burne, as a fyre in the bryers and thornes: And as it were out of a fyre in a wod or a redebush, so ascendeth the smoke of their pryde.
Their wicked lives raged like an out-of-control fire, the kind that burns everything in its path— Trees and bushes, weeds and grasses— filling the skies with smoke. God -of-the-Angel-Armies answered fire with fire, set the whole country on fire, Turned the people into consuming fires, consuming one another in their lusts— Appetites insatiable, stuffing and gorging themselves left and right with people and things. But still they starved. Not even their children were safe from their rapacious hunger. Manasseh ate Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, and then the two ganged up against Judah. And after that, he was still angry, his fist still raised, ready to hit them again.
For wickedness burns like a fire; It consumes briars and thorns, It even sets the forest thickets ablaze; And it swirls upward in a column of smoke.
For wickedness burneth as the fire; it devoureth the briers and thorns; yea, it kindleth in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
For evil was burning like a fire; the blackberries and thorns were burned up; the thick woods took fire, rolling up in dark clouds of smoke.
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 rising of smoke.
For evil burned like a fire, it consumed thorns and briers; it burned up the thickets of the forest, and they went up in smoke.
Evil had spread like a raging forest fire sending thornbushes up in smoke.
The anger of Adonai -Tzva'ot is burning up the land; the people, too, are fuel for the fire — no one spares even his brother.
For wickednesse burneth as a fire: it deuoureth the briers and the thornes and will kindle in the thicke places of the forest: and they shall mount vp like the lifting vp of smoke.
For wickedness burns like the fire; it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and the chosen ones shall roll up like the lifting up of smoke.
For wickedness burns as the fire; it devours the briers and thorns; yes, it kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land burnt up; the people also are as the fuel of fire; no man spareth his brother.
This wickedness is like a brushfire. It burns not only briers and thorns but also sets the forests ablaze. Its burning sends up clouds of smoke.
For sin burns like a fire. It burns thistles and thorns. It sets the woods on fire, and they go up in smoke.
And iniquity shall burn as fire, and shall be devoured by fire as dry grass: and it shall burn in the thickets of the wood, and shall devour all that is round about the hills.
For wickedness burneth as the fire; it devoureth the briers and thorns: yea, it kindleth in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in thick clouds of smoke.
For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes the thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets which roll upward in columns of smoke.
For wickedness burned like a fire, consuming briers and thorns; it kindled the thickets of the forest, and they swirled upward in a column of smoke.
For lawlessness, hath consumed like fire, Briars and thorns, doth it devour, - Yea it hath kindled upon the thickets of the forest, And they have rolled up as a column of smoke.
For wickedness is kindled as a fire, it shall devour the brier and the thorn: and shall kindle in the thicket of the forest, and it shall be wrapped up in smoke ascending on high.
For wickedness burned like fire; it consumed brier and thorn. And it kindled the thickets of the forest, and they swirled upward in a column of smoke.
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.
For wickedness burns like a fire; It consumes briars and thorns; It also sets the thickets of the forest aflame And they roll upward in a column of smoke.
Evil is like a small fire. First, it burns weeds and thorns. Next, it burns the larger bushes in the forest, and they all go up in a column of smoke.
The wickedness of the people burns like a fire that destroys thorn bushes and thistles. It burns like a forest fire that sends up columns of smoke.
For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets so that they go up in a column of smoke.
and the puple is not turned ayen to the Lord smytynge it. For whi wickidnesse is kyndlid as fier; it schal deuoure the breris and thornes, and it schal be kyndlid in the thickenesse of the forest, and it schal be wlappid togidere in the pride of smoke.
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.
For burned as a fire hath wickedness, Brier and thorn it devoureth, And it kindleth in thickets of the forest, And they lift themselves up, an exaltation of smoke!
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
wickedness: Isaiah 1:31, Isaiah 30:30, Isaiah 30:33, Isaiah 33:12, Isaiah 34:8-10, Isaiah 66:16, Isaiah 66:17, Numbers 11:1-3, Deuteronomy 32:22, Job 31:11, Job 31:12, Amos 7:4, Nahum 1:6, Nahum 1:10, Malachi 4:1, Matthew 13:49, Matthew 13:50, Matthew 25:41, Mark 9:43-50
it shall: Isaiah 10:16-18, Isaiah 27:4, Hebrews 6:8
shall kindle: Ezekiel 20:47, Ezekiel 20:48
mount: Isaiah 5:24, Psalms 37:20, Hosea 13:3, Joel 2:20, Revelation 14:11
Reciprocal: 1 Kings 16:21 - divided Psalms 29:9 - discovereth Psalms 68:2 - As smoke Isaiah 10:18 - consume Jeremiah 12:16 - my name Jeremiah 17:27 - then Ezekiel 2:6 - briers Ezekiel 19:14 - fire
Cross-References
And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness.
And he said, Cursed be Canaan; A slave of slaves he shall be to his brothers.
God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his slave.
Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, [namely], of Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and to them were sons born after the flood.
And the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan.
Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
For wickedness burneth as the fire,.... That is, the punishment of their sins, as the Targum interprets it; the wrath of God for sin, which is poured out like fire, and consumes as that does; unless wicked men are meant, who are consumed with the fire of divine vengeance; the sense is the same:
it shall devour the briers and thorns; sinners and ungodly, so the Targum paraphrases it; and Aben Ezra observes, they are the wicked; who are compared to briers and thorns, for their unfruitfulness in themselves, harmfulness to others, and for their weakness to stand against the fury of incensed Deity, see 2 Samuel 23:6:
and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest. Kimchi thinks there is a gradation in these words, that as fire first begins to burn the thorns, and smaller wood, and then the greater; so wickedness consumes first the little ones, who are the thorns, and after that it kindles in the thickets of the forest, who are the great ones; so the commonwealth of Israel is compared to a forest; and the thorns, briers, and thickets, may denote the common people and their governors, who all being guilty of wickedness, should not escape the vengeance of God:
and they shall mount up [like] the lifting up of smoke: or lift up themselves, or be lifted up; so Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret the word; but Jarchi thinks it has the signification of בוך, "to be perplexed": and gives the sense of it thus; they are perplexed, and shut up with the strength of smoke that burns: others take it to be a word of the same meaning with אבק; and render it, "they shall pulverize", or "go into dust in the lifting up of smoke" d; and denotes the dissolution of the commonwealth; but perhaps it may be better rendered, "though they shall walk proudly" (or behave haughtily), their "pride" shall be as "smoke", which soon vanishes away; since the word, which is only here used, in the Syriac language signifies to walk proudly, as a cock with two crests e.
d יתאבכו גאות עשן "et epulverabitur erectione fumi", Cocceius; "adeo ut in minutissimum pulverem abeant elato fumo, [vel] elatione fumi", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. e "Et superbient, (fastuose se gerent,) at superbia (vel quorum superbia) fumus, h. e. fumi instar, evanescit, interibit, quod etiam Armenis indigiat, isfud vacobulum `Abac' , Syr. galus, gallinaceus, superbo gradu incedens et bicristatus", Castel. Lexicon Polyglott. col. 12.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
For 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 - Spreads, rages. extends as fire does in thorns and in forests. In what respects it burns like the fire, the prophet immediately specifies. It spreads rapidly everywhere, and involves all in the effects. Wickedness is not unfrequently in the Scriptures compared to a fire that is shut up long, and then bursts forth with raging violence. Thus Hosea 7:6 :
Truly, in the inmost part of it, their heart is like an oven,
While they lie in wait;
All the night their baker sleepeth;
In the morning it burneth like a blazing star.
‘As an oven conceals the lighted fire all night, while the baker takes his rest, and in the morning vomits forth its blazing flame; so all manner of concupiscence is brooding mischief in their hearts, while the ruling faculties of reason and conscience are lulled asleep, and their wicked designs wait only for a fair occasion to break forth.’ - Horsely on Hosea; see also Isaiah 50:2; Isaiah 65:5.
It shall devour - Hebrew, ‘It shall eat.’ The idea of devouring or eating, is one which is often given to fire in the Scriptures.
The briers and thorns - By the briers and thorns are meant, doubtless, the lower part of the population; the most degraded ranks of society. The idea here seems to be, first, that of impiety spreading like fire over all classes of people; but there is also joined with it, in the mind of the prophet, the idea of punishment. Wickedness would rage like spreading fire; but like fire, also, it would sweep over the nation accomplishing desolation and calamity, and consuming everything in the fire oft God’s vengeance. The wicked are often compared to thorns and briers - fit objects to be burned up; Isaiah 33:12 :
And the people shall be as the burnings of lime;
As thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.
And shall kindle - Shall burn, or extend, as sweeping fire extends to the mighty forest.
In the thickets of the forests - The dense, close forest or grove. The idea is, that it extends to all classes of people - high as well as low.
And they shall mount up - The Hebrew word used here - יתאבכוּ yit'abekû from אבך 'âbak - occurs nowhere else. The image is that of a far-spreading, raging fire, sending columns of smoke to heaven. So, says the prophet, is the rolling, raging, consuming fire of the sins of the nation spreading over all classes of people in the land, and involving all in widespread desolation.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Isaiah 9:18. For 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," Psalms 118:12. To the wicked themselves, as useless and unprofitable, proper objects of God's wrath, to be burned up, or driven away by the wind. "As thorns cut up they shall be consumed in the fire," Isaiah 33:12. Both these ideas seem to be joined in Psalms 58:9: -
"Before your pots shall feel the thorn,
As well the green as the dry, the tempest shall
bear them away."
The green and the dry is a proverbial expression, meaning all sorts of them, good and bad, great and small, &c. So Ezekiel: "Behold, I will kindle a fire, and it shall devour every green tree, and every dry tree," Ezekiel 20:47. D'Herbelot quotes a Persian poet describing a pestilence under the image of a conflagration: "This was a lightning that, falling upon a forest, consumed there the green wood with the dry." See Harmer's Observations, Vol. II., p. 187.
