For by fire and by His sword, the LORD will execute judgment on all flesh, and many will be slain by the LORD.
Parallel translations
- WEB For Yahweh will execute judgment by fire and by his sword on all flesh; and those slain by Yahweh will be many.
- KJV For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
- NKJV For by fire and by His sword The Lord will judge all flesh; And the slain of the Lord shall be many.
- NASB For the Lord will execute judgment by fire And by His sword on humanity, And those put to death by the Lord will be many.
- NLT The Lord will punish the world by fire and by his sword. He will judge the earth, and many will be killed by him.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God will execute judgment by fire and sword on all flesh, and many will be slain. It matters because it warns of the universal scope and seriousness of divine judgment.
Overview
The judgment now reaches all flesh, underscoring that no one stands outside God's righteous reckoning. Fire and sword are recurring biblical symbols of God's purifying, punishing justice. This points toward the final judgment, when Christ judges the living and the dead (Acts 17:31), making the gospel's offer of refuge in him all the more urgent.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ezek 38:21–22And I will summon a sword against Gog on all My mountains, declares the Lord GOD, and every man’s sword will be against his brother.
- Ezek 39:2–10I will turn you around, drive you along, bring you up from the far north, and send you against the mountains of Israel.
- Isa 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.
- Rev 19:11–21Then I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse. And its rider is called Faithful and True. With righteousness He judges and wages war.
- Isa 27:1In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.
- Isa 34:5–10When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, then it will come down upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 66:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.