By 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB Through Yahweh of Armies’ wrath, the land is burned up; and the people are the fuel for the fire. No one spares his brother.
- KJV Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother.
- NKJV Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts The land is burned up, And the people shall be as fuel for the fire; No man shall spare his brother.
- NASB By the wrath of the Lord of armies the land is burned, And the people are like fuel for the fire; No one spares his brother.
- NLT The land will be blackened by the fury of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. The people will be fuel for the fire, and no one will spare even his own brother.
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's wrath scorches the land, and the people themselves become fuel, even turning against their own kin.
Overview
The fire of divine judgment burns up the land, and the people become the very fuel that feeds it. Social bonds collapse so that "no one spares his brother." The verse depicts how God's wrath against sin coincides with the breakdown of human relationships under that sin.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Mic 7:2The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.
- Mic 7:6For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies are the members of his own household.
- Acts 2:20The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord.
- Isa 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.
- Joel 2:2a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like the dawn overspreading the mountains a great and strong army appears, such as never was of old, nor will ever be in ages to come.
- Isa 5:30In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds.
- Amos 5:18Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD! What will the Day of the LORD be for you? It will be darkness and not light.
- Isa 13:9Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming—cruel, with fury and burning anger—to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners within it.
- Isa 13:18Their bows will dash young men to pieces; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; they will not look with pity on the children.
- Isa 8:22Then they will look to the earth and see only distress and darkness and the gloom of anguish. And they will be driven into utter darkness.
- Matt 27:45From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
- Ezek 9:5And as I listened, He said to the others, “Follow him through the city and start killing; do not show pity or spare anyone!
- Jer 13:16Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You wait for light, but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness.
- Isa 24:6Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants must bear the guilt; the earth’s dwellers have been burned, and only a few survive.
- Isa 60:2For behold, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear over you.
- Isa 13:13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts on the day of His burning anger.
- Isa 24:11–12In the streets they cry out for wine. All joy turns to gloom; rejoicing is exiled from the land.
- 2 Pet 2:4For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;
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 9:19 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
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