Isaiah 9:19
in Isaiah 9By 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Through the wrath of Jehovah of hosts is the land burnt up; and the people are as the fuel of fire: no man spareth 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.
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This verse in Isaiah 9
Commentary
10 notes on this verseBy the wrath of the Lord, which is like fire: his indignation is poured out like fire (Nah 1:6); and the people shall be as fuel for the fire, below: walk in the light of your fire (Isa 50:11); no man shall spare his brother: …
This site's exposition
For wickedness burns like a fire
on Isaiah 9:18-19
Sin is pictured as a self-spreading blaze, for "wickedness burns like a fire" through thorns, briers and forest thickets. The land is scorched and the people become "fuel for the fire" they kindled, until no man spares even his brother. The same fire runs on into verse 20.
This site's exposition
the people are fuel for the fire
The Hebrew verb behind scorched occurs only here, and Barnes, following Gesenius, weighed several meanings. Gill read the land as darkened, black with the smoke of the fire in the forest thickets of verse 18. No man spares his brother, and verse 21 names the brothers.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Vers. 14 seqq.) And the Lord will scatter from Israel the head and the tail, the bend and the corrupt in one day. The venerable and honorable, he is the head; and the Prophet teaching falsehood, he is the tail. And there will be those who call this people blessed, deceiving, and those who are called blessed, being cast down. Therefore, the Lord will not rejoice over his young men, and will not have mercy on his orphans and widows, for every hypocrite is wicked, and every mouth has spoken foolishness.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened,.... Brought into great distress and affliction; sore judgments and calamities being upon it; for not darkness in a natural, but in a figurative sense, is intended, see Isa 8:22 the allusion is to the ascending of the smoke before mentioned, through fire being kindled in the thickets of the forest, which filled the air with darkness; as smoke arising in great quantity does.
): The people shall be as the fuel of the fire. God's wrath fastens upon none but those that make themselves fuel for it, and then they mount up as the smoke of sacrifices, being made victims to divine justice.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Three things are here promised, and they all point ultimately at the grace of the gospel, which the saints then were to comfort themselves with the hopes of in every cloudy and dark day, as we now are to comfort ourselves in time of trouble with the hopes of Christ's second coming, though that be now, as his first coming then was, a thing at a great distance.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Through the wrath - By the anger, or indignation. This spreading desolation is the proof of his anger. Is the land darkened - The word used here - עתם ‛âtham - occurs nowhere else. According to Gesenius, it is the same as תמם tâmam to be or make complete; and hence means, “in this place, to be consumed, or laid waste.” Kimchi and Aben Ezra render it, ‘The land is darkened.’ Septuagint, Συγκέκαυται Sungkekautai.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
"They (the thickets of the forest) shall lift themselves proudly aloft [the Hebrew is from a Syriac root, a cock, expressing stateliness of motion, from his strutting gait, HORSLEY], in (in passing into) volumes of ascending smoke" [MAURER].
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
darkened--namely, with smoke (Isa 9:18). The Septuagint and Chaldee render it, "is burnt up," so MAURER, from an Arabic root meaning "suffocating heat." no man . . . spare . . . brother--intestine discord snapping asunder the dearest ties of nature.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּעֶבְרַ֛ת | beevrat | by [the] wrath of | H5678 → | 34 times |
| יְהוָ֥ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| צְבָא֖וֹת | tzevaot | of hosts | H6635 → | 485 times |
| נֶעְתַּ֣ם | ne'tam | it has been scorched | H6272 → | |
| אָ֑רֶץ | ʾaretz | [the] land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| וַיְהִ֤י | vayhi | and it was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| הָעָם֙ | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| כְּמַאֲכֹ֣לֶת | kemaakholet | like fuel of | H3980 → | |
| אֵ֔שׁ | ʾesh | a fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| אִ֥ישׁ | ʾish | each | H376 → | 1663 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | <to> | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אָחִ֖יו | ʾachiv | brother his | H251 → | 630 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יַחְמֹֽלוּ׃ | yachmolu | they spared | H2550 → |
בְּעֶבְרַ֛תby [the] wrath of
beevratH5678 →34 times
יְהוָ֥הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
צְבָא֖וֹתof hosts
tzevaotH6635 →485 times
נֶעְתַּ֣םit has been scorched
ne'tamH6272 →
אָ֑רֶץ[the] land
ʾaretzH776 →2504 times
וַיְהִ֤יand it was
vayhiH1961 →3559 times
הָעָם֙the people
haamH5971 →1873 times
כְּמַאֲכֹ֣לֶתlike fuel of
kemaakholetH3980 →
אֵ֔שׁa fire
ʾeshH784 →378 times
אִ֥ישׁeach
ʾishH376 →1663 times
אֶל־<to>
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אָחִ֖יוbrother his
ʾachivH251 →630 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יַחְמֹֽלוּ׃they spared
yachmoluH2550 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Peter 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;
it leads to
- Jude 1:6
And the angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling—these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day.
- Matthew 25:41
Then 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.
- Romans 8:32
He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?
- Revelation 20:1–3
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the Abyss, holding in his hand a great chain.
- Revelation 12:7–9
Then a war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
- Jude 1:6
Through
Micah 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.
it leads to
- Matthew 10:35–36
For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
- Luke 12:53
They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
- Matthew 10:21
Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death.
- Matthew 10:35–36
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.
