Isaiah 9:16

16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err ; and they that are led of them are destroyed .

Isaiah 9:16 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 9:16

For the leaders of this people cause [them] to err
Or, "who bless this people", as the Septuagint and Arabic versions; and so the Targum,

``who praise this people;''

that call them blessed, pronounce them happy, see ( Malachi 3:15 ) and promise them happiness, both in this world and that to come, though guilty of notorious sins, and live a vicious course of life; and so harden them in their iniquities, and cause them to wander more and more from the way of truth and righteousness; and lead them unto, and leave them in, fatal mistakes about their state and condition. These seem to design the ecclesiastical leaders of the people, the blind leaders of the blind, see ( Isaiah 3:12 ) ( Matthew 15:14 ) : and [they that are] led of them [are] destroyed;
or, "they" that "are blessed of them are swallowed up" ^F3; and so irrecoverably lost; the deceivers and the deceived perish together; as it is sinful in teachers and leaders of the people to teach them false things, and lead them out of the way, it is criminal in the people to be led and taught by them, who ought to take care what they hear and receive; and therefore both are righteously punished; for the words are a reason why the Lord would cut off both the one and the other.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (Myelbm wyrvamw) "qui ex hoc populo beati dicuntur, absorbebuntur", Vatablus.

Isaiah 9:16 In-Context

14 Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.

15 The ancient and honourable , he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.

16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err ; and they that are led of them are destroyed .

17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer , and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away , but his hand is stretched out still .

18 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. the leaders: or, they that call them blessed