Isaiah 9:12

12 Aram ^[a] from the east and Philistia from the west have devoured Israel with open mouths. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.

Isaiah 9:12 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 9:12

The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind
Rezin, king of Syria, the confederate of the Israelites, being slain, his people joined the Assyrians against Israel; and they, with others mentioned, beset them on all sides, before and behind, east and west; and so the Targum, Septuagint, and other versions, render it, the Syrians on the east, or from the rising of the sun; and the Philistines on the west, or from the setting of the sun; for, as Kimchi observes, Syria lay east of the land of Israel, and Palestine on the West ^F2: and they shall devour Israel with open mouth:
greedily and presently; make, as it were, but one morsel of him: for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is]
stretched out still;
that is, the anger of God, that was not turned away; he had not yet stirred up all his wrath, he had not done with them, he had still other judgments to bring upon them; and his hand continued to be stretched out to inflict them, seeing they were not brought to repentance by what was already done unto them; so the Targum,

``for all this they do not return from their sins, that he may turn away his anger from them, but still retain their sins; and yet his stroke will be to take vengeance on them.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 So Noldius renders it, Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 10. No. 69.

Isaiah 9:12 In-Context

10 “The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with finished stone; the sycamores have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”

11 The LORD has raised up the foes of Rezin against him and joined his enemies together.

12 Aram from the east and Philistia from the west have devoured Israel with open mouths. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.

13 But the people did not return to Him who struck them; they did not seek the LORD of Hosts.

14 So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day.

Footnotes

• [a]. That is, Syria