Isaiah 9:16

16 ¹For those who guide this people are leading them astray; And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion.

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 So the LORD cuts off head and tail from Israel, Both palm branch and bulrush in a single day.

15 The head is the elder and honorable man, And the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail.

16 For those who guide this people are leading them astray; And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion.

17 Therefore the Lord does not take pleasure in their young men, Nor does He have pity on their orphans or their widows; For every one of them is godless and an evildoer, And every mouth is speaking foolishness. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.

18 For wickedness burns like a fire; It consumes briars and thorns; It even sets the thickets of the forest aflame And they roll upward in a column of smoke.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 3:12; Matthew 15:14; Matthew 23:16, 24

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "swallowed up"