Isaiah 9:16

16 Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray.

Isaiah 9:16 in Other Translations

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

16 for those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.

16 For the leaders of the people have misled them. They have led them down the path of destruction.

16 Those who were supposed to lead this people led them down blind alleys, And those who followed the leaders ended up lost and confused.

16 The leaders of the people mislead [them], and those they mislead are swallowed up.

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 will cut off from Israel both head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day;

15 the elders and dignitaries are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail.

16 Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray.

17 Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men, nor will he pity the fatherless and widows, for everyone is ungodly and wicked, every mouth speaks folly. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.

18 Surely wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns, it sets the forest thickets ablaze, so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.

Cross References

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