Isaiah 9:18

18 succensa est enim quasi ignis impietas veprem et spinam vorabit et succendetur in densitate saltus et convolvetur superbia fumi

Isaiah 9:18 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 9:18

For wickedness burneth as the fire
That is, the punishment of their sins, as the Targum interprets it; the wrath of God for sin, which is poured out like fire, and consumes as that does; unless wicked men are meant, who are consumed with the fire of divine vengeance; the sense is the same: it shall devour the briers and thorns;
sinners and ungodly, so the Targum paraphrases it; and Aben Ezra observes, they are the wicked; who are compared to briers and thorns, for their unfruitfulness in themselves, harmfulness to others, and for their weakness to stand against the fury of incensed Deity, see ( 2 Samuel 23:6 ) ( Isaiah 27:4 ) : and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest.
Kimchi thinks there is a gradation in these words, that as fire first begins to burn the thorns, and smaller wood, and then the greater; so wickedness consumes first the little ones, who are the thorns, and after that it kindles in the thickets of the forest, who are the great ones; so the commonwealth of Israel is compared to a forest; and the thorns, briers, and thickets, may denote the common people and their governors, who all being guilty of wickedness, should not escape the vengeance of God: and they shall mount up [like] the lifting up of smoke:
or lift up themselves, or be lifted up; so Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret the word; but Jarchi thinks it has the signification of (Kwb) , "to be perplexed": and gives the sense of it thus; they are perplexed, and shut up with the strength of smoke that burns: others take it to be a word of the same meaning with (qba) ; and render it, "they shall pulverize", or "go into dust in the lifting up of smoke" F4; and denotes the dissolution of the commonwealth; but perhaps it may be better rendered, "though they shall walk proudly" (or behave haughtily), their "pride" shall be as "smoke", which soon vanishes away; since the word, which is only here used, in the Syriac language signifies to walk proudly, as a cock with two crests F5.


FOOTNOTES:

F4 (Nve twag wkbaty) "et epulverabitur erectione fumi", Cocceius; "adeo ut in minutissimum pulverem abeant elato fumo, [vel] elatione fumi", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
F5 "Et superbient, (fastuose se gerent,) at superbia (vel quorum superbia) fumus, h. e. fumi instar, evanescit, interibit, quod etiam Armenis indigiat, isfud vacobulum `Abac' <arabic>, Syr. galus, gallinaceus, superbo gradu incedens et bicristatus", Castel. Lexicon Polyglott. col. 12.

Isaiah 9:18 In-Context

16 et erunt qui beatificant populum istum seducentes et qui beatificantur praecipitati
17 propter hoc super adulescentulis eius non laetabitur Dominus et pupillorum eius et viduarum non miserebitur quia omnis hypocrita est et nequam et universum os locutum est stultitiam in omnibus his non est aversus furor eius sed adhuc manus eius extenta
18 succensa est enim quasi ignis impietas veprem et spinam vorabit et succendetur in densitate saltus et convolvetur superbia fumi
19 in ira Domini exercituum conturbata est terra et erit populus quasi esca ignis vir fratri suo non parcet
20 et declinabit ad dexteram et esuriet et comedet ad sinistram et non saturabitur unusquisque carnem brachii sui vorabit Manasses Ephraim et Ephraim Manassen simul ipsi contra Iudam
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.