Bible Strands
Isaiah 9:19
By the wrath of the LORD of Hosts the land is scorched, and the people are fuel for the fire. No man even spares his brother.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Isaiah pronounces judgment following a description of national corruption, declaring that divine retribution has consumed the land and turned the population against itself.
The words — נֶעְתַּ֣ם (ne'.Tam) translates literally to "it has been scorched," and כְּ/מַאֲכֹ֣לֶת (ke./ma.'a.Kho.let) means "like fuel," directly describing the land and people as consumed resources.
The thread — The progression of scorched land, people turning to fuel, and brothers devouring each other runs through Isaiah 1:31, Micah 7:2, and Micah 7:6.
Why it lands — The text states that God's wrath leaves the land burned and the people as fuel, so no brother spares another, demanding recognition that moral collapse reduces survival to mutual consumption without divine intervention.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother.
Cross-references
- Micah 7:2 The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.
- Micah 7:6 For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies are the members of his own household.
- Isaiah 1:31 The strong man will become tinder and his work will be a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the flames.
- Isaiah 5:30 In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds.
- Isaiah 8:22 Then they will look to the earth and see only distress and darkness and the gloom of anguish. And they will be driven into utter darkness.
- Isaiah 13:9 Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming—cruel, with fury and burning anger—to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners within it.
- Isaiah 13:13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts on the day of His burning anger.
- Isaiah 13:18 Their bows will dash young men to pieces; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; they will not look with pity on the children.
- Isaiah 24:6 Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants must bear the guilt; the earth’s dwellers have been burned, and only a few survive.
- Isaiah 24:11 In the streets they cry out for wine. All joy turns to gloom; rejoicing is exiled from the land.