Isaiah 9:20

Christian Standard Bible ®

They carve meat on the right,but they are still hungry;they have eaten on the left,but they are still not satisfied.Each one eats the flesh of his own arm.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
One shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:

King James Version
And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:

English Standard Version
They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry, and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied; each devours the flesh of his own arm,

New American Standard Bible
They devour what is on the right hand but are still hungry, And they eat what is on the left hand, but they are not satisfied; Each of them eats the flesh of his own arm.

New Century Version
People will grab something on the right, but they will still be hungry. They will eat something on the left, but they will not be filled. Then they will each turn and eat their own children.

Amplified Bible
They slice off [in discord] what is on the right hand but are still hungry, And they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied; Each eats the flesh of his own arm.

World English Bible
One shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:

Geneva Bible (1587)
And he shall snatch at the right hand, and be hungrie: and he shall eate on the left hand, and shall not be satisfied: euery one shall eate ye flesh of his owne arme.

Legacy Standard Bible
They slice off what is on the right hand but still are hungry,And they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied;Each of them eats the flesh of his own arm.

Berean Standard Bible
They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they have eaten what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own arm.

Contemporary English Version
like wild animals attacking and eating everyone around them, even their own relatives. But still they were not satisfied.

Complete Jewish Bible
M'nasheh devours Efrayim; and Efrayim, M'nasheh; while together they oppose Y'hudah. Even after all this, his anger remains, his upraised hand still threatens.

Darby Translation
and he snatcheth on the right hand, and is hungry, and eateth on the left hand; and they are not satisfied. They eat every man the flesh of his own arm:

Easy-to-Read Version
People looked to the right and grabbed whatever they could, but they were still hungry. They grabbed whatever was on their left, but still they were not satisfied. So they turned on themselves and began to eat the bodies of their own children.

George Lamsa Translation
And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and shall not be satisfied; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own kinsmen;

Good News Translation
Everywhere in the country people snatch and eat any bit of food they can find, but their hunger is never satisfied. They even eat their own children!

Lexham English Bible
They devoured on the right but still were hungry and devoured on the left but they were not satisfied. Each one devoured the flesh of his arm,

Literal Translation
And he shall cut off on the right hand, yet be hungry. And he shall eat on the left, but not be satisfied. Each man shall eat the flesh of his own arm;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf a man do turne him to the right honde, he shal famesh, or to the lefte hande to eat, he shal not haue ynough. Euery man shal eate the flesh of his owne arme:

American Standard Version
And one shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:

Bible in Basic English
On the right a man was cutting off bits and was still in need; on the left a man took a meal but had not enough; no man had pity on his brother; every man was making a meal of the flesh of his neighbour.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together are against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.

King James Version (1611)
And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry, and he shall eate on the left hand, and they shall not bee satisfied: they shall eate euery man the flesh of his owne arme.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But he robbeth on the right hande, and doth famishe, he eateth on the left hande, and he shall not haue inough: euery man shall eate the fleshe of his owne arme.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But one shall turn aside to the right hand, for he shall be hungry; and shall eat on the left, and a man shall by no means be satisfied with eating the flesh of his own arm.

English Revised Version
And one shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And he schal boowe to the riyt half, and he schal hungre, and he schal ete at the left half, and he schal not be fillid; ech man schal deuoure the fleisch of his arm. Manasses schal deuoure Effraym, and Effraym `schal deuoure Manasses, and thei togidere ayens Juda.

Update Bible Version
And one shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:

Webster's Bible Translation
And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:

New English Translation
They devoured on the right, but were still hungry, they ate on the left, but were not satisfied. People even ate the flesh of their own arm!

New King James Version
And he shall snatch on the right hand And be hungry; He shall devour on the left hand And not be satisfied; Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.

New Living Translation
They will attack their neighbor on the right but will still be hungry. They will devour their neighbor on the left but will not be satisfied. In the end they will even eat their own children.

New Life Bible
They take what is on the right hand but still are hungry. They eat what is in the left hand but are not filled. Each of them eats the flesh of his own children.

New Revised Standard
They gorged on the right, but still were hungry, and they devoured on the left, but were not satisfied; they devoured the flesh of their own kindred;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And he hath slain on the right, and yet is hungry, And hath eaten on the left, yet are they not satisfied, - Every one, the flesh of his own arm, will they eat:

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he shall turn to the right hand, and shall be hungry: and shall eat on the left hand, and shall not be filled: every one shall eat the flesh of his own arm: Manasses Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasses, and they together shall be against Juda.

Revised Standard Version
They snatch on the right, but are still hungry, and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied; each devours his neighbor's flesh,

Young's Literal Translation
And cutteth down on the right, and hath been hungry, And he devoureth on the left, And they have not been satisfied, Each the flesh of his own arm they devour.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
They slice off what is on the right hand but still are hungry, And they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied; Each of them eats the flesh of his own arm.

Contextual Overview

⁸The Lord sent a message against Jacob;it came against Israel. ⁹All the people—Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—will know it.They will say with pride and arrogance: ¹⁰“The bricks have fallen,but we will rebuild with cut stones;the sycamores have been cut down,but we will replace them with cedars.” ¹¹The Lord has raised up Rezin’s adversaries against himand stirred up his enemies. ¹²Aram from the east and Philistia from the westhave consumed Israel with open mouths.In all this, his anger has not turned away,and his hand is still raised to strike. ¹³The people did not turn to him who struck them;they did not seek the Lord of Armies. ¹⁴So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail,palm branch and reed in a single day. ¹⁵The head is the elder, the honored one;the tail is the prophet, the one teaching lies. ¹⁶The leaders of the people mislead them,and those they mislead are swallowed up. ¹⁷Therefore the Lord does not rejoiceover Israel’s young menand has no compassionon its fatherless and widows,for everyone is a godless evildoer,and every mouth speaks folly.In all this, his anger has not turned away,and his hand is still raised to strike.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

And he: Isaiah 49:26, Leviticus 26:26-29, Jeremiah 19:9, Lamentations 4:10

snatch: Heb. cut

Reciprocal: Genesis 41:21 - still 2 Kings 6:28 - Give thy son Job 13:14 - I take Ecclesiastes 4:5 - eateth Isaiah 8:21 - hardly bestead Isaiah 36:12 - that they may Jeremiah 13:14 - I will dash Ezekiel 5:10 - the fathers Zechariah 8:13 - O house Zechariah 12:6 - on the right Mark 3:24 - General Luke 6:25 - hunger Luke 11:17 - Every Galatians 5:15 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 3:23
So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.

Genesis 4:2
She also gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel became a shepherd of flocks, but Cain worked the ground.

Genesis 5:29
And he named him Noah, saying, “This one will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands, caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.”

Genesis 9:18
Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.

Genesis 9:19
These three were Noah’s sons, and from them the whole earth was populated.

Genesis 9:24
When Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him,

Genesis 9:26
He also said:

Deuteronomy 20:6
Has any man planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy its fruit? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise he may die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit.

Deuteronomy 28:30
You will become engaged to a woman, but another man will rape her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not enjoy its fruit.

Proverbs 10:11
The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry,.... Either with his hand, and rob and plunder all within his reach; or, with his teeth, as cannibals, or beasts of prey, catch at, tear, and rend in pieces, whatever comes in their way; and yet hungry after more, and unsatisfied, as follows:

and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied; ravage and spoil on every side, and yet not content. The Targum is,

"he shall spoil on the south, and be hungry; and he shall destroy on the north, and not be satisfied:''

they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm; destroy their near relations, who are their own flesh and blood, or take away their substance from them; so the Targum,

"they shall spoil every man the substance of his neighbour:''

which will give some light to Revelation 17:16.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And he shall snatch - Hebrew, ‘He shall cut off.’ Many have supposed that this refers to a state of famine; but others regard it as descriptive of a state of faction extending throughout the whole community, dissolving the most tender ties, arid producing a dissolution of all the bonds of life. The context Isaiah 9:19, Isaiah 9:21 shows, that the latter is meant; though it is not improbable that it would be attended with famine. When it is said that he ‘would cut off his right hand,’ it denotes a condition of internal anarchy and strife.

And be hungry - And not be satisfied. Such would be his rage, and his desire of blood, that he would be insatiable. The retarder of those on one side of him would not appease his insatiable wrath. His desire of carnage would be so great that it would be like unappeased hunger.

And he shall eat - The idea here is that of contending factions excited by fury, rage, envy, hatred, contending in mingled strife, and spreading death with insatiable desire everywhere around them.

They shall eat - Not literally; but “shall destroy.” To eat the flesh of anyone, denotes to seek one’s life, and is descriptive of blood-thirsty enemies; Psalms 27:2 : ‘When the wicked, even mine enemies and foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell;’ Job 19:22 :

Why do ye persecute me as God,

And are not satisfied with my flesh?

Compare Deuteronomy 7:16; Jeremiah 10:25; Jeremiah 30:15; Jeremiah 50:17; Hosea 7:7; see Ovid’s Metam. 8, 867:

Ipse suos artus lacero divellere morsu

Coepit; et infelix minuendo corpus alebat.

The flesh of his own arm - The Chaldee renders this, ‘Each one shall devour the substance of his neighbor.’ Lowth proposes to read it, ‘The flesh of his neighbor.’ but without sufficient authority. The expression denotes a state of dreadful faction - where the ties of most intimate relationship would be disregarded, represented, here by the appalling figure of a man’s appetite being so rabid that he would seize upon and devour his own flesh. So, in this state of faction and discord, the rage would be so great that people would destroy those who were, as it were, their own flesh, that is, their nearest kindred and friends.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 9:20. The flesh of his own arm - "The flesh of his neighbour"] "Του βραχιονος του αδελφου αυτου, the Septuagint Alexand. Duplex versio, quarum altera legit רעו reo, quae vox extat, Jeremiah 6:21. Nam רע rea, αδελφος, Genesis 43:33. Recte ni fallor." - SECKER. I add to this excellent remark, that the Chaldee manifestly reads רעו reo, his neighbour, not זרעו zeroo, his arm; for he renders it by קריביה karibeyh, his neighbour. And Jeremiah has the very same expression: ואיש בשר רעהו יאכלו veish besar reehu yochelu, "and every one shall eat the flesh of his neighbour," Jeremiah 19:9. This observation, I think, gives the true reading and sense of this place: and the context strongly confirms it by explaining the general idea by particular instances, in the following verse: "Every man shall devour the flesh of his neighbour;" that is, they shall harass and destroy one another. "Manasseh shall destroy Ephraim, and Ephraim, Manasseh;" which two tribes were most closely connected both in blood and situation as brothers and neighbours; "and both of them in the midst of their own dissensions shall agree in preying upon Judah." The common reading, "shall devour the flesh of his own arm," in connexion with what follows, seems to make either an inconsistency, or an anticlimax; whereas by this correction the following verse becomes an elegant illustration of the foregoing. - L.