Isaiah 9:12

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

⁸The Lord has sent a message against Jacob, and it has fallen upon Israel. ⁹All the people will know it-Ephraim and the dwellers of Samaria. With pride and arrogance of heart they will say: ¹⁰"The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with finished stone; the sycamores have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars." ¹¹The LORD has raised up the foes of Rezin against him and joined his enemies together. ¹²Aram from the east and Philistia from the west have devoured Israel with open mouths. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.¹³But the people did not return to Him who struck them; they did not seek the LORD of Hosts. ¹⁴So the LORD will cut off Israel's head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day. ¹⁵The head is the elder and the honorable man and the tail is the prophet who teaches lies. ¹⁶For those who guide this people mislead them, and those they mislead are swallowed up. ¹⁷Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men; He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For every one of them is godless and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Syrians: 2 Kings 16:6, 2 Chronicles 28:18, Jeremiah 35:11

devour Israel: Deuteronomy 31:17, Psalms 79:7, Psalms 129:3-6, Jeremiah 10:25

open mouth: Heb. whole mouth

For all: Isaiah 9:17, Isaiah 9:21, Isaiah 5:25, Isaiah 10:4, Jeremiah 4:8

Reciprocal: Exodus 6:6 - redeem Psalms 35:21 - Yea Psalms 138:7 - thou shalt stretch Isaiah 14:27 - his Jeremiah 6:12 - I will Jeremiah 21:5 - with an Jeremiah 50:7 - have devoured Ezekiel 6:14 - will I Ezekiel 14:9 - and I will Ezekiel 16:27 - I have Ezekiel 25:15 - dealt Matthew 24:8 - General Luke 11:53 - to urge

Cross-References

Genesis 9:17
So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and all living things on the earth."

Genesis 9:23
Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father's nakedness.

Genesis 9:25
he said, "Cursed be Canaan! A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers."

Genesis 9:26
He also declared: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the servant of Shem.

Genesis 9:28
After the flood, Noah lived 350 years.

Genesis 17:11
You are to circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and this will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.

Exodus 12:13
The blood on the houses where you are staying will distinguish them; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

Exodus 13:16
So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead, for with a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt."

Joshua 2:12
Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD that you will indeed show kindness to my family because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind,.... Rezin, king of Syria, the confederate of the Israelites, being slain, his people joined the Assyrians against Israel; and they, with others mentioned, beset them on all sides, before and behind, east and west; and so the Targum, Septuagint, and other versions, render it, the Syrians on the east, or from the rising of the sun; and the Philistines on the west, or from the setting of the sun; for, as Kimchi observes, Syria lay east of the land of Israel, and Palestine on the West b:

and they shall devour Israel with open mouth: greedily and presently; make, as it were, but one morsel of him:

for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still; that is, the anger of God, that was not turned away; he had not yet stirred up all his wrath, he had not done with them, he had still other judgments to bring upon them; and his hand continued to be stretched out to inflict them, seeing they were not brought to repentance by what was already done unto them; so the Targum,

"for all this they do not return from their sins, that he may turn away his anger from them, but still retain their sins; and yet his stroke will be to take vengeance on them.''

b So Noldius renders it, Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 10. No. 69.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Syrians - Isaiah 7:1. The Syrians had been the allies of the Israelites. But after the death of Rezin, it is probable that they joined the Assyrians, and united with them in the invasion of Samaria. - Aben Ezra; Grotius. “Before.” Hebrew ‘From the east.’ Syria was situated to the east of Samaria, and the meaning is here, that they would pour in upon Samaria from that side.

And the Philistines - The Philistines occupied the country southwest of Samaria, lying along on the shores of the Mediterranean. It is not particularly mentioned in the Scriptures that they invaded Samaria after this prediction of Isaiah, but such a thing is by no means improbable. They were long unsubdued; were full of hostility to the Jewish people; and were many times engaged with them in wars and several times subdued them; Judges 13:0; Judges 14:0; 2 Chronicles 28:18. The name Palestine is derived from Philistine, although this people occupied but a small part of the country; see Reland’s Palestine, c. vii.

Behind - That is, from the west - the region where they dwelt. The sacred writers speak as if looking toward the east, the rising sun, and they speak of the west as the region behind them; see the notes at Job 23:8-9.

And they shall devour - Hebrew, ‘They shall eat.’ This figure is taken from a ravenous beast; and means that they should come up with raging desires, and fierce impetuosity, to destroy the nation.

With open mouth - Hebrew, ‘With the whole mouth.’ The metaphor is derived from raging and furious animals. Chaldee, ‘In every place.’

For all this - Notwithstanding all this.

His anger ... - see the note at Isaiah 5:25.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 9:12. With open mouth - "On every side"] בכל פה bechol peh, in every corner, in every part of their country, pursuing them to the remotest extremities, and the most retired parts. So the Chaldee בכל אתר bechol athar, in every place.