Isaiah 9:14

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

will cut: Isaiah 3:2, Isaiah 3:3, Isaiah 19:15, 2 Kings 17:6-20, Hosea 1:4, Hosea 1:6, Hosea 1:9, Hosea 4:5, Hosea 5:12-14, Hosea 8:8, Hosea 9:11-17, Hosea 13:3, Amos 2:14-16, Amos 3:12, Amos 5:2, Amos 5:3, Amos 6:11, Amos 7:8, Amos 7:9, Amos 7:17, Amos 9:1-9, Micah 1:6-8

in one day: Isaiah 10:17, Isaiah 30:13, Hosea 10:15, Revelation 18:8, Revelation 18:10, Revelation 18:17

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 13:5 - prophet Deuteronomy 28:13 - the head Joshua 10:19 - smite 1 Kings 22:25 - Behold Nehemiah 6:14 - on the prophetess Isaiah 5:15 - the mean Isaiah 5:24 - their root Isaiah 7:20 - head Isaiah 24:2 - as with the people Isaiah 48:19 - his name Jeremiah 6:21 - fathers Jeremiah 16:6 - the great Jeremiah 32:32 - they Lamentations 2:20 - shall the priest Lamentations 4:16 - they respected Daniel 11:7 - out of Hosea 4:9 - like people Hosea 11:6 - consume Malachi 2:12 - the master and the scholar Matthew 23:13 - woe 2 Corinthians 11:15 - whose

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail,.... The former of these is afterwards interpreted of "the ancient and honourable", men in high places, civil magistrates, judges, governors, and elders of the people, the king as supreme, and all subordinate officers; and so the Targum,

"the Lord will destroy from Israel the prince and the ruler;''

and the latter is interpreted of the false prophet. The people of Israel are compared to a beast with a tail, being so sadly degenerated and corrupted; as the Romish antichrist, in both his capacities, civil and ecclesiastical, is compared to a beast; the one being the head, and the other the tail, Revelation 13:1 and Rome Pagan to a dragon with a tail, Revelation 12:3 and the Saracens and Turks to locusts with tails like the tails of scorpions, Revelation 9:10:

branch and rush, in one day. The Septuagint render it, "great and small"; and so the Arabic version; the first word intending the great men of the nation, in flourishing circumstances, like branches of trees; the latter the common, people, like reeds and rushes, weak and feeble; so Kimchi explains them,

"the strong and the weak;''

though the Targum interprets both of the governor and lord; and so Jarchi says they signify kings and governors; but Aben Ezra renders the word root and branch; and so they may denote the utter destruction of the people of Israel, fathers and children, high and low, rich and poor. See Malachi 4:1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Will cut off head and tail - This is a proverbial expression, which is explained in the following verse; see also Deuteronomy 28:13-14. The head is often used to denote those in honor and authority. The tail is an expression applicable to the lower ranks, and would commonly indicate more than simply the common people. It would imply contempt; a state of great abjectness and meanness.

Branch and rush - This is also a proverbial expression, meaning the highest and lowest; see the note at Isaiah 19:15. The word here translated branch, means properly the bough or top of the palm tree. The palm grew to a great height before it gave out any branches, and hence, the image is a beautiful one to denote those high in office and authority. The word rush means the coarse, long-jointed reed, that grows in marshes - an apt emblem of the base and worthless classes of society.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 9:14. In one day. — Thirteen MSS. of Kennicott and De Rossi read ביום beyom, in a day; and another has a rasure in the place of the letter ב beth.