Isaiah 9:18

¹⁶ For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.

¹⁷ Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.

¹⁹ 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.

²⁰ 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:

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes the thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets which roll upward in billows of smoke.
KJV: For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.
WEB: For wickedness burns like a fire. It devours the briers and thorns; yes, it kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
ASV: For wickedness burneth as the fire; it devoureth the briers and thorns; yea, it kindleth in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
DARBY: For wickedness burneth as a fire: it devoureth briars and thorns, and kindleth in the thickets of the forest, and they go rolling up like a pillar of smoke.
BLB: For wickedness burns as the fire, and it will devour brier and thorn; and it is kindled in the thickets of the forest, and they mount up in a rising of smoke.

ÅB: For ugudeligheten brenner som ild; den fortærer torn og tistel, og den tenner den tetteste skog, så den hvirvler høyt opp i røyk.
OTB: For ugudelighet brenner som en ild; den fortærer tornebusker og tistler, og den tenner skogens kratt, og de ruller oppover i en røykstøtte.
B1930: For ugudeligheten brenner som ild; den fortærer torn og tistel, og den tender den tetteste skog, så den hvirvler høit op i røk.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Malachi 4:1
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
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Psalms 83:14
As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;
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Nahum 1:10
For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
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Isaiah 5:24
Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Read in context
Isaiah 34:8–10
For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.
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Nahum 1:6
Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.
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Deuteronomy 32:22
For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
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Joel 2:20
But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.
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