Isaiah 9 · Verse 20

Isaiah 9:20

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:

Isaiah 9:20, King James Version

Isaiah 9:20 in other translations

BSB	They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they eat what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own offspring.
WEB	One will devour on the right hand, and be hungry; and he will eat on the left hand, and they will not be satisfied. Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm:
ASV	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:
YLT	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.
DARBY	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:
BBE	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.
Webster	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:

What does Isaiah 9:20 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 9:18-21

18-21. Third strophe. burneth--maketh consumption, not only spreading rapidly, but also consuming like fire: sin is its own punishment. briers ... thorns--emblem of the wicked; especially those of low rank (Is 27:4; 2Sa 23:6). forest--from the humble shrubbery the flame spreads to the vast forest; it reaches the high, as well as the low. mount up like ... smoke--rather. "They (the thickets of the forest) shall lift…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 9:18-21 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 20 The flesh of his own arm "The flesh of his neighbor" - "Του βραχιονος του αδελφου αυτου, the Septuagint Alexand. Duplex versio, quarum altera legit רעו reo, quae vox extat, Jer 6:21. Nam רע rea, αδελφος, Gen 43:33. Recte ni fallor." - Secker. I add to this excellent remark, that the Chaldee manifestly reads רעו reo, his neighbor, not זרעו zeroo, his arm; for he renders it by קריביה karibeyh, his neighbor. And Jeremiah has the very same expression: ואיש בשר רעהו יאכלו veish besar reehu yochelu, "and every one shall eat the flesh of his neighbor," Jer 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 neighbor;" 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 neighbors; "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 connection 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.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 9:8-21

Those are ripening apace for ruin, whose hearts are unhumbled under humbling providences. For that which God designs, in smiting us, is, to turn us to himself; and if this point be not gained by lesser judgments, greater may be expected. The leaders of the people misled them. We have reason to be afraid of those that speak well of us, when we do ill. Wickedness was universal, all were infected with it. They shall be…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 9:8-21 →

Isaiah 9:20 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיִּגְזֹ֤רvai.yig.Zorand it devouredH1504

עַל\־'al-onH5921

יָמִין֙ya.Min[the] right [side]H3225

וְרָעֵ֔בve.ra.'Evand it was hungryH7456

וַיֹּ֥אכַלvai.Yo.khaland it ateH398

עַל\־'al-onH5921

שְׂמֹ֖אולse.Mol[the] left [side]H8040

וְלֹ֣אve.Lo'and notH3808

שָׂבֵ֑עוּsa.Ve.'uthey were satisfiedH7646

אִ֥ישׁ'isheveryoneH376

בְּשַׂר\־be.sar-[the] flesh ofH1320

זְרֹע֖וֹze.ro.'Oown arm hisH2220

יֹאכֵֽלוּ\׃yo.Khe.luthey ateH398

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Isaiah 9:20

Isaiah 49:26
And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
Jeremiah 19:9
And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
Isaiah 8:21
And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
Leviticus 26:26-29
And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
Lamentations 4:10
The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

And he.
49:26; Le 26:26-29; Jer 19:9; La 4:10
snatch. Heb. cut.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Isaiah 9:19
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.
Isaiah 9:20
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:
Isaiah 9:21
Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Read all of Isaiah 9

Isaiah 9:20 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Cada uno hurtará á la mano derecha, y tendrá hambre; y comerá á la izquierda, y no se hartará: cada cual comerá la carne de su brazo:
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Manassé, Éphraïm, et Éphraïm, Manassé; et ceux-ci ensemble sont contre Juda. Pour tout cela, sa colère ne s’est pas détournée, et sa main est encore étendue.
German Elberfelder 1871	Und man schlingt zur Rechten und hungert, und man frißt zur Linken und wird nicht satt. Sie fressen ein jeder das Fleisch seines eigenen Armes:
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Et declinabit ad dexteram, et esuriet; et comedet ad sinistram, et non saturabitur; unusquisque carnem brachii sui vorabit: Manasses Ephraim, et Ephraim Manassen; simul ipsi contra Judam.