Isaiah 9:18-21 For wickedness burns as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest… Wickedness, i.e., the constant willing of evil, is a fire which man kindles in himself. And when the grace of God, which stifles and checks this fire, is at an end, it breaks forth The fire of wickedness is nothing else but God's עַבְדָה, for so wrath is called as breaking forth from within and spreading itself inwardly more and more, and then passing outwards into word and deed; it is God's own wrath; for all sin carries this within itself as its own punishment. (F. Delitzsch.) Parallel Verses 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. |