Yesaya 9:18

9:18 For ¹  evil burned like a fire, ² 

it consumed thorns and briers;

it burned up the thickets of the forest,

and they went up in smoke. ³ 

Yesaya 10:17

10:17 The light of Israel ⁴  will become a fire,

their Holy One ⁵  will become a flame;

it will burn and consume the Assyrian king’s ⁶  briers

and his thorns in one day.

[9:18]  ¹ tn Or “Indeed” (cf. NIV “Surely”). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[9:18]  ² sn Evil was uncontrollable and destructive, and so can be compared to a forest fire.

[9:18]  ³ tn Heb “and they swirled [with] the rising of the smoke” (cf. NRSV).

[10:17]  ⁴ tn In this context the “Light of Israel” is a divine title (note the parallel title “his holy one”). The title points to God’s royal splendor, which overshadows and, when transformed into fire, destroys the “majestic glory” of the king of Assyria (v. 16b).

[10:17]  ⁵ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[10:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “his.” In vv. 17-19 the Assyrian king and his empire is compared to a great forest and orchard that are destroyed by fire (symbolic of the Lord).