What Does Isaiah 5:25 Mean?
Therefore the burning of the LORD's anger flares against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them. The hills quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this, the burning of his anger has not turned back, but his hand is still stretched out.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.THE KEY
The violence is not a single strike: after the bodies and hills bear its force, the same hand remains extended.
THE MEANING
Here, divine anger is public and bodily: the LORD strikes, the hills tremble, and human remains lie torn in the streets. The closing image keeps the force active: the anger has not turned back, and the hand remains extended.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a devastating blow marks the end of the judgment: the verse explicitly leaves the LORD’s hand extended.
THE ROOT
וַיֵּט
wayyet
GROWS FROM
נטה
natah
To stretch out, extend, or incline.
“stretched forth / stretched out still” in this verse is wayyet. The hand is first described with וַיֵּט (wayyet, “he stretched out”), and the verse ends with נְטוּיָה (netuyah, “stretched out”). The repeated root gives no retreat between the strike and its aftermath: extension is the verse’s final posture.
ALSO GROWS
hittah ʾozen: Inclined an ear; turned the ear toward someone.
הִטָּה אָזֶן
The same root can describe an inclination toward listening; here it describes a hand extended in force.
natah ʾohel: Spread or pitched a tent.
נָטָה אֹהֶל
The root’s sense of extension can shape a dwelling, while here the extended hand accompanies devastation.
וַיִּרְגְּזוּ
vayyirgezū
GROWS FROM
רגז
ragaz
To tremble, quake, or become agitated.
“tremble” in this verse is vayyirgezū. The root can name trembling as well as agitation and turmoil. The hills are part of the upheaval: the verse gives divine anger a physical reach into the landscape, alongside the torn bodies in the streets.
ALSO GROWS
ragaz: To tremble, quake, or become agitated.
רָגַז
This verb names the hills’ movement as a real disturbance within the scene.
rogez: Agitation or turmoil.
רֹגֶז
The related noun shows that the root’s movement can name a state of upheaval, not only a brief shake.
לֹא־שָׁב
lo-shav
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
To turn, return, or go back.
The phrase לֹא־שָׁב אַפּוֹ (lo-shav appo, “his anger has not turned back”) makes the ending a counter-motion: the anger does not return from its course while the hand remains stretched out.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: To turn or return.
שׁוּב
The verse uses this root to say that the anger has not turned back.
teshuvah: Return or turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This related noun carries the same movement of return that the verse says has not occurred.
THE PATTERN
When divine anger is pictured as active force, its reach enters public space and moves the land and bodies around it.
Then the earth quakes and trembles; the foundations of the mountains tremble and quake, because he burns.The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this, the burning of his anger has not turned back, and his hand is still stretched out.And they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of the one seated upon the throne, and from the burning anger of the Lamb.THE THREAD
The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this, the burning of his anger has not turned back, and his hand is still stretched out.Both verses repeat the Hebrew root נטה (natah, “stretch out”) for the hand, and Isaiah 9:12 repeats the ending almost word for word. The shared root makes the extended hand feel like a continuing posture, not an isolated strike.
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