Isaiah 9:15

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

The leaders and the highly respected people are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיִּֽהְי֛וּ מְאַשְּׁרֵ֥י הָֽעָם־הַזֶּ֖ה מַתְעִ֑ים וּמְאֻשָּׁרָ֖יו מְבֻלָּעִֽים׃

Transliteration

And yihyû məʾaššərê the ʿām-the-this matʿîm and his məʾuššārāyw məḇullāʿîm.

Grammar Details

• *yihyû*: verb, Qal, imperfect, consecutive, 3rd person, masculine, plural - they became
• *məʾaššərê*: participle, Piel, masculine, plural, construct - guides of
• *ʿām*: noun, masculine, singular, absolute with definite article - the people
• *matʿîm*: participle, Hiphil, masculine, plural, absolute - leading astray/misleading
• *məʾuššārāyw*: participle, Pual, masculine, plural with 3rd person, masculine, singular suffix - those being guided by him
• *məḇullāʿîm*: participle, Pual, masculine, plural, absolute - swallowed up/destroyed

Word Meanings

• *məʾaššərê*: guides of/leaders of/those who call blessed
• *ʿām*: people/nation/population
• *matʿîm*: leading astray/causing to err/misleading
• *məʾuššārāyw*: those being guided by him/those being led by him
• *məḇullāʿîm*: swallowed up/destroyed/confused

Referenced Verses

• Isa 29:10 : 10 For the LORD has poured out on you a strong urge to sleep deeply. He has shut your eyes(the prophets), and covered your heads(the seers).
• Matt 24:24 : 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
• Isa 3:2-3 : 2 the mighty men and warriors, judges and prophets, omen readers and leaders, 3 captains of groups of fifty, the respected citizens, advisers and those skilled in magical arts, and those who know incantations.
• Isa 3:5 : 5 The people will treat each other harshly; men will oppose each other; neighbors will fight. Youths will proudly defy the elderly and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected.
• Isa 5:13 : 13 Therefore my people will be deported because of their lack of understanding. Their leaders will have nothing to eat, their masses will have nothing to drink.
• Isa 28:17 : 17 I will make justice the measuring line, fairness the plumb line; hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.
• 1 Sam 9:6 : 6 But the servant said to him,“Look, there is a man of God in this town. He is highly respected. Everything that he says really happens. Now let’s go there. Perhaps he will tell us where we should go from here.”
• 1 Kgs 13:18 : 18 Then the old prophet said,“I too am a prophet like you. And an angel has told me in a message from the LORD,‘Bring him back with you to your house so he can eat food and drink water.’” But he had lied to him.
• 1 Kgs 22:22-24 : 22 The LORD asked him,‘How?’ He replied,‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ The LORD said,‘Deceive and overpower him. Go out and do as you have proposed.’ 23 So now, look, the LORD has placed a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours, but the LORD has decreed disaster for you.” 24 Zedekiah son of Kenaanah approached, hit Micaiah on the jaw, and said,“Which way did the LORD’s spirit go when he went from me to speak to you?”
• 2 Cor 11:13-15 : 13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will correspond to their actions.
• Gal 1:8-9 : 8 But even if we(or an angel from heaven) should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be condemned to hell! 9 As we have said before, and now I say again, if any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be condemned to hell!
• 2 Thess 2:9-9 : 9 The arrival of the lawless one will be by Satan’s working with all kinds of miracles and signs and false wonders, 10 and with every kind of evil deception directed against those who are perishing, because they found no place in their hearts for the truth so as to be saved. 11 Consequently God sends on them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false. 12 And so all of them who have not believed the truth but have delighted in evil will be condemned.
• 2 Tim 4:2-3 : 2 Preach the message, be ready whether it is convenient or not, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and instruction. 3 For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things.
• 2 Pet 2:1-3 : 1 The False Teachers’ Ungodly Lifestyle But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. These false teachers will infiltrate your midst with destructive heresies, even to the point of denying the Master who bought them. As a result, they will bring swift destruction on themselves. 2 And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep.
• 1 John 4:1 : 1 Testing the Spirits Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
• Rev 19:20 : 20 Now the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf– signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur.
• Jer 5:31 : 31 The prophets prophesy lies. The priests exercise power by their own authority. And my people love to have it this way. But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes!
• Jer 14:14-15 : 14 Then the LORD said to me,“Those prophets are prophesying lies while claiming my authority! I did not send them. I did not commission them. I did not speak to them. They are prophesying to these people false visions, worthless predictions, and the delusions of their own mind. 15 I did not send those prophets, though they claim to be prophesying in my name. They may be saying,‘No war or famine will happen in this land.’ But I, the LORD, say this about them:‘War and starvation will kill those prophets.’
• Jer 23:9 : 9 Oracles Against the False Prophets Here is what the LORD says concerning the false prophets: My heart and my mind are deeply disturbed. I tremble all over. I am like a drunk person, like a person who has had too much wine, because of the way the LORD and his holy word are being mistreated.
• Jer 23:14-15 : 14 But I see the prophets of Jerusalem doing something just as shocking. They are unfaithful to me and continually prophesy lies. So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil, with the result that they do not stop their evildoing. I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom, and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah. 15 So then I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem:‘I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason that ungodliness has spread throughout the land.’”
• Jer 23:25-27 : 25 The LORD says,“I have heard what those prophets who are prophesying lies in my name are saying. They are saying,‘I have had a dream! I have had a dream!’ 26 Those prophets are just prophesying lies. They are prophesying the delusions of their own minds. 27 How long will they go on plotting to make my people forget who I am through the dreams they tell one another? That is just as bad as what their ancestors did when they forgot who I am by worshiping the god Baal.
• Jer 27:9-9 : 9 So do not listen to your prophets or to those who claim to predict the future by divination, by dreams, by consulting the dead, or by practicing magic. They keep telling you,‘You do not need to be subject to the king of Babylon.’ 10 Do not listen to them, because their prophecies are lies. Listening to them will only cause you to be taken far away from your native land. I will drive you out of your country and you will die in exile.
• Jer 27:14-15 : 14 Do not listen to the prophets who are telling you that you do not need to serve the king of Babylon. For they are prophesying lies to you. 15 For I, the LORD, affirm that I did not send them. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. If you listen to them, I will drive you and the prophets who are prophesying lies out of the land and you will all die in exile.”
• Jer 28:15-16 : 15 Then the prophet Jeremiah told the prophet Hananiah,“Listen, Hananiah! The LORD did not send you! You are making these people trust in a lie! 16 So the LORD says,‘I will most assuredly remove you from the face of the earth. You will die this very year because you have counseled rebellion against the LORD.’”
• Jer 29:21-22 : 21 “The LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel also has something to say about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you and claiming my authority to do so.‘I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and he will execute them before your very eyes. 22 And all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will use them as examples when they put a curse on anyone. They will say,“May the LORD treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab whom the king of Babylon roasted to death in the fire!”
• Ezek 13:1-9 : 1 False Prophets Denounced Then the LORD’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to the prophets who prophesy from their imagination:‘Listen to the LORD’s message! 3 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit but have seen nothing! 4 Your prophets have become like jackals among the ruins, O Israel. 5 You have not gone up in the breaks in the wall, nor repaired a wall for the house of Israel that it would stand strong in the battle on the day of the LORD. 6 They see delusion and their omens are a lie. They say,“the LORD declares,” though the LORD has not sent them; yet they expect their word to be confirmed. 7 Have you not seen a false vision and announced a lying omen when you say,“the LORD declares,” although I myself never spoke? 8 “‘Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you have spoken false words and forecast delusion, look, I am against you, declares the Sovereign LORD. 9 My hand will be against the prophets who see delusion and announce lying omens. They will not be included in the council of my people, nor be written in the registry of the house of Israel, nor enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD. 10 “‘This is because they have led my people astray saying,“All is well,” when things are not well. When anyone builds a wall without mortar, they coat it with whitewash. 11 Tell the ones who coat it with whitewash that it will fall. When there is a deluge of rain, hailstones will fall and a violent wind will break out. 12 When the wall has collapsed, people will ask you,“Where is the whitewash you coated it with?” 13 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: In my rage I will make a violent wind break out. In my anger there will be a deluge of rain and hailstones in destructive fury. 14 I will break down the wall you coated with whitewash and knock it to the ground so that its foundation is exposed. When it falls you will be destroyed beneath it, and you will know that I am the LORD. 15 I will vent my rage against the wall, and against those who coated it with whitewash. Then I will say to you,“The wall is no more and those who whitewashed it are no more– 16 those prophets of Israel who would prophesy about Jerusalem and would see visions of peace for it, when there was no peace,” declares the Sovereign LORD.’
• Ezek 13:19 : 19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. You have put to death people who should not die and kept alive those who should not live by your lies to my people, who listen to lies!
• Ezek 13:22 : 22 This is because you have disheartened the righteous person with lies(although I have not grieved him), and because you have encouraged the wicked person not to turn from his evil conduct and preserve his life.
• Hos 9:8 : 8 The prophet is a watchman over Ephraim on behalf of God, yet traps are laid for him along all of his paths; animosity rages against him in the land of his God.
• Mal 2:9 : 9 “Therefore, I have caused you to be ignored and belittled before all people to the extent to which you are not following after me and are showing partiality in your instruction.”
• Matt 7:15 : 15 A Tree and Its Fruit“Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.