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.

ISAIAH 5:25KJV
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Isaiah 5:25 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 5:25 mean?

Isaiah 5:25 describes the LORD’s anger against his own people as a force that has already brought terrible destruction. The verse warns that the disaster has not exhausted that anger: the LORD’s hand remains stretched out against them.

Isaiah speaks after describing people who have rejected the LORD’s instruction in verse 24. The trembling hills and bodies in the streets picture destruction so severe that both the land and its inhabitants seem shaken.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 5:25

  • “anger” — אַף (ʾaf): The word can mean “nose” as well as “anger.” Its use here belongs to a vivid picture of anger as something visible and intense.
  • “stretched forth” — נָטָה (natah): This word carries the sense of extending or reaching out. In Isaiah 5:25, the LORD’s extended hand pictures action against the people, rather than a hand offered to help.
  • “carcases” — נְבֵלָה (nevelah): This word means a dead body or carcass. Its use makes the scene in the streets stark and disturbing.

Why Isaiah 5:25 matters

  • The verse identifies the people facing disaster as the LORD’s own people. The words “against his people” make the warning personal to those Isaiah addresses.
  • The image of the outstretched hand continues beyond this verse. Isaiah 9:12, 9:17, 9:21, and 10:4 repeat the line about anger not turning away and the hand remaining stretched out, linking several warnings together.
  • The verse connects the disaster with the people’s response to the LORD’s instruction. The preceding verse says they have rejected his law and despised his word.

Where else these words appear

“tremble” Hebrew H7264 · used in 40 verses

  • Genesis 45:24 So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.
  • Psalms 4:4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
  • Isaiah 32:11 Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.

“carcases” Hebrew H5038 · used in 41 verses

  • Leviticus 5:2 Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty.
  • Leviticus 11:40 And he that eateth of the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: he also that beareth the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.
  • 1 Kings 13:30 And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!

“kindled” Hebrew H2734 · used in 87 verses

  • Genesis 4:5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
  • Deuteronomy 6:15 (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
  • 2 Kings 23:26 Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.