Isa 9:19 | NET2full | STEP | Because of the anger of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies , the land was scorched , and the people became fuel for the fire . People had no compassion on one another .

Isaiah 9:19

19 Because of the anger of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the land was scorched, ^{▼▼tn The precise meaning of the verb עְתַּם (ʿetam), which occurs only here, is uncertain, though the context strongly suggests that it means “burn, scorch.”}
and the people became fuel for the fire. ^{▼▼sn The uncontrollable fire of the people’s wickedness (v. 18) is intensified by the fire of the Lord’s judgment (v. 19). God allows (or causes) their wickedness to become self-destructive as civil strife and civil war break out in the land.}
People had no compassion on one another. ^{▼▼tn Heb “men were not showing compassion to their brothers.” The idiom “men to their brothers” is idiomatic for reciprocity. The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite without vav (ו) consecutive or an imperfect used in a customary sense, describing continual or repeated behavior in past time.}