Isaiah 9:20 (ASV)

Passage

And one shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:

Nearby Context

Isaiah 9:18 For wickedness burneth as the fire; it devoureth the briers and thorns; yea, it kindleth in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.

Isaiah 9:19 Through the wrath of Jehovah of hosts is the land burnt up; and the people are as the fuel of fire: no man spareth his brother.

Isaiah 9:20 And one shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:

Isaiah 9:21 Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "shall", "snatch", "right", "hand", "hungry", and "left". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shall" and "snatch", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "Through the wrath of Jehovah of hosts..." into verse 21's "Manasseh Ephraim and Ephraim Manasseh and they...", so "shall" and "snatch" belong inside that flow. In Isaiah context, the local focus is the Holy One of Israel, judgment and restoration, the servant of the LORD, and Zion's hope.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "shall" and "snatch" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.