For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
For by fire, and by his sword, will the Lord plead with all flesh - `With fire will Yahweh decide the issue (nishpaaT (H8199 )), and with His sword (He will decide the issue with) all flesh.' The parallelism and collocation of the Hebrew words require this translation ( Isaiah 65:12 ). All flesh - i:e., all who are the objects of His wrath. The godly shall be hidden by the Lord in a place of safety, away from the scene of judgment (Isaiah 26:20-21 ; Psalms 31:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).