Isaiah 9:1–12:6
The Government of the Promised Son
9 Nevertheless athe gloom will not be upon her who is distressed,
As when at bfirst He lightly esteemed
The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
And cafterward more heavily oppressed her,
By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
In Galilee of the Gentiles.
2 dThe people who walked in darkness
Have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.
3 You have multiplied the nation
And 1increased its joy;
They rejoice before You
According to the joy of harvest,
As men rejoice ewhen they divide the spoil.
4 For You have broken the yoke of his burden
And the staff of his shoulder,
The rod of his oppressor,
As in the day of fMidian.
5 For every warrior’s 2sandal from the noisy battle,
And garments rolled in blood,
gWill be used for burning and fuel 3of fire.
6 hFor unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a iSon is given;
And jthe government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
kWonderful, Counselor, lMighty God,
Everlasting Father, mPrince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
nThere will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The ozeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
8 The Lord sent a word against pJacob,
And it has fallen on Israel.
Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria—
Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:
10 “The bricks have fallen down,
But we will rebuild with hewn stones;
The sycamores are cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”
11 Therefore the Lord shall set up
The adversaries of Rezin against him,
And spur his enemies on,
12 The Syrians before and the Philistines behind;
And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is 4stretched out still.
13 For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them,
Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts.
14 Therefore the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel,
Palm branch and bulrush qin one day.
15 The elder and honorable, he is the head;
The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
16 For rthe leaders of this people cause them to err,
And those who are led by them are destroyed.
17 Therefore the Lord swill have no joy in their young men,
Nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows;
For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer,
And every mouth speaks 5folly.
tFor all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
18 For wickedness uburns as the fire;
It shall devour the briers and thorns,
And kindle in the thickets of the forest;
They shall mount up like rising smoke.
19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
vThe land is burned up,
And the people shall be as fuel for the fire;
wNo man shall spare his brother.
20 And he shall 6snatch on the right hand
And be hungry;
He shall devour on the left hand
xAnd not be satisfied;
yEvery man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.
21 Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh;
Together they shall be zagainst Judah.
aFor all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
10 “Woe to those who adecree unrighteous decrees,
Who write misfortune,
Which they have prescribed
2 To rob the needy of justice,
And to take what is right from the poor of My people,
That widows may be their prey,
And that they may rob the fatherless.
3 bWhat will you do in cthe day of punishment,
And in the desolation which will come from dafar?
To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your glory?
4 Without Me they shall bow down among the eprisoners,
And they shall fall 1among the slain.”
fFor all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
5 “Woe to Assyria, gthe rod of My anger
And the staff in whose hand is My indignation.
6 I will send him against han ungodly nation,
And against the people of My wrath
I will igive him charge,
To seize the spoil, to take the prey,
And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 jYet he does not mean so,
Nor does his heart think so;
But it is in his heart to destroy,
And cut off not a few nations.
8 kFor he says,
‘Are not my princes altogether kings?
9 Is not lCalno mlike Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria nlike Damascus?
10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols,
Whose carved images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 As I have done to Samaria and her idols,
Shall I not do also to Jerusalem and her idols?’ ”
12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Lord has 2performed all His work oon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, p“I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks.”
13 qFor he says:
“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
And by my wisdom, for I am prudent;
Also I have removed the boundaries of the people,
And have robbed their treasuries;
So I have put down the inhabitants like a 3valiant man.
14 rMy hand has found like a nest the riches of the people,
And as one gathers eggs that are left,
I have gathered all the earth;
And there was no one who moved his wing,
Nor opened his mouth with even a peep.”
15 Shall sthe ax boast itself against him who chops with it?
Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it?
As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up,
Or as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not wood!
16 Therefore the Lord, the 4Lord of hosts,
Will send leanness among his fat ones;
And under his glory
He will kindle a burning
Like the burning of a fire.
17 So the Light of Israel will be for a fire,
And his Holy One for a flame;
tIt will burn and devour
His thorns and his briers in one day.
18 And it will consume the glory of his forest and of uhis fruitful field,
Both soul and body;
And they will be as when a sick man wastes away.
19 Then the rest of the trees of his forest
Will be so few in number
That a child may write them.
The Returning Remnant of Israel
20 And it shall come to pass in that day
That the remnant of Israel,
And such as have escaped of the house of Jacob,
vWill never again depend on him who 5defeated them,
But will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
To the wMighty God.
22 xFor though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea,
yA remnant of them will return;
The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
23 zFor the Lord God of hosts
Will make a determined end
In the midst of all the land.
24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O My people, who dwell in Zion, ado not be afraid of the Assyrian. He shall strike you with a rod and lift up his staff against you, in the manner of bEgypt. 25 For yet a very little while cand the indignation will cease, as will My anger in their destruction.” 26 And the Lord of hosts will 6stir up da scourge for him like the slaughter of eMidian at the rock of Oreb; fas His rod was on the sea, so will He lift it up in the manner of Egypt.
27 It shall come to pass in that day
That his burden will be taken away from your shoulder,
And his yoke from your neck,
And the yoke will be destroyed because of gthe anointing oil.
He has passed Migron;
At Michmash he has attended to his equipment.
29 They have gone 7along hthe ridge,
They have taken up lodging at Geba.
Ramah is afraid,
iGibeah of Saul has fled.
30 8Lift up your voice,
O daughter jof Gallim!
Cause it to be heard as far as kLaish—
9O poor Anathoth!
31 lMadmenah has fled,
The inhabitants of Gebim seek refuge.
32 As yet he will remain mat Nob that day;
He will nshake his fist at the mount of othe daughter of Zion,
The hill of Jerusalem.
The Lord of hosts,
Will lop off the bough with terror;
pThose of high stature will be hewn down,
And the haughty will be humbled.
34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron,
And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.
The Reign of Jesse’s Offspring
11 There ashall come forth a 1Rod from the 2stem of bJesse,
And ca Branch shall 3grow out of his roots.
2 dThe Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
4 But ewith righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall fstrike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
6 “The gwolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
9 hThey shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For ithe earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.
10 “And jin that day kthere shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a lbanner to the people;
For the mGentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”
11 It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left,
nFrom Assyria and Egypt,
From Pathros and Cush,
From Elam and Shinar,
From Hamath and the 4islands of the sea.
12 He will set up a banner for the nations,
And will 5assemble the outcasts of Israel,
And gather together othe dispersed of Judah
From the four 6corners of the earth.
13 Also pthe envy of Ephraim shall depart,
And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14 But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west;
Together they shall plunder the 7people of the East;
qThey shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab;
And …