Isaiah 9–10

9TH CHAPTER^a

¹But there will be no more gloom 

for the land that is in distress. 

God humbled the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali in earlier times. 

But in the future he will bring glory to the road by the sea, 

to the land across the Jordan River, 

to Galilee, where foreigners live. 

A Child Will Be Born as the Prince of Peace

²The people who walk in darkness will see a bright light. 

The light will shine on those who live in the land of death’s shadow. 

³You will expand the nation and increase its happiness. 

It will be happy in your presence 

like those who celebrate the harvest 

or rejoice when dividing loot. 

⁴You will break the yoke^bthat burdens them, 

the bar that is across their shoulders, 

and the stick used by their oppressor, 

as ⸤you did in the battle against⸥ Midian. 

⁵Every warrior’s boot marching to the sound of battle 

and every garment rolled in blood 

will be burned as fuel in the fire. 

⁶A child will be born for us. 

A son will be given to us. 

The government will rest on his shoulders. 

He will be named: 

Wonderful Counselor, 

Mighty God, 

Everlasting Father, 

Prince of Peace. 

⁷His government and peace will have unlimited growth. 

He will establish David’s throne and kingdom. 

He will uphold it with justice and righteousness now and forever. 

The Lord of Armies is determined to do this! 

The Lord’s Message against His People

⁸The Lord sent a message against Jacob. 

The message is against Israel. 

⁹All the people of Ephraim 

and the people who live in Samaria will know it. 

With arrogant and conceited hearts they will say, 

¹⁰“Bricks have fallen, 

but we will rebuild with hand-cut stones. 

Fig trees have been cut down, 

but we will replace them with cedars.” 

¹¹The Lord will set Rezin’s oppressors against Israel 

and will stir up its enemies— 

¹²the Arameans from the east and the Philistines from the west. 

They will devour Israel with open mouths. 

Even after all this, his anger will not disappear, 

and he is still ready to use his power. 

¹³But the people have not returned to the one who struck them, 

nor have they sought the Lord of Armies. 

¹⁴So in one day the Lord will cut off from Israel 

both head and tail, 

both palm branches and cattails. 

¹⁵Respected and honored leaders are the head. 

Prophets who teach lies are the tail. 

¹⁶Those who guide these people lead them astray. 

Those who are guided by them will be destroyed. 

¹⁷That is why the Lord isn’t happy with their young men, 

nor will he show compassion for their orphans and widows. 

Every one of them is a godless evildoer, 

and every mouth speaks foolishness. 

Even after all this, his anger will not disappear, 

and he is still ready to use his power. 

¹⁸Surely wickedness burns like fire. 

It burns up briars and thorns. 

It sets the underbrush in the forest on fire, 

and it whirls upward in clouds of smoke. 

¹⁹The land is scorched by the fury of the Lord of Armies, 

and the people are like fuel for the fire. 

No one shows concern for others: 

²⁰On the right, one gobbles up food and is still hungry. 

On the left, another eats and is never full. 

Each person eats the flesh from his own arm. 

²¹Manasseh is against Ephraim. 

Ephraim is against Manasseh. 

Together they attack Judah. 

Even after all this, his anger will not disappear, 

and he is still ready to use his power. 

10TH CHAPTER

¹How horrible it will be for those who make unjust laws 

and who make oppressive regulations. 

²They deprive the poor of justice. 

They take away the rights of the needy among my people. 

They prey on widows and rob orphans. 

³What will you do on the day 

you are called to account ⸤for these things⸥, 

when the disaster comes from far away? 

Where will you run for help? 

Where will you leave your wealth? 

⁴Nothing’s left but to crouch among prisoners 

and to fall with those who are killed. 

Even after all this, his anger will not disappear, 

and he is still ready to use his power. 

The Lord’s Message against Assyria

⁵“How horrible it will be for Assyria! 

It is the rod of my anger. 

My fury is the staff in the Assyrians’ hands. 

⁶I send them against a godless nation. 

In my fury I order them against the people 

to take their belongings, loot them, 

and trample on them like mud in the streets. 

⁷But that’s not what they intend to do. 

Their minds don’t work that way. 

Their purpose is to destroy and put an end to many nations. 

⁸They ask, ‘Aren’t all our commanders kings? 

⁹Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? 

Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? 

Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?’ 

¹⁰My power has reached kingdoms which have idols. 

They had more carved statues than Jerusalem or Samaria. 

¹¹I will do to Jerusalem and its idols 

what I’ve done to Samaria and its idols.” 

¹²When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria for all his boasting and all his arrogance. ¹³The king will say, 

“I did this with my own two powerful hands. 

I did this with my wisdom, because I am so clever. 

I’ve eliminated the boundaries of nations. 

I’ve looted treasuries. 

I’ve brought down people like a mighty man. 

¹⁴I’ve found the riches of nations as one finds a nest. 

I’ve gathered the whole world as one gathers abandoned eggs. 

Not one of them flapped a wing, opened its mouth, or peeped.” 

¹⁵Can an ax attack the person who cuts with it? 

Can a saw make itself greater than the person who saws with it? 

A rod cannot move the person who lifts it. 

A wooden stick cannot pick up a person. 

¹⁶That is why the Almighty Lord of Armies 

will send a degenerative disease against brave men. 

A flame will be turned into a raging fire under his power. 

¹⁷Israel’s light will become a flame. 

Its Holy One will become a fire. 

He will burn up and devour the weeds and thornbushes in one day. 

¹⁸The majestic forest and the orchard 

will destroy both body and soul. 

They will be like a sick person wasting away. 

¹⁹The trees that remain in the forest will be so few that 

a child could count them. 

²⁰At that time the remaining few Israelites, 

the survivors of Jacob’s descendants 

will no longer depend on the one who struck them. 

They will only depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 

²¹A few, the remaining few of Jacob, will return to the mighty God. 

²²Although your people Israel may be 

as ⸤numerous as⸥ the grains of sand on the seashore, 

only a few will return. 

Destruction will be complete and fair. 

²³The Almighty Lord of Armies will carry out this destruction 

throughout the world as he has determined. 

²⁴The Almighty Lord of Armies says: 

My people who live in Zion, 

don’t be afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with a rod 

or when they raise their staff against you 

as the Egyptians did. 

²⁵Very soon I will unleash my fury, 

and my anger will destroy them. 

²⁶Then the Lord of Armies will raise his whip against them. 

As he struck down Midian at the Rock of Oreb 

and raised his staff over the water, 

so he will lift it as he did in Egypt. 

²⁷At that time their burden will be removed from your shoulders. 

Their yoke^awill be removed from your neck. 

The yoke will be torn away because you have grown fat. 

²⁸They come to Aiath. 

They pass through Migron. 

They store their equipment at Michmash. 

²⁹They go through the mountain pass and lodge at Geba for the night. 

The people in Ramah tremble; the people in Saul’s Gibeah flee. 

³⁰Cry aloud, you people in Gallim! 

Pay attention, you people in Laishah and miserable Anathoth! 

³¹The people in Madmenah flee; those who live in Gebim take shelter. 

³²This day they stopped at Nob. 

They shake their fist at the mountain of my people Zion, 

at the mountain of Jerusalem. 

³³Now look! The Almighty Lord of Armies 

will trim the branches with terrifying power. 

The highest trees will be cut down. 

The tallest ones will be brought down. 

³⁴He will cut down the underbrush of the forest with an ax. 

Lebanon will fall in front of the Mighty One.