Isaiah 9–10

Chapter 9

Birth and Reign of the Prince of Peace

¹¹But there will be no more ^agloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He ^btreated the ^cland of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the ²Gentiles.

^21aThe people who walk in darkness

Will see a great light;

Those who live in a dark land,

The light will shine on them.

^3aYou shall multiply the nation,

You ^bshall ¹increase ²their gladness;

They will be glad in Your presence

As with the gladness ³of harvest,

As ^4cmen rejoice when they divide the spoil.

⁴For ^aYou shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,

The rod of their ^boppressor, as ¹at the battle of ^cMidian.

⁵For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult,

And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.

⁶For a ^achild will be born to us, a ^bson will be given to us;

And the ^cgovernment will ¹rest ^don His shoulders;

And His name will be called ^eWonderful Counselor, ^fMighty God,

Eternal ^gFather, Prince of ^hPeace.

⁷There will be ^ano end to the increase of His government or of peace,

On the ^bthrone of David and over his kingdom,

To establish it and to uphold it with ^cjustice and righteousness

From then on and forevermore.

^dThe zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

God’s Anger with Israel’s Arrogance

⁸The Lord sends a ¹message against Jacob,

And it falls on Israel.

⁹And all the people know it,

That is, ^aEphraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,

Asserting in pride and in ^barrogance of heart:

¹⁰“The bricks have fallen down,

But we will ^arebuild with smooth stones;

The sycamores have been cut down,

But we will replace them with cedars.”

¹¹Therefore the Lord raises against them adversaries from ^aRezin

And spurs their enemies on,

¹²The Arameans on the east and the ^aPhilistines on the west;

And they ^bdevour Israel with ¹gaping jaws.

^cIn spite of all this, His anger does not turn away

And His hand is still stretched out.

¹³Yet the people ^ado not turn back to Him who struck them,

Nor do they ^bseek the Lord of hosts.

¹⁴So the Lord cuts off ^ahead and tail from Israel,

Both palm branch and bulrush ^bin a single day.

¹⁵The head is ^athe elder and honorable man,

And the prophet who teaches ^bfalsehood is the tail.

^16aFor those who guide this people are leading them astray;

And those who are guided by them are ¹brought to confusion.

¹⁷Therefore the Lord does ^anot take pleasure in their young men,

^bNor does He have pity on their ¹orphans or their widows;

For every one of them is ^cgodless and an ^devildoer,

And every ^emouth is speaking foolishness.

^fIn spite of all this, His anger does not turn away

And His hand is still stretched out.

^18aFor wickedness burns like a fire;

It consumes briars and thorns;

It even sets the thickets of the forest aflame

And they roll upward in a column of smoke.

¹⁹By the ^afury of the Lord of hosts the ^bland is burned up,

And the ^cpeople are like fuel for the fire;

No ^dman spares his brother.

²⁰¹They slice off what is on the right hand but still are ^ahungry,

And ²they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied;

Each of them eats the ^bflesh of his own arm.

²¹Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,

^aAnd together they are against Judah.

^bIn spite of all this, His anger does not turn away

And His hand is still stretched out.

Chapter 10

Assyria Is God’s Instrument

¹Woe to those who ^aenact evil statutes

And to those who constantly record ¹unjust decisions,

²So as ^ato ¹deprive the needy of justice

And rob the poor of My people of their rights,

So ^bthat widows may be their spoil

And that they may plunder the ²orphans.

³Now ^awhat will you do in the ^bday of punishment,

And in the devastation which will come ^cfrom afar?

^dTo whom will you flee for help?

And where will you leave your ¹wealth?

⁴Nothing remains but to crouch ¹among the ^acaptives

Or fall among the ^bslain.

^cIn spite of all this, His anger does not turn away

And His hand is still stretched out.

⁵Woe to ^aAssyria, the ^brod of My anger

And the staff in whose hands is ^cMy indignation,

⁶I send it against a ^agodless nation

And commission it against the ^bpeople of My fury

To capture booty and ^cto seize plunder,

And to ¹trample them down like ^dmud in the streets.

⁷Yet it ^adoes not so intend,

Nor does ¹it plan so in its heart,

But rather it is ²its purpose to destroy

And to cut off ³many nations.

⁸For it says, “Are not my princes ¹all kings?

⁹“Is not ^aCalno like ^bCarchemish,

Or ^cHamath like Arpad,

Or ^dSamaria like ^eDamascus?

¹⁰“As my hand has reached to the ^akingdoms of the idols,

Whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

¹¹Shall I not ¹do to Jerusalem and her images

Just as I have done to Samaria and ^aher idols?”

¹²So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His ^awork on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will ¹punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and ^bthe pomp of ²his haughtiness.”

¹³For ^ahe has said,

“By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this,

For I have understanding;

And I ^bremoved the boundaries of the peoples

And plundered their treasures,

And like a mighty man I brought down ¹their inhabitants,

¹⁴And my hand reached to the riches of the peoples like a ^anest,

And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth;

And there was not one that flapped its wing or opened its beak or chirped.”

¹⁵Is the ^aaxe to ^bboast itself over the one who chops with it?

Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it?

That would be like ^ca ¹club wielding those who lift it,

Or like a rod lifting him who is not wood.

¹⁶Therefore the Lord, the ¹God of hosts, will send a ^awasting disease among his ^bstout warriors;

And under his ^cglory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.

¹⁷And the ^alight of Israel will become a fire and his ^bHoly One a flame,

And it will ^cburn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.

¹⁸And He will ^adestroy the glory of his forest and of his fruitful garden, both soul and body,

And it will be as when a sick man wastes away.

¹⁹And the ^arest of the trees of his forest will be so small in number

That a child could write them down.

A Remnant Will Return

²⁰Now in that day the ^aremnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob ^bwho have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly ^crely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

²¹A ^aremnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the ^bmighty God.

²²For ^athough your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea,

Only a remnant within them will return;

A ^bdestruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.

²³For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, ^athe Lord ¹God of hosts will execute in the midst of the whole land.

²⁴Therefore thus says the Lord ¹God of hosts, “O My people who dwell in ^aZion, ^bdo not fear the Assyrian ²who ^cstrikes you with the rod and lifts up his staff against you, the way Egypt did.

²⁵“For in a very ^alittle while ^bMy indignation against you will be spent and My anger will be directed to their destruction.”

²⁶The Lord of hosts will ^aarouse a scourge against him like the slaughter of ^bMidian at the rock of Oreb; and His ^cstaff will be over the sea and He will lift it up ^dthe way He did in Egypt.

²⁷So it will be in that day, that ¹his ^aburden will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because ^bof fatness.

²⁸He has come against Aiath,

He has passed through ^aMigron;

At ^bMichmash he deposited his ^cbaggage.

²⁹They have gone through ^athe pass, saying,

“^bGeba will be our lodging place.”

^cRamah is terrified, and ^dGibeah of Saul has fled away.

³⁰Cry aloud with your voice, O daughter of ^aGallim!

Pay attention, Laishah and ¹wretched ^bAnathoth!

³¹Madmenah has fled.

The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.

³²Yet today he will halt at ^aNob;

He ^bshakes his fist at the mountain of the ^1cdaughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

³³Behold, the Lord, the ¹God of hosts, will lop off the boughs with a terrible crash;

Those also who are ^atall in stature will be cut down

And those who are lofty will be abased.

³⁴He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe,

And ^aLebanon will fall ¹by the Mighty One.