Isaiah 9

The Government of the Promised Son

9Nevertheless ^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.

^2dThe 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.

³You 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.

⁴For 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.

⁵For every warrior’s ²sandal from the noisy battle,

And garments rolled in blood,

^gWill be used for burning and fuel ³of fire.

^6hFor 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.

⁷Of 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.

The Punishment of Samaria

⁸The Lord sent a word against ^pJacob,

And it has fallen on Israel.

⁹All the people will know—

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.”

¹¹Therefore the Lord shall set up

The adversaries of Rezin against him,

And spur his enemies on,

¹²The 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.

¹³For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them,

Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts.

¹⁴Therefore the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel,

Palm branch and bulrush ^qin one day.

¹⁵The elder and honorable, he is the head;

The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.

¹⁶For ^rthe leaders of this people cause them to err,

And those who are led by them are destroyed.

¹⁷Therefore 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.

¹⁸For 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.

¹⁹Through 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.

²⁰And 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.

²¹Manasseh 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.