Isaiah 9–10

The Righteous Reign of the Coming King

^9cBut there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.^*

^2dThe people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness—

on them light has shined.^*

³You have multiplied exultation;^e

you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

as with joy at the harvest,

as people exult when dividing plunder.^*

⁴For the yoke of their burden

and the bar across their shoulders,

the rod of their oppressor,

you have broken as on the day of Midian.^*

⁵For all the boots of the tramping warriors

and all the garments rolled in blood

shall be burned as fuel for the fire.^*

⁶For a child has been born for us,

a son given to us;

authority rests upon his shoulders,

and he is named

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.^*

⁷Great will be his authority,^f

and there shall be endless peace

for the throne of David and his kingdom.

He will establish and uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time onward and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.^*

Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression

⁸The Lord sent a word against Jacob,

and it fell on Israel,

⁹and all the people knew it—

Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—

but in pride and arrogance of heart they said:^*

¹⁰“The bricks have fallen,

but we will build with dressed stones;

the sycamores have been cut down,

but we will put cedars in their place.”

¹¹So the Lord raised adversaries^g against them

and stirred up their enemies,^*

¹²the Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west,

and they devoured Israel with open mouth.

For all this his anger has not turned away;

his hand is stretched out still.^*

¹³The people did not turn to him who struck them

or seek the Lord of hosts.^*

¹⁴So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail,

palm branch and reed in one day—^*

¹⁵elders and dignitaries are the head,

and prophets who teach lies are the tail,^*

¹⁶for those who led this people led them astray,

and those who were led by them were left in confusion.^*

¹⁷That is why the Lord did not have pity on^h their young people

or compassion on their orphans and widows,

for everyone was godless and an evildoer,

and every mouth spoke folly.

For all this his anger has not turned away;

his hand is stretched out still.^*

¹⁸For wickedness burned like a fire,

consuming briers and thorns;

it kindled the thickets of the forest,

and they swirled upward in a column of smoke.^*

¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts

the land was burned,

and the people became like fuel for the fire;

no one spared another.^*

²⁰They gorged on the right but still were hungry,

and they devoured on the left but were not satisfied;

they devoured the flesh of their own kindred;^i*

²¹Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,

and together they were against Judah.

For all this his anger has not turned away;

his hand is stretched out still.^*

¹⁰Woe to those who make iniquitous decrees,

who write oppressive statutes,^*

²to turn aside the needy from justice

and to rob the poor of my people of their right,

to make widows their spoil

and to plunder orphans!^*

³What will you do on the day of punishment,

in the calamity that will come from far away?

To whom will you flee for help,

and where will you leave your wealth,^*

⁴so as not to crouch among the prisoners

or fall among the slain?

For all this his anger has not turned away;

his hand is stretched out still.^*

Arrogant Assyria Also Judged

⁵Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger—

the club in their hands is my fury!^*

⁶Against a godless nation I send him,

and against the people of my wrath I command him,

to take spoil and seize plunder,

and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.^*

⁷But this is not what he intends,

nor does he have this in mind,

but it is in his heart to destroy

and to cut off nations not a few.^*

⁸For he says:

“Are not my commanders all kings?^*

⁹Is not Calno like Carchemish?

Is not Hamath like Arpad?

Is not Samaria like Damascus?^*

¹⁰As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols

whose images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,^*

¹¹shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols

what I have done to Samaria and her images?”

¹²When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he^j will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride.^{* 13}For he says:

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,

and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;

I have removed the boundaries of peoples

and have plundered their treasures;

like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.^*

¹⁴My hand has found, like a nest,

the wealth of the peoples,

and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,

so I have gathered all the earth,

and there was none that moved a wing

or opened its mouth or chirped.”^*

¹⁵Shall the ax vaunt itself over the one who wields it

or the saw magnify itself against the one who handles it?

As if a rod should raise the one who lifts it up,

or as if a staff should lift the one who is not wood!^*

¹⁶Therefore the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,

will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,

and under his glory a burning will be kindled

like the burning of fire.^*

¹⁷The light of Israel will become a fire

and his Holy One a flame,

and it will burn and devour

his thorns and briers in one day.^*

¹⁸The glory of his forest and his fruitful land

the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,

and it will be as when an invalid wastes away.^*

¹⁹The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few

that a child can write them down.^*

The Repentant Remnant of Israel

²⁰On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer lean on the one who struck them but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.^{* 21}A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.^{* 22}For though your people, O Israel, were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, an overwhelming verdict.^{* 23}For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in all the earth.^k*

²⁴Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they beat you with a rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. ²⁵For in a very little while my indignation will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction.”^{* 26}The Lord of hosts will wield a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt.^{* 27}On that day his burden will be removed from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck.

He has gone up from Samaria;^l*

²⁸he has come to Aiath;

he has passed through Migron;

at Michmash he stores his baggage;^*

²⁹they have crossed over the pass;

at Geba they lodge for the night;

Ramah trembles;

Gibeah of Saul has fled.^*

³⁰Cry aloud, O daughter Gallim!

Listen, O Laishah!

Answer her, O Anathoth!^*

³¹Madmenah is in flight;

the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.^*

³²This very day he will halt at Nob;

he will shake his fist

at the mount of daughter Zion,

the hill of Jerusalem.^*

³³Look, the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,

will lop the boughs with terrifying power;

the tallest trees will be cut down,

and the lofty will be brought low.^*

³⁴He will hack down the thickets of the forest with an ax,

and Lebanon with its majestic trees^m will fall.