9 Nevertheless athe dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation,

When at the bfirst che lightly afflicted dthe land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

And eafterward fdid more grievously afflict her dby the way of the sea,

gBeyond Jordan, hin Galilee ||of ithe nations.

2  The djpeople kthat walked in darkness have seen a great light:

They that dwell in the land of lthe shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

3  llThou hast multiplied the nation, and ||not increased the joy:

They joy before thee according to the mjoy in harvest,

And nas men rejoice when othey divide the spoil.

4  ||For thou hast broken pthe yoke of his burden, and qthe staff of his shoulder,

qThe rod of his oppressor, as in rthe day of sMidian.

5  ||For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise,

And garments rolled in blood;

t||But this shall be with burning and †fuel of fire.

6  uFor unto us a child is born, unto us va son is given:

And wthe government shall be xupon his shoulder:

And his name shall be called yWonderful, zCounseller, aThe mighty God,

bThe everlasting cFather, dThe Prince of Peace.

7  Of the increase of his government and peace ethere shall be no end,

eUpon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom,

To order it, and to establish it fwith judgment and with justice

From henceforth even for ever.

gThe zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

8  The Lord sent a word into Jacob,

And it hath lighted upon Israel.

9  And all the people shall hknow,

Even iEphraim and the inhabitant of kSamaria,

That say in the pride and stoutness of heart,

10  The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones:

lThe sycomores are cut down, but we will mchange them into cedars.

11  Therefore the Lord shall nset up the adversaries of oRezin against him,

And †join his enemies together;

12  pThe Syrians before, and qthe Philistines behind;

And they shall devour Israel †with open mouth.

rFor all this his anger is not turned away,

But his hand is stretched out still.

13  For sthe people turneth not unto him that smiteth them,

Neither do they seek the Lord of hosts.

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

tuBranch and tvrush, xin one day.

15  The ancient and yhonourable, he is the head;

And zthe prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.

16  For ||athe leaders of this people zcause them to err;

And ||athey that are led of them are †adestroyed.

17  Therefore bthe Lord shall have no joy in their young men,

Neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows:

For every one is can hypocrite and an evildoer,

And every mouth speaketh ||ccfolly.

dFor all this his anger is not turned away,

But his hand is stretched out still.

18  For wickedness eburneth as the fire:

It shall devour fthe briers and thorns,

And shall kindle in gthe thickets of the forest,

And they shall mount up like hthe lifting up of smoke.

19  Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened,

And the people shall be as the †fuel of the fire:

iNo man shall spare his brother.

20  And he shall †snatch on the right hand, and be hungry;

And khe shall eat on the left hand, and kthey shall not be satisfied:

lThey shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:

21  mManasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh:

And nthey together shall be against Judah.

dFor all this his anger is not turned away,

But his hand is stretched out still.