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For to Us a Child Is Born

1  ^{1 9:1 Ch 8:23 in Hebrew} But there will be no gloom for her who was 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 has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. ^{2 9:1 Or of the Gentiles}

2  ^{3 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Hebrew} The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
    on them has light shone.
3  You have multiplied the nation;
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with joy at the harvest,
    as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
4  For the yoke of his burden,
    and the staff for his shoulder,
    the rod of his oppressor,
    you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5  For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
    and every garment rolled in blood
    will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6  For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon ^{4 9:6 Or is upon} his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called ^{5 9:6 Or is called}
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7  Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression

8  The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
    and it will fall on Israel;
9  and all the people will know,
    Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
    who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:
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.”
11  But the LORD raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,
    and stirs up his enemies.
12  The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west
    devour Israel with open mouth.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

13  The people did not turn to him who struck them,
    nor inquire of the LORD of hosts.
14  So the LORD cut off from Israel head and tail,
    palm branch and reed in one day—
15  the elder and honored man is the head,
    and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail;
16  for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,
    and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.
17  Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men,
    and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;
for everyone is godless and an evildoer,
    and every mouth speaks folly. ^{6 9:17 Or speaks disgraceful things}
For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

18  For wickedness burns like a fire;
    it consumes briers and thorns;
it kindles the thickets of the forest,
    and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
19  Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts
    the land is scorched,
and the people are like fuel for the fire;
    no one spares another.
20  They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,
    and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;
each devours the flesh of his own arm,
21  Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;
    together they are against Judah.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

1  Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees,
    and the writers who keep writing oppression,
2  to turn aside the needy from justice
    and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be their spoil,
    and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
3  What will you do on the day of punishment,
    in the ruin that will come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
    and where will you leave your wealth?
4  Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners
    or fall among the slain.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

Judgment on Arrogant Assyria

5  Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;
    the staff in their hands is my fury!
6  Against 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.
7  But he does not so intend,
    and his heart does not so think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
    and to cut off nations not a few;
8  for he says:
“Are not my commanders all kings?
9  Is not Calno like Carchemish?
    Is not Hamath like Arpad?
    Is not Samaria like Damascus?
10  As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols,
    whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11  shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols
    as I have done to Samaria and her images?”

12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he ^{7 10:12 Hebrew I} will punish the speech ^{8 10:12 Hebrew fruit} of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. 13 For he says:

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
    and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
    and plunder their treasures;
    like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
14  My 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 the mouth or chirped.”

15  Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,
    or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
    or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
16  Therefore the Lord God of hosts
    will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,
and under his glory a burning will be kindled,
    like the burning of fire.
17  The 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.
18  The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land
    the LORD will destroy, both soul and body,
    and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
19  The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
    that a child can write them down.

The Remnant of Israel Will Return

20 In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him 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 Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. 23 For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.

24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. 25 For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. 26 And the LORD of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. 27 And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.” ^{9 10:27 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain}

28  He has come to Aiath;
he has passed through Migron;
    at Michmash he stores his baggage;
29  they have crossed over the pass;
    at Geba they lodge for the night;
Ramah trembles;
    Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30  Cry aloud, O daughter of Gallim!
    Give attention, O Laishah!
    O poor Anathoth!
31  Madmenah is in flight;
    the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
32  This very day he will halt at Nob;
    he will shake his fist
    at the mount of the daughter of Zion,
    the hill of Jerusalem.

33  Behold, the Lord God of hosts
    will lop the boughs with terrifying power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
    and the lofty will be brought low.
34  He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe,
    and Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.

The Righteous Reign of the Branch

1  There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2  And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
3  And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
    or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4  but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
    and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5  Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
    and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

6  The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
    and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
    and a little child shall lead them.
7  The cow and the bear shall graze;
    their young shall lie down together;
    and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8  The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
    and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
9  They shall not hurt or destroy
    in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD
    as the waters cover the sea.

10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, ^{10 11:11 Probably Nubia} from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.

12  He will raise a signal for the nations
    and will assemble the banished of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
    from the four corners of the earth.
13  The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,
    and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
    and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14  But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,
    and together they shall plunder the people of the east.
They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab,
    and the Ammonites shall obey them.
15  And the LORD will utterly destroy ^{11 11:15 Hebrew devote to destruction}
    the tongue of the Sea of Egypt,
and will wave his hand over the River ^{12 11:15 That is, the Euphrates}
    with his scorching breath, ^{13 11:15 Or wind}
and strike it into seven channels,
    and he will lead people across in sandals.
16  And there will be a highway from Assyria
    for the remnant that remains of his people,
as there was for Israel
    when they came up from the land of Egypt.

The LORD Is My Strength and My Song

1  You ^{14 12:1 The Hebrew for you is singular in verse 1} will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O LORD,
    for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
    that you might comfort me.

2  Behold, God is my salvation;
    I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the LORD God ^{15 12:2 Hebrew for Yah, the LORD} is my strength and my song,
    and he has become my salvation.”

3 With joy you ^{16 12:3 The Hebrew for you is plural in verses 3, 4} will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 And you will say in that day:

“Give thanks to the LORD,
    call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
    proclaim that his name is exalted.

5  Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
    let this be made known ^{17 12:5 Or this is made known} in all the earth.
6  Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
    for great in your ^{18 12:6 The Hebrew for your in verse 6 is singular, referring to the inhabitant of Zion} midst is the Holy One of Israel.”