Isaiah 9-10

English Standard Version

For to Us a Child Is Born

9 ^[a] But there will be no ^(A)gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he ^(B)brought into contempt the land of ^(C)Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he ^(D)has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.^[b]

²^[c] ^(E)The people ^(F)who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of ^(G)deep darkness,
    on them has light shone.
³^(H)You have multiplied the nation;
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with ^(I)joy at the harvest,
    as they ^(J)are glad ^(K)when they divide the spoil.
⁴^(L)For the yoke of his burden,
    ^(M)and the staff for his shoulder,
    the rod of his oppressor,
    you have broken as ^(N)on the day of Midian.
⁵^(O)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^(P)For to us a child is born,
    to us ^(Q)a son is given;
^(R)and the government shall be ^(S)upon^[d] his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called^[e]
Wonderful ^(T)Counselor, ^(U)Mighty God,
    ^(V)Everlasting ^(W)Father, Prince of ^(X)Peace.
⁷Of the increase of his government and of peace
    ^(Y)there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
^(Z)with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
^(AA)The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression

⁸The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
    and it will fall on Israel;
⁹and all the people will know,
    ^(AB)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.”
¹¹But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,
    and stirs up his enemies.
¹²^(AC)The Syrians on the east and ^(AD)the Philistines on the west
    devour Israel with open mouth.
^(AE)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

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

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

10 Woe to those who ^(AU)decree iniquitous decrees,
    and the writers who ^(AV)keep writing oppression,
²to turn aside the needy from justice
    and ^(AW)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!
³What will you do on ^(AX)the day of punishment,
    in the ruin that will come ^(AY)from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
    and where will you leave your wealth?
⁴Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners
    or fall among the slain.
^(AZ)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

Judgment on Arrogant Assyria

⁵Woe to Assyria, ^(BA)the rod of my anger;
    the staff in their hands is my fury!
⁶Against a ^(BB)godless nation I send him,
    and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take ^(BC)spoil and seize plunder,
    and to ^(BD)tread them down like the mire of the streets.
⁷But he ^(BE)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;
⁸for he says:
^(BF)“Are not my commanders all kings?
⁹^(BG)Is not ^(BH)Calno like ^(BI)Carchemish?
    Is not ^(BJ)Hamath like ^(BK)Arpad?
    ^(BL)Is not ^(BM)Samaria like Damascus?
¹⁰As my hand has reached to ^(BN)the kingdoms of the idols,
    whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
¹¹shall I not do to Jerusalem and ^(BO)her idols
    ^(BP)as I have done to Samaria and her images?”

¹²^(BQ)When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, ^(BR)he^[g] will punish the speech^[h] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. ¹³^(BS)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.
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 the mouth or chirped.”

¹⁵Shall ^(BT)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!
¹⁶Therefore the Lord God of hosts
    will send wasting sickness among his ^(BU)stout warriors,
and under his glory ^(BV)a burning will be kindled,
    like the burning of fire.
¹⁷^(BW)The light of Israel will become a fire,
    and ^(BX)his Holy One a flame,
and ^(BY)it will burn and devour
    his thorns and briers ^(BZ)in one day.
¹⁸The glory of ^(CA)his forest and of his ^(CB)fruitful land
    the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
    and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
¹⁹The 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^(CC)In that day ^(CD)the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more ^(CE)lean on him who struck them, but ^(CF)will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ²¹A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, ^(CG)to the mighty God. ²²^(CH)For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, ^(CI)only a remnant of them will return. ^(CJ)Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. ²³For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.

²⁴Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people, ^(CK)who dwell in Zion, ^(CL)be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as ^(CM)the Egyptians did. ²⁵For ^(CN)in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. ²⁶And ^(CO)the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck ^(CP)Midian ^(CQ)at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it ^(CR)as he did in Egypt. ²⁷And in that day ^(CS)his burden will depart from your shoulder, and ^(CT)his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”^[i]

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

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