Isaiah 8:11-10:19

English Standard Version Anglicised

^{2 [f] (X)}The people ^(Y)who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of ^(Z)deep darkness,
    on them has light shined.
^3 (AA)You have multiplied the nation;
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with ^(AB)joy at the harvest,
    as they ^(AC)are glad ^(AD)when they divide the spoil.
^4 (AE)For the yoke of his burden,
    ^(AF)and the staff for his shoulder,
    the rod of his oppressor,
    you have broken as ^(AG)on the day of Midian.
^5 (AH)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 (AI)For to us a child is born,
    to us ^(AJ)a son is given;
^(AK)and the government shall be ^(AL)upon^[g] his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called^[h]
Wonderful ^(AM)Counsellor, ^(AN)Mighty God,
    ^(AO)Everlasting ^(AP)Father, Prince of ^(AQ)Peace.
⁷ Of the increase of his government and of peace
    ^(AR)there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
^(AS)with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and for evermore.
^(AT)The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

⁸ The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
    and it will fall on Israel;
⁹ and all the people will know,
    ^(AU)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 (AV)The Syrians on the east and ^(AW)the Philistines on the west
    devour Israel with open mouth.
^(AX)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.
¹³ The people ^(AY)did not turn to him who struck them,
    nor enquire of the Lord of hosts.
¹⁴ So the Lord cut off from Israel ^(AZ)head and tail,
    palm branch and reed in one day—
^15 (BA)the elder and honoured man is the head,
    and ^(BB)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 ^(BC)rejoice over their young men,
    and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;
for everyone is ^(BD)godless and an evildoer,
    and every mouth speaks ^(BE)folly.^[i]
(BF)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.
¹⁸ For wickedness burns like ^(BG)a fire;
    it consumes briers and thorns;
it kindles the thickets of the forest,
    and they roll upwards in a column of smoke.
¹⁹ Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
    the land is scorched,
and ^(BH)the people are like fuel for the fire;
    ^(BI)no one spares another.
^20 (BJ)They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,
    and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;
^(BK)each devours the flesh of his own arm,
²¹ Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;
    together they are ^(BL)against Judah.
^(BM)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.
10 Woe to those who ^(BN)decree iniquitous decrees,
    and the writers who ^(BO)keep writing oppression,
² to turn aside the needy from justice
    and ^(BP)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 ^(BQ)the day of punishment,
    in the ruin that will come ^(BR)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.
^(BS)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

⁵ Ah, Assyria, ^(BT)the rod of my anger;
    the staff in their hands is my fury!
⁶ Against a ^(BU)godless nation I send him,
    and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take ^(BV)spoil and seize plunder,
    and to ^(BW)tread them down like the mire of the streets.
⁷ But he ^(BX)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:
^(BY)“Are not my commanders all kings?
^9 (BZ)Is not ^(CA)Calno like ^(CB)Carchemish?
    Is not ^(CC)Hamath like ^(CD)Arpad?
    ^(CE)Is not ^(CF)Samaria like Damascus?
¹⁰ As my hand has reached to ^(CG)the kingdoms of the idols,
    whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
¹¹ shall I not do to Jerusalem and ^(CH)her idols
    ^(CI)as I have done to Samaria and her images?”

“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 ^(CM)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 ^(CN)stout warriors,
and under his glory ^(CO)a burning will be kindled,
    like the burning of fire.
^17 (CP)The light of Israel will become a fire,
    and ^(CQ)his Holy One a flame,
and ^(CR)it will burn and devour
    his thorns and briers ^(CS)in one day.
¹⁸ The glory of ^(CT)his forest and of his ^(CU)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.