Isaiah 9:6-10:21

New American Standard Bible

⁶For a ^(A)Child will be born to us, a ^(B)Son will be given to us;
And the ^(C)government will ^[a]rest ^(D)on His shoulders;
And His name will be called ^(E)Wonderful Counselor, ^(F)Mighty God,
Eternal ^(G)Father, Prince of ^(H)Peace.
⁷There will be ^(I)no end to the increase of His government or of peace
On the ^(J)throne of David and over ^[b]his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with ^(K)justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
^(L)The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this.

God’s Anger with Israel’s Arrogance

⁸The Lord sends a ^[c]message against Jacob,
And it falls on Israel.
⁹And all the people know it,
That is, ^(M)Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
Asserting in pride and in ^(N)arrogance of heart:
¹⁰“The bricks have fallen down,
But we will ^(O)rebuild with smooth stones;
The sycamores have been cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”
¹¹Therefore the Lord raises superior adversaries against them from ^(P)Rezin
And provokes their enemies,
¹²The Arameans from the east and the ^(Q)Philistines from the west;
And they ^(R)devour Israel with ^[d]gaping jaws.
^(S)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away,
And His hand is still stretched out.

¹³Yet the people ^(T)do not turn back to Him who struck them,
Nor do they ^(U)seek the Lord of armies.
¹⁴So the Lord cuts off ^(V)head and tail from Israel,
Both palm branch and bulrush ^(W)in a single day.
¹⁵The head is ^(X)the elder and esteemed man,
And the prophet who teaches ^(Y)falsehood is the tail.
¹⁶^(Z)For those who guide this people are leading them astray;
And those who are guided by them are ^[e]confused.
¹⁷Therefore the Lord does ^(AA)not rejoice over their young men,
^(AB)Nor does He have compassion on their ^[f]orphans or their widows;
For every one of them is ^(AC)godless and an ^(AD)evildoer,
And every ^(AE)mouth is speaking foolishness.
^(AF)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away,
And His hand is still stretched out.

¹⁸^(AG)For wickedness burns like a fire;
It consumes briars and thorns;
It also sets the thickets of the forest aflame
And they roll upward in a column of smoke.
¹⁹By the ^(AH)wrath of the Lord of armies the ^(AI)land is burned,
And the ^(AJ)people are like fuel for the fire;
No ^(AK)one spares his brother.
²⁰^[g]They devour what is on the right hand but are still ^(AL)hungry,
And ^[h]they eat what is on the left hand, but they are not satisfied;
Each of them eats the ^(AM)flesh of his own arm.
²¹Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
^(AN)And together they are against Judah.
^(AO)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.

Assyria Is God’s Instrument

10 Woe to those who ^(AP)enact unjust statutes
And to those who constantly record ^[i]harmful decisions,
²So as ^(AQ)to ^[j]deprive the needy of justice
And rob the poor among My people of their rights,
So ^(AR)that widows may be their spoil
And that they may plunder the ^[k]orphans.
³Now ^(AS)what will you do in the ^(AT)day of punishment,
And in the devastation which will come ^(AU)from afar?
^(AV)To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your wealth?
⁴Nothing remains but to crouch ^[l]among the ^(AW)captives
Or fall ^[m]among those ^(AX)killed.
^(AY)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.

⁵Woe to ^(AZ)Assyria, the ^(BA)rod of My anger
And the staff in whose hands is ^(BB)My indignation,
⁶I send it against a ^(BC)godless nation
And commission it against the ^(BD)people of My fury
To capture spoils and ^(BE)to seize plunder,
And to ^[n]trample them down like ^(BF)mud in the streets.
⁷Yet it ^(BG)does not so intend,
Nor does ^[o]it plan so in its heart,
But rather it is ^[p]its purpose to destroy
And to eliminate ^[q]many nations.
⁸For it says, “Are not my officers ^[r]all kings?
⁹Is not ^(BH)Calno like ^(BI)Carchemish,
Or ^(BJ)Hamath like Arpad,
Or ^(BK)Samaria like ^(BL)Damascus?
¹⁰As my hand has reached to the ^(BM)kingdoms of the idols,
Whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
¹¹Shall I not do the same to Jerusalem and her images
Just as I have done to Samaria and ^(BN)her idols?”

¹²So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His ^(BO)work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will ^[s]punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and ^(BP)the arrogant pride of his eyes.” ¹³For ^(BQ)he has said,

“By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this,
Because I have understanding;
And I ^(BR)removed the boundaries of the peoples
And plundered their treasures,
And like a powerful man I brought down ^[t]their inhabitants,
¹⁴And my hand reached to the riches of the peoples like a ^(BS)nest,
And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth;
And there was not one that flapped its wing, opened its beak, or chirped.”

¹⁵Is the ^(BT)axe to ^(BU)boast itself over the one who chops with it?
Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it?
That would be like ^(BV)a ^[u]club wielding those who lift it,
Or like ^(BW)a rod lifting the one who is not wood.
¹⁶Therefore the Lord, the ^[v]God of armies, will send a ^(BX)wasting disease among his ^(BY)stout warriors;
And under his ^(BZ)glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.
¹⁷And the ^(CA)Light of Israel will become a fire and ^[w]Israel’s ^(CB)Holy One a flame,
And it will ^(CC)burn and devour ^[x]his thorns and his briars in a single day.
¹⁸And He will ^(CD)destroy the glory of his forest and of his fruitful garden, both soul and body,
And it will be as when a sick person wastes away.
¹⁹And the ^(CE)rest of the trees of his forest will be so small in number
That a child could write them down.

A Remnant Will Return

²⁰Now on that day the ^(CF)remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob ^(CG)who have escaped, will no longer rely on the one who struck them, but will truly ^(CH)rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

²¹A ^(CI)remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the ^(CJ)mighty God.