Isaiah 8:9-9:12

English Standard Version

⁹Be broken,^[a] you peoples, and ^(A)be shattered;^[b]
    give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
    strap on your armor and be shattered.
¹⁰Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
    speak a word, ^(B)but it will not stand,
    for God ^(C)is with us.^[c]

Fear God, Wait for the Lord

¹¹For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and ^(D)warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: ¹²“Do not call ^(E)conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and ^(F)do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. ¹³But the Lord of hosts, ^(G)him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. ¹⁴And he will become a ^(H)sanctuary and ^(I)a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁵And many ^(J)shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

¹⁶Bind up ^(K)the testimony; ^(L)seal the teaching^[d] among my disciples. ¹⁷I will ^(M)wait for the Lord, who is ^(N)hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. ¹⁸^(O)Behold, I and ^(P)the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. ¹⁹And when they say to you, “Inquire of the ^(Q)mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of ^(R)the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰^(S)To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no ^(T)dawn. ²¹They will pass through the land,^[e] greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against^[f] their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. ²²^(U)And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into ^(V)thick darkness.

For to Us a Child Is Born

9 ^[g] But there will be no ^(W)gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he ^(X)brought into contempt the land of ^(Y)Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he ^(Z)has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.^[h]

²^[i] ^(AA)The people ^(AB)who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of ^(AC)deep darkness,
    on them has light shone.
³^(AD)You have multiplied the nation;
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with ^(AE)joy at the harvest,
    as they ^(AF)are glad ^(AG)when they divide the spoil.
⁴^(AH)For the yoke of his burden,
    ^(AI)and the staff for his shoulder,
    the rod of his oppressor,
    you have broken as ^(AJ)on the day of Midian.
⁵^(AK)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^(AL)For to us a child is born,
    to us ^(AM)a son is given;
^(AN)and the government shall be ^(AO)upon^[j] his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called^[k]
Wonderful ^(AP)Counselor, ^(AQ)Mighty God,
    ^(AR)Everlasting ^(AS)Father, Prince of ^(AT)Peace.
⁷Of the increase of his government and of peace
    ^(AU)there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
^(AV)with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
^(AW)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,
    ^(AX)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^(AY)The Syrians on the east and ^(AZ)the Philistines on the west
    devour Israel with open mouth.
^(BA)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.