Isaiah 8:19-9:7

New Living Translation

¹⁹Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?

²⁰Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. ²¹They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven ²²and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.

Hope in the Messiah

9 ^[a]Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory.

²^[b]The people who walk in darkness
    will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,^[c]
    a light will shine.
³You will enlarge the nation of Israel,
    and its people will rejoice.
They will rejoice before you
    as people rejoice at the harvest
    and like warriors dividing the plunder.
⁴For you will break the yoke of their slavery
    and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders.
You will break the oppressor’s rod,
    just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.
⁵The boots of the warrior
    and the uniforms bloodstained by war
will all be burned.
    They will be fuel for the fire.

⁶For a child is born to us,
    a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
    And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor,^[d] Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷His government and its peace
    will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
    for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    will make this happen!

Footnotes

9:1 Verse 9:1 is numbered 8:23 in Hebrew text.
9:2a Verses 9:2-21 are numbered 9:1-20 in Hebrew text.
9:2b Greek version reads a land where death casts its shadow. Compare Matt 4:16.
9:6 Or Wonderful, Counselor.