Isaiah 9
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Birth of the Prince of Peace
9 [a]Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times when He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.(A) But in the future He will bring honor to the Way of the Sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations.
2 [b]The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;(B)
a light has dawned
on those living in the land of darkness.(C)
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased its joy.[c](D)
The people have rejoiced before You
as they rejoice at harvest time
and as they rejoice when dividing spoils.(E)
4 For You have shattered their oppressive yoke(F)
and the rod on their shoulders,
the staff of their oppressor,
just as You did on the day of Midian.(G)
5 For the trampling boot of battle
and the bloodied garments of war
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For a child will be born for us,
a son will be given to us,(H)
and the government will be on His shoulders.(I)
He will be named
Wonderful Counselor,(J) Mighty God,(K)
Eternal Father,(L) Prince of Peace.(M)
7 The dominion will be vast,
and its prosperity will never end.(N)
He will reign on the throne of David
and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it
with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.(O)
The Hand Raised against Israel
8 The Lord sent a message against Jacob;
it came against Israel.
9 All the people—
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria(P)—will know it.
They will say with pride and arrogance:
10 “The bricks have fallen,
but we will rebuild with cut stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
but we will replace them with cedars.”
11 The Lord has raised up Rezin’s adversaries against him
and stirred up his enemies.
12 Aram from the east and Philistia from the west
have consumed Israel with open mouths.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.(Q)
13 The people did not turn to Him who struck them;
they did not seek the Lord of Hosts.
14 So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail,(R)
palm branch and reed in a single day.
15 The head is the elder, the honored one;(S)
the tail is the prophet, the lying teacher.(T)
16 The leaders of the people mislead them,
and those they mislead are swallowed up.[d]
17 Therefore the Lord does not rejoice
over[e] Israel’s young men
and has no compassion
on its fatherless and widows,
for everyone is a godless evildoer,(U)
and every mouth speaks folly.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.
18 For wickedness burns like a fire(V)
that consumes thorns and briers
and kindles the forest thickets
so that they go up in a column of smoke.
19 The land is scorched
by the wrath of the Lord of Hosts,
and the people are like fuel for the fire.(W)
No one has compassion on his brother.(X)
20 They carve meat on the right,
but they are still hungry;(Y)
they have eaten on the left,
but they are still not satisfied.
Each one eats the flesh of his own arm.(Z)
21 Manasseh is with Ephraim,
and Ephraim with Manasseh;
together, both are against Judah.(AA)
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.(AB)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 9:1 Is 8:23 in Hb
- Isaiah 9:2 Is 9:1 in Hb
- Isaiah 9:3 Alt Hb tradition reads have not increased joy
- Isaiah 9:16 Or are confused
- Isaiah 9:17 DSS read not spare
Isaiah 9
New Living Translation
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.
3 You 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.
4 For 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.
5 The boots of the warrior
and the uniforms bloodstained by war
will all be burned.
They will be fuel for the fire.
6 For 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.
7 His 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!
The Lord’s Anger against Israel
8 The Lord has spoken out against Jacob;
his judgment has fallen upon Israel.
9 And the people of Israel[e] and Samaria,
who spoke with such pride and arrogance,
will soon know it.
10 They said, “We will replace the broken bricks of our ruins with finished stone,
and replant the felled sycamore-fig trees with cedars.”
11 But the Lord will bring Rezin’s enemies against Israel
and stir up all their foes.
12 The Syrians[f] from the east and the Philistines from the west
will bare their fangs and devour Israel.
But even then the Lord’s anger will not be satisfied.
His fist is still poised to strike.
13 For after all this punishment, the people will still not repent.
They will not seek the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
14 Therefore, in a single day the Lord will destroy both the head and the tail,
the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.
15 The leaders of Israel are the head,
and the lying prophets are the tail.
16 For the leaders of the people have misled them.
They have led them down the path of destruction.
17 That is why the Lord takes no pleasure in the young men
and shows no mercy even to the widows and orphans.
For they are all wicked hypocrites,
and they all speak foolishness.
But even then the Lord’s anger will not be satisfied.
His fist is still poised to strike.
18 This wickedness is like a brushfire.
It burns not only briers and thorns
but also sets the forests ablaze.
Its burning sends up clouds of smoke.
19 The land will be blackened
by the fury of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
The people will be fuel for the fire,
and no one will spare even his own brother.
20 They will attack their neighbor on the right
but will still be hungry.
They will devour their neighbor on the left
but will not be satisfied.
In the end they will even eat their own children.[g]
21 Manasseh will feed on Ephraim,
Ephraim will feed on Manasseh,
and both will devour Judah.
But even then the Lord’s anger will not be satisfied.
His fist is still poised to strike.
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.
- 9:9 Hebrew of Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel.
- 9:12 Hebrew Arameans.
- 9:20 Or eat their own arms.
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
