Isaiah 9
New American Standard Bible
Birth and Reign of the Prince of Peace
9 [a]But there will be no more (A)gloom for her who was in anguish. In earlier times He (B)treated the (C)land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He will make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the [b]Gentiles.
2 [c](D)The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.
3 (E)You will multiply the nation,
You (F)will [d]increase [e]their joy;
They will rejoice in Your presence
As with the joy [f]of harvest,
As people (G)rejoice when they divide the spoils.
4 For (H)You will break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,
The rod of their (I)oppressor, as [g]at the battle of (J)Midian.
5 For every boot of the marching warrior in the roar of battle,
And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
6 For a (K)Child will be born to us, a (L)Son will be given to us;
And the (M)government will [h]rest (N)on His shoulders;
And His name will be called (O)Wonderful Counselor, (P)Mighty God,
Eternal (Q)Father, Prince of (R)Peace.
7 There will be (S)no end to the increase of His government or of peace
On the (T)throne of David and over [i]his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with (U)justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
(V)The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this.
God’s Anger with Israel’s Arrogance
8 The Lord sends a [j]message against Jacob,
And it falls on Israel.
9 And all the people know it,
That is, (W)Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
Asserting in pride and in (X)arrogance of heart:
10 “The bricks have fallen down,
But we will (Y)rebuild with smooth stones;
The sycamores have been cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”
11 Therefore the Lord raises superior adversaries against them from (Z)Rezin
And provokes their enemies,
12 The Arameans from the east and the (AA)Philistines from the west;
And they (AB)devour Israel with [k]gaping jaws.
(AC)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away,
And His hand is still stretched out.
13 Yet the people (AD)do not turn back to Him who struck them,
Nor do they (AE)seek the Lord of armies.
14 So the Lord cuts off (AF)head and tail from Israel,
Both palm branch and bulrush (AG)in a single day.
15 The head is (AH)the elder and esteemed man,
And the prophet who teaches (AI)falsehood is the tail.
16 (AJ)For those who guide this people are leading them astray;
And those who are guided by them are [l]confused.
17 Therefore the Lord does (AK)not rejoice over their young men,
(AL)Nor does He have compassion on their [m]orphans or their widows;
For every one of them is (AM)godless and an (AN)evildoer,
And every (AO)mouth is speaking foolishness.
(AP)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away,
And His hand is still stretched out.
18 (AQ)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.
19 By the (AR)wrath of the Lord of armies the (AS)land is burned,
And the (AT)people are like fuel for the fire;
No (AU)one spares his brother.
20 [n]They devour what is on the right hand but are still (AV)hungry,
And [o]they eat what is on the left hand, but they are not satisfied;
Each of them eats the (AW)flesh of his own arm.
21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
(AX)And together they are against Judah.
(AY)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 9:1 Ch 8:23 in Heb
- Isaiah 9:1 Or nations
- Isaiah 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Heb
- Isaiah 9:3 Another reading is not increase
- Isaiah 9:3 Lit the
- Isaiah 9:3 Lit in
- Isaiah 9:4 Lit in the day of Midian
- Isaiah 9:6 Lit be
- Isaiah 9:7 I.e., David’s
- Isaiah 9:8 Lit word
- Isaiah 9:12 Lit the whole mouth
- Isaiah 9:16 Or swallowed up
- Isaiah 9:17 Or fatherless
- Isaiah 9:20 Lit And he slices
- Isaiah 9:20 Lit he eats
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.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
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.
