Isaiah 9  New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

^2 [b]The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
    on them light has shined.^(B)
3 You have multiplied exultation;^[c]
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with joy at the harvest,
    as people exult when dividing plunder.^(C)
4 For the yoke of their burden
    and the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor,
    you have broken as on the day of Midian.^(D)
5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors
    and all the garments rolled in blood
    shall be burned as fuel for the fire.^(E)
6 For a child has been born for us,
    a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
    and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.^(F)
7 Great will be his authority,^[d]
    and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
    He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.^(G)

¹³ The people did not turn to him who struck them
    or seek the Lord of hosts.^(K)
14 So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail,
    palm branch and reed in one day—^(L)
15 elders and dignitaries are the head,
    and prophets who teach lies are the tail,^(M)
16 for those who led this people led them astray,
    and those who were led by them were left in confusion.^(N)
17 That is why the Lord did not have pity on^[f] their young people
    or compassion on their orphans and widows,
for everyone was godless and an evildoer,
    and every mouth spoke folly.
For all this his anger has not turned away;
    his hand is stretched out still.^(O)

¹⁸ For wickedness burned like a fire,
    consuming briers and thorns;
it kindled the thickets of the forest,
    and they swirled upward in a column of smoke.^(P)
19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
    the land was burned,
and the people became like fuel for the fire;
    no one spared another.^(Q)
20 They gorged on the right but still were hungry,
    and they devoured on the left but were not satisfied;
they devoured the flesh of their own kindred;^[g](R)
21 Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
    and together they were against Judah.
For all this his anger has not turned away;
    his hand is stretched out still.^(S)