Isaiah 8-9

English Standard Version Anglicised

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

^{2 [k] (AQ)}The people ^(AR)who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of ^(AS)deep darkness,
    on them has light shined.
^3 (AT)You have multiplied the nation;
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with ^(AU)joy at the harvest,
    as they ^(AV)are glad ^(AW)when they divide the spoil.
^4 (AX)For the yoke of his burden,
    ^(AY)and the staff for his shoulder,
    the rod of his oppressor,
    you have broken as ^(AZ)on the day of Midian.
^5 (BA)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 (BB)For to us a child is born,
    to us ^(BC)a son is given;
^(BD)and the government shall be ^(BE)upon^[l] his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called^[m]
Wonderful ^(BF)Counsellor, ^(BG)Mighty God,
    ^(BH)Everlasting ^(BI)Father, Prince of ^(BJ)Peace.
⁷ Of the increase of his government and of peace
    ^(BK)there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
^(BL)with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and for evermore.
^(BM)The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

⁸ The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
    and it will fall on Israel;
⁹ and all the people will know,
    ^(BN)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.”
¹¹ But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,
    and stirs up his enemies.
^12 (BO)The Syrians on the east and ^(BP)the Philistines on the west
    devour Israel with open mouth.
^(BQ)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.
¹³ The people ^(BR)did not turn to him who struck them,
    nor enquire of the Lord of hosts.
¹⁴ So the Lord cut off from Israel ^(BS)head and tail,
    palm branch and reed in one day—
^15 (BT)the elder and honoured man is the head,
    and ^(BU)the prophet who teaches lies is the tail;
¹⁶ for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,
    and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.
¹⁷ Therefore the Lord does not ^(BV)rejoice over their young men,
    and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;
for everyone is ^(BW)godless and an evildoer,
    and every mouth speaks ^(BX)folly.^[n]
(BY)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.
¹⁸ For wickedness burns like ^(BZ)a fire;
    it consumes briers and thorns;
it kindles the thickets of the forest,
    and they roll upwards in a column of smoke.
¹⁹ Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
    the land is scorched,
and ^(CA)the people are like fuel for the fire;
    ^(CB)no one spares another.
^20 (CC)They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,
    and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;
^(CD)each devours the flesh of his own arm,
²¹ Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;
    together they are ^(CE)against Judah.
^(CF)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.