For to Us a Child Is Born

[a] But there will be no (A)gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he (B)brought into contempt the land of (C)Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he (D)has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.[b]

[c] (E)The people (F)who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of (G)deep darkness,
    on them has light shone.
(H)You have multiplied the nation;
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with (I)joy at the harvest,
    as they (J)are glad (K)when they divide the spoil.
(L)For the yoke of his burden,
    (M)and the staff for his shoulder,
    the rod of his oppressor,
    you have broken as (N)on the day of Midian.
(O)For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
    and every garment rolled in blood
    will be burned as fuel for the fire.
(P)For to us a child is born,
    to us (Q)a son is given;
(R)and the government shall be (S)upon[d] his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called[e]
Wonderful (T)Counselor, (U)Mighty God,
    (V)Everlasting (W)Father, Prince of (X)Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
    (Y)there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
(Z)with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
(AA)The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression

The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
    and it will fall on Israel;
and all the people will know,
    (AB)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 (AC)The Syrians on the east and (AD)the Philistines on the west
    devour Israel with open mouth.
(AE)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

13 The people (AF)did not turn to him who struck them,
    nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.
14 So the Lord cut off from Israel (AG)head and tail,
    palm branch and reed in one day—
15 (AH)the elder and honored man is the head,
    and (AI)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 (AJ)rejoice over their young men,
    and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;
for everyone is (AK)godless and an evildoer,
    and every mouth speaks (AL)folly.[f]
(AM)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

18 For wickedness burns like (AN)a fire;
    it consumes briers and thorns;
it kindles the thickets of the forest,
    and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
    the land is scorched,
and (AO)the people are like fuel for the fire;
    (AP)no one spares another.
20 (AQ)They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,
    and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;
(AR)each devours the flesh of his own arm,
21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;
    together they are (AS)against Judah.
(AT)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 9:1 Ch 8:23 in Hebrew
  2. Isaiah 9:1 Or of the Gentiles
  3. Isaiah 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Hebrew
  4. Isaiah 9:6 Or is upon
  5. Isaiah 9:6 Or is called
  6. Isaiah 9:17 Or speaks disgraceful things

Isaiah's Vision of the Lord

In the year that (A)King Uzziah died I (B)saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train[a] of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had (C)six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

(D)“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
(E)the whole earth is full of his glory!”[b]

And (F)the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and (G)the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! (H)For I am lost; (I)for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the (J)King, the Lord of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he (K)touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah's Commission from the Lord

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for (L)us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

(M)“‘Keep on hearing,[c] but do not understand;
keep on seeing,[d] but do not perceive.’
10 (N)Make the heart of this people (O)dull,[e]
    and their ears heavy,
    and blind their eyes;
(P)lest they see with their eyes,
    and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
    and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, (Q)“How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until (R)cities lie waste
    without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
    and the land is a desolate waste,
12 and the Lord removes people far away,
    and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13 (S)And though a tenth remain in it,
    it will be burned[f] again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
    whose stump (T)remains
    when it is felled.”
(U)The holy seed[g] is its stump.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 6:1 Or hem
  2. Isaiah 6:3 Or may his glory fill the whole earth
  3. Isaiah 6:9 Or Hear indeed
  4. Isaiah 6:9 Or see indeed
  5. Isaiah 6:10 Hebrew fat
  6. Isaiah 6:13 Or purged
  7. Isaiah 6:13 Or offspring

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