Beginning
The Prince of Peace
9 [a]But there will be no gloom for her who was[b] in distress. Formerly, he brought contempt to the region of Zebulun and the region of Naphtali, but in the future[c] he will have made glorious the way of the sea, the territory beyond the Jordan—Galilee of the nations.[d]
2 [e]The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
for those living in a land of deep darkness,
a light has shined upon them.
3 You have increased the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice in your presence
as they rejoice at the harvest,
as they are glad
when they’re dividing the spoils of war.[f]
4 Now as to the yoke that has been[g] his burden,
and the bar laid[h] on his shoulder—
the rod of his oppressor—
you have broken it[i] as on the day of Midiam.[j]
5 For every boot of the tramping soldier in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be used for burning as fuel for a fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government will be upon his shoulder,
and his name is[k] called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the growth of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will rule[l] over his kingdom,
sitting on the throne of David,
to establish it and to uphold it[m]
with justice and righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies will accomplish this.
A Rebuke to Jacob and Israel
8 “The Lord[n] has sent a plague[o] against Jacob,
and it will fall on Israel;
9 and all of the people were evil[p]—
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—
saying proudly with arrogant hearts:
10 ‘The bricks have fallen,
but we will build with dressed[q] stones;
the sycamore[r] trees have been cut down,
but we will replace them with cedars.’[s]
11 But the Lord has raised adversaries[t] from Rezin[u] against him,
and he stirs up his enemies—
12 Arameans from the east
and Philistines from the west—
and they devour Israel with open mouths!
“Yet[v] for all this, his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.”[w]
Judgment for Not Repenting
13 “But the people have not returned to rely[x] on[y] him who struck them,
nor have they sought the Lord of the Heavenly Armies.
14 So the Lord has cut off from Israel head and tail,
palm branch and reed
in[z] a single day—
15 the elder and the dignitary is the head,
and 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 have pity on[aa] their young men,
and has no compassion on their orphans[ab] and widows,
because each of them was godless and an evildoer,
and every mouth spoke folly.
“Yet[ac] for all this, his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.[ad]
18 “For wickedness has burned like a blaze
that consumes briers and thorns;
it sets thickets of the forest on fire,
and skyward[ae] they swirl
in a column of smoke.
19 From[af] the wrath of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies
the land has been scorched,
and the people have become like fuel for the fire;
no one will spare his neighbor.
20 They cut meat on the right,
but they’re still hungry,
and they devour also[ag] on the left,
but they’re not satisfied;
each devours the flesh of his own children.[ah]
21 Manasseh devours Ephraim,
and Ephraim devours Manasseh;
together they are against Judah.
“Yet[ai] for all this, his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.”[aj]
Judgment on Unjust Lawmakers
10 “How terrible it will be for the one[ak] who enacts unjust decrees,
for those who write oppressive laws
that they have prescribed
2 to deprive the needy of justice
and to rob the poor of my people of their rights,[al]
so that widows may become their spoil
and so that they may plunder orphans![am]
3 What will you do on the day of Judgment,[an]
in the calamity that will come from far away?
To whom will you run for help,
and where will you leave your wealth,
4 so you won’t have to crouch among those in chains[ao]
or fall among the slain?
“Yet[ap] for all this, his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.”[aq]
Assyria is an Instrument of Judgment
5 “How terrible it will be
for Assyria, the rod of my anger!
The club is in their hands![ar]
6 I’m sending my fury[as] against a godless nation,
and I’ll command him against the people with whom I’m angry
to seize loot and snatch plunder,
and to trample them down
like mud in the streets.
7 But this is not what he intends,
and this is not what he thinks in his mind;
but it is in his mind to destroy,
and to cut down[at] many nations.
8 “Because this is what he is saying:
‘My commanders are all kings, are they not?
9 Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?
Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?
Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has reached to the idolatrous kingdoms[au]
whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 will I not deal with Jerusalem and her idols
as I have dealt with Samaria and her images?’”
Assyria will be Judged
12 “For[av] the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and against Jerusalem; he will punish the speech that comes from that willful[aw] heart of Assyria’s king and the haughty look in his eyes. 13 He keeps bragging:[ax]
‘I’ve done it by the strength of my hand,
and by my wisdom,
because I’m so clever.[ay]
I removed the boundaries of peoples,
and plundered their treasures;
like a bull I brought down
those who sat on thrones.
14 My hand has found, as if in a nest,
the wealth of the people;
and as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned,
so I have gathered all the inhabitants of the[az] earth.
Nothing moved a wing,
opened its mouth,
or chirped.’
15 “Does the ax exalt itself
over the one who swings it?
Or does the saw magnify itself
in opposition to the one who wields it?
As if a rod were to wield those who lift[ba] it,
or as if a club were to brandish the one who is not wood!
16 Therefore, the Lord God[bb] of the Heavenly Armies will send a wasting disease
among Assyria’s[bc] sturdy warriors,
and under its glory a conflagration will be kindled,
like a blazing bonfire.
17 “The light of Israel will become a fire,
and its Holy One a flame,
and it will burn
and consume Assyria’s[bd] thorns and briers
in a single day.
18 The splendor of its forest and its fruitful land
the Lord will destroy—
both soul and body—
and Assyria[be] will be
as when a dying man wastes away.
19 What survives of the trees in his forest will be so few
that a child can count them.”[bf]
The Remnant Returns
20 At that time, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer rely on the one who struck them down, but will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 21 A remnant will return—a remnant of Jacob—to the Mighty God. 22 For even if your people of Israel number as many as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Overwhelming, righteous destruction is decreed, 23 because the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies[bg] will bring about destruction, as has been decreed, throughout[bh] the entire region.[bi]
24 Therefore this is what the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies says: “My people, you who live in Zion, don’t be afraid of the Assyrians, of the rod that beats you,[bj] who lift up their club against you as the Egyptians did. 25 In just a little while, my fury will come to an end, and my anger then will be directed to their destruction.[bk] 26 The Lord of the Heavenly Armies will brandish a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb;[bl] and as his staff was stretched out[bm] over the sea,[bn] so he will lift it up as he did in Egypt. 27 At that time,[bo] his burden will depart from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck. Indeed, the yoke will be broken, because you’ve become obese.”[bp]
The Coming Judgment of God
28 “The Assyrian commander[bq] has come upon[br] Aiath
and has passed through Migron;
he stores his supplies at Michmash.
29 He has[bs] crossed over by[bt] the pass;
his overnight lodging is at Geba.
Ramah trembles;
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry aloud, you daughter of Gallim!
Pay attention, Laish![bu]
Poor Anathoth!
31 Marmenah[bv] is in flight;
the inhabitants of Gebim take cover.
32 This very day he will halt at Nob;[bw]
he will shake[bx] his fists[by]
at the mountain that is the Daughter of Zion,
at Jerusalem’s hill.
33 Behold, the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies
will lop off its[bz] boughs with terrifying power;
the tallest in height will be cut down,
and the lofty will be brought low.
34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest
with an ax,
and Lebanon will fall
by the Majestic One.”[ca]
The Reign of the Davidic King
11 “A shoot will come out
from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch will bear fruit
from his roots.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and power,
the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.
3 His delight will be in the fear of the Lord.
He won’t judge by what his eyes see,
nor decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
and decide with equity for[cb] earth’s poor.[cc]
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,[cd]
and the wicked will be killed[ce] with the breath of his lips.
5 Righteousness will be the sash around his loins,
and faithfulness the belt around his waist.”
A Transformed Ecology
6 “The wolf will live with the lamb;
the leopard will lie down with the young goat.
The calf and the lion will graze[cf] together,
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze,
and[cg] their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child will play
over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child will put his hand on vipers’ dens.[ch]
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on[ci] my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full
of the knowledge[cj] of the Lord,[ck]
as the waters cover the sea.”
Israel Regathered
10 At that time,[cl] as to[cm] the root of Jesse, who will be standing as a banner for the peoples, the nations will rally to him, and his resting place is[cn] glorious.
11 At that time,[co] the Lord will reach out his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people, from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt,[cp] from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands[cq] of the sea.
12 He will raise a banner for the nations
and will assemble the dispersed of Israel;
he will gather the scattered people of Judah
from the corners[cr] of the earth.
Israel’s Victory over Its Enemies
13 Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,[cs]
and those who are hostile to Judah will be eliminated;[ct]
Ephraim will no longer be jealous of Judah,
and Judah will not be hostile to Ephraim.
14 But they[cu] will swoop down
on the slopes[cv] of the Philistines to the west,
and they will plunder[cw] the people to[cx] the east.
They’ll lay their hands on Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites will be subject to them.
15 The Lord will totally destroy
the gulf[cy] of the Sea of Egypt.
He will sweep his hand
over the Euphrates River
with a violent wind,[cz]
breaking it up into seven streams,
and making a way for people to cross on foot.
16 And there will be a highway
for the remnant that is left of his people out of Assyria,
as there was for Israel
when they came up
from the land of Egypt.
Israel’s Praise to the Lord
12 At that time,[da] you will say:
“I will praise you, Lord,
for although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away,
and you have comforted me.
2 “Look! God—yes God—is[db] my salvation;
I will trust, and not be afraid.
For the Lord[dc] is my strength and my song,[dd]
and he has become my salvation.”
3 You will draw water joyfully from the wells of salvation. And you will say at that time:[de]
4 “Give thanks to the Lord;
call on his name.
Make known his actions
among the nations.
Proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 “Sing praises to the Lord,[df]
because he has acted gloriously,
being made[dg] known in all the world.
6 Shout aloud, and sing for joy,
you who live in Zion,
because great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel.”
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