Old/New Testament
A New Day Is Coming
9 But suddenly there will be no more gloom for the land that suffered. In the past God made the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali hang their heads in shame. But in the future that land will be made great. That land stretches from the way along the Mediterranean Sea to the land along the Jordan River. And it goes north to Galilee where the people who are not Israelites live.
2 Now those people live in darkness.
But they will see a great light.
They live in a place that is very dark.
But a light will shine on them.
3 God, you will cause the nation to grow.
You will make the people happy.
And they will show their happiness to you.
It will be like the joy during harvest time.
It will be like the joy of people
taking what they have won in war.
4 Like the time you defeated Midian,
you will take away their heavy load.
You will take away the heavy pole from their backs.
You will take away the rod the enemy uses to punish your people.
5 Every boot that marched in battle will be destroyed.
Every uniform stained with blood will be destroyed.
They will be thrown into the fire.
6 A child will be born to us.
God will give a son to us.
He will be responsible for leading the people.
His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God,
Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace.
7 Power and peace will be in his kingdom.
It will continue to grow.
He will rule as king on David’s throne
and over David’s kingdom.
He will make it strong,
by ruling with goodness and fair judgment.
He will rule it forever and ever.
The Lord of heaven’s armies will do this
because of his strong love for his people.
God Will Punish Israel
8 The Lord sent a message against the people of Jacob.
That message says that God will judge Israel.
9 Then everyone in Israel, even the leaders in Samaria,
will know that God punished them.
Those people, who are proud and who brag now, say this:
10 “These bricks have fallen,
but we will build again with cut stones.
These small trees have been chopped down.
But we will put great cedars there.”
11 But the Lord will make the enemies of Rezin strong against them.
He will stir up their enemies against them.
12 The Arameans come from the east
and the Philistines from the west.
They will eat up Israel with their armies.
But the Lord is still angry.
His hand is still raised to punish the people.
13 But the people do not return to the one who struck them.
They do not follow the Lord of heaven’s armies.
14 So the Lord will cut off Israel’s head and tail.
He will take away both the branch and stalk in one day.
15 The elders and important men are the head.
The prophets who speak lies are the tail.
16 Those who lead the people lead them in the wrong direction.
And those who follow them will be destroyed.
17 So the Lord is not happy with the young men.
He will not show mercy to the widows and orphans.
All the people are separated from God and are very evil.
They all speak lies.
But the Lord is still angry.
His hand is still raised to strike down the people.
18 Evil is like a small fire.
First, it burns weeds and thorns.
Next, it burns the larger bushes in the forest.
They all go up in a column of smoke.
19 The Lord of heaven’s armies is angry.
So the land will be burned.
All the people will be burned in that fire.
No one will try to save his brother.
20 People will grab something on the right,
but they will still be hungry.
They will eat something on the left,
but they will not be filled.
Then each person will turn and eat his own children.
21 The people of Manasseh will fight against the people of Ephraim.
And Ephraim will fight against Manasseh.
Then both of them will turn against Judah.
But the Lord is still angry.
His hand is still raised to strike down the people.
10 How terrible it will be for the lawmakers who write evil laws.
They write laws that make life hard for people.
2 They are not fair to the poor.
They rob my people of their rights.
They allow people to steal from widows
and to take from orphans what they should get.
3 Lawmakers, how will you explain the things you have done?
What will you do when your destruction comes from far away?
Where will you run for help?
Where will you hide your money and your riches then?
4 You will have to bow down among the captives.
You will fall down among the dead bodies.
But the Lord is still angry.
His hand is still raised to strike down the people.
God Will Punish Assyria
5 God says, “How terrible it will be for the king of Assyria.
I use him like a stick.
In anger I use Assyria like a club.
6 I send it to fight against a nation that is separated from God.
I am angry with those people.
So I command Assyria to fight against them.
Assyria will take their wealth from them.
Judah will become like dirt for them to walk on in the streets.
7 But Assyria’s king doesn’t understand that I am using him.
He doesn’t know he is a tool for me.
He only wants to destroy other people.
He plans to destroy many nations.
8 The king of Assyria says to himself,
‘All of my commanders are like kings.
9 The city Calno is like the city Carchemish.
And the city Hamath is like the city Arpad.
The city Samaria is like the city Damascus.
10 I defeated those kingdoms that worship idols.
And those idols were more than the idols of Jerusalem and Samaria.
11 I defeated Samaria and her idols.
So I will also defeat Jerusalem and her idols.’”
12 The Lord will finish doing what he planned to Mount Zion and Jerusalem. Then he will punish Assyria. The king of Assyria is very proud. His pride made him do these bad things. So God will punish him. 13 The king of Assyria says this:
“By my own power I have done these things.
By my wisdom I have defeated many nations.
I have taken their wealth.
And like a mighty one, I have taken their people.
14 I have taken the riches of all these people,
like one who reaches into a bird’s nest.
I have taken these nations,
like a person taking eggs.
No one raised a hand against me.
No one opened his mouth to stop me.”
15 An ax is not better than the person who swings it.
A saw is not better than the person who uses it.
A stick cannot control the person who picks it up.
A club cannot pick up the person!
16 So the Master, the Lord of heaven’s armies,
will send a terrible disease against Assyria’s soldiers.
The strength of Assyria will be burned up.
It will be like a fire burning until everything is gone.
17 God, the Light of Israel, will be like a fire.
The Holy One will be like a flame.
He will be like a fire
that suddenly burns the weeds and thorns.
18 The fire burns away the great trees and rich farmlands.
It will destroy everything.
Things will be like a sick man who wastes away.
19 Only a few trees will be left standing.
There will be so few even a child will be able to count them.
20 At that time some people will be left alive in Israel
from the family of Jacob.
They will not continue to depend
on the person who defeated them.
They will learn truly to depend on the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
21 The people who are left alive in Jacob’s family
will again follow the powerful God.
22 Israel, your people are very many.
They are like the grains of sand by the sea.
But only a few of them will be left alive to return to the Lord.
God has announced that he will destroy the land
completely and fairly.
23 The Master, the Lord of heaven’s armies, will certainly destroy this land.
He will destroy it as he has announced.
24 This is what the Master, the Lord of heaven’s armies, says:
“My people living in Jerusalem,
don’t be afraid of the Assyrians.
They beat you with a rod.
They raise a stick to hurt you, as Egypt did.
25 But after a short time my anger will stop.
Then I will turn my anger to destroying them.”
26 Then the Lord of heaven’s armies will beat the Assyrians with a whip.
He will defeat them as he defeated Midian at the rock of Oreb.
He will raise his stick over the waters
as he did in Egypt.
27 Then the troubles that Assyria puts on you
will be removed.
The load they make you carry
will be taken away.
Assyria Invades Israel
28 The army of Assyria will enter near Aiath.
They will walk through Migron.
They will store their food in Micmash.
29 The army will go over the pass.
They will sleep at Geba.
The people of Ramah will be afraid.
The people at Gibeah of Saul will run away.
30 Cry out, Bath Gallim!
Laishah, listen!
Poor Anathoth!
31 The people of Madmenah are running away.
The people of Gebim are hiding.
32 This day the army will stop at Nob.
And the army will shake their fist at Mount Zion,
at the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Watch! The Master, the Lord of heaven’s armies,
will chop them down like a great tree.
He will do this with his great power.
Those who are great will be cut down.
Those who are important will fall to the ground.
34 The Lord will cut them down
as a forest is cut down with an ax.
And the great trees of Lebanon
will fall by the power of the Mighty One.
Paul’s Work for the Non-Jews
3 So I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am a prisoner for you who are not Jews. 2 Surely you know that God gave me this work to tell you about his grace. 3 God let me know his secret plan. He showed it to me. I have already written a little about this. 4 And if you read what I wrote, then you can see that I truly understand the secret truth about the Christ. 5 People who lived in other times were not told that secret truth. But now, through the Spirit, God has shown that secret truth to his holy apostles and prophets. 6 This is that secret truth: that the non-Jews will receive what God has for his people, just as the Jews will. The non-Jews are together with the Jews as part of the same body. And they share together in the promise that God made in Christ Jesus. The non-Jews have all of this because of the Good News.
7 By God’s special gift of grace, I became a servant to tell that Good News. God gave me that grace through his power. 8 I am the least important of all God’s people. But God gave me this gift—to tell the non-Jewish people the Good News about the riches of Christ. Those riches are too great to understand fully. 9 And God gave me the work of telling all people about the plan for God’s secret truth. That secret truth has been hidden in God since the beginning of time. God is the One who created everything. 10 His purpose was that through the church all the rulers and powers in the heavenly world will now know God’s wisdom, which has so many forms. 11 This agrees with the purpose God had since the beginning of time. And God carried out his plan through Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In Christ we can come before God with freedom and without fear. We can do this through faith in Christ. 13 So I ask you not to become discouraged because of the sufferings I am having for you. My sufferings bring honor to you.
The Love of Christ
14 So I bow in prayer before the Father. 15 Every family in heaven and on earth gets its true name from him. 16 I ask the Father in his great glory to give you the power to be strong in spirit. He will give you that strength through his Spirit. 17 I pray that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. I pray that your life will be strong in love and be built on love. 18 And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love. I pray that you can understand how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is. 19 Christ’s love is greater than any person can ever know. But I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with the fullness of God.
20 With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of. 21 To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.