Isaiah 9
9
Birth and Reign of the Prince of Peace
1But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish [for with judgment comes the promise of salvation]. In earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He will make them honored [by the presence of the Messiah], by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
2The people who walk in [spiritual] darkness
# Or have seen, Hebrew perfect tense. The perfect tense is used frequently in this passage and should probably be interpreted as the prophetic future, that is, the use of the perfect (past) tense to describe a future event as a certainty. Will see a great Light;
Those who live in the dark land,
The Light will shine on them.
3You [O God] will increase the nation,
You will multiply their joy;
They will rejoice before You
Like the joy and jubilation of the harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil [of victory].
4For You will break the yoke of Israel’s burden and the staff (goad) on their shoulders,
The rod of their oppressor, as at the #A reference to Gideon’s great victory over the Midianites (Judg 7:22-25).battle of Midian.
5For every boot of the marching warrior in the battle tumult,
And [every soldier’s] garment rolled in blood, will be used for burning, fuel for the fire.
6For to us a Child shall be born, to us a Son shall be given;
And the government shall be upon His shoulder,
And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7There shall be no end to the increase of His government and of peace,
[He shall rule] on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From that time forward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
God’s Anger with Israel’s Arrogance
8The Lord sends a word (message) against Jacob,
And it falls on Israel [the ten northern tribes, the kingdom of Ephraim].
9And all the people know it,
That is, #The names “Israel” and “Ephraim” are used interchangeably to refer to the ten tribes of the northern kingdom.Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria [its capital],
Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:
10“The bricks have fallen down,
But we will rebuild [all the better] with ashlar (hewed stones);
The sycamores have been cut down,
But we will replace them with [expensive] cedars.”
11Therefore the Lord raises against Ephraim adversaries from Rezin [king of Aram]
And spurs their enemies on,
12The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west;
And they devour Israel with gaping jaws.
In spite of all this, God’s anger does not turn away
But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].
13Yet the people do not turn back [in repentance] to Him who struck them,
Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts [as their most essential need].
14Therefore the Lord cuts off head and tail [the highest and the lowest] from Israel,
Both [the high] palm branch and [the low] bulrush in one day.
15The elderly and honorable man, he is the head;
And the prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
16For those who lead this people are causing them to go astray;
And those who are led [astray] by them are swallowed up.
17Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men,
Nor does He have compassion on their fatherless or their widows;
For every one of them is godless and an evildoer,
And every mouth is speaking foolishness.
In spite of all this, God’s anger does not turn away
But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].
18For wickedness burns like a fire;
It consumes briars and thorns,
It even sets the forest thickets ablaze;
And it swirls upward in a column of smoke.
19By the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is burned up,
And the people are like fuel for the fire;
No man spares his brother.
20They slice off [in discord] what is on the right hand but are still hungry,
And they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied;
Each eats the flesh of his own arm.
21[The tribe of] Manasseh devours [the tribe of his brother] Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
And together they are against Judah (the southern kingdom, the house of David).
In spite of all this, God’s anger does not turn away
But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].
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Isaiah 9
9
1 #
Mt 4.15
There will be no way for them to escape from this time of trouble.
The Future King
The land of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali was once disgraced, but the future will bring honour to this region, from the Mediterranean eastwards to the land on the other side of the Jordan, and even to Galilee itself, where the foreigners live.
2 #
Mt 4.16; Lk 1.79 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light.
They lived in a land of shadows,
but now light is shining on them.
3You have given them great joy,#9.3 Probable text You have given them great joy; Hebrew You have increased the nation. LORD;
you have made them happy.
They rejoice in what you have done,
as people rejoice when they harvest their corn
or when they divide captured wealth.
4For you have broken the yoke that burdened them
and the rod that beat their shoulders.
You have defeated the nation
that oppressed and exploited your people,
just as you defeated the army of Midian long ago.
5The boots of the invading army
and all their bloodstained clothing
will be destroyed by fire.
6A child is born to us!
A son is given to us!
And he will be our ruler.
He will be called, “Wonderful#9.6 Wonderful; or Wise. Counsellor”,
“Mighty God”, “Eternal Father”,
“Prince of Peace”.
7 #
Lk 1.32–33
His royal power will continue to grow;
his kingdom will always be at peace.
He will rule as King David's successor,
basing his power on right and justice,
from now until the end of time.
The LORD Almighty is determined to do all this.
The LORD will Punish Israel
8The Lord has pronounced judgement on the kingdom of Israel, on the descendants of Jacob. 9All the people of Israel, everyone who lives in the city of Samaria, will know that he has done this. Now they are proud and arrogant. They say, 10“The brick buildings have fallen down, but we will replace them with stone buildings. The beams of sycomore wood have been cut down, but we will replace them with the finest cedar.”
11The LORD has stirred up their enemies#9.11 Probable text their enemies; Hebrew the enemies of Rezin. to attack them. 12Syria on the east and Philistia on the west have opened their mouths to devour Israel. Yet even so the LORD's anger is not ended; his hand is still stretched out to punish.
13The people of Israel have not repented; even though the LORD Almighty has punished them, they have not returned to him. 14In a single day the LORD will punish Israel's leaders and its people; he will cut them off, head and tail. 15The old and honourable men are the head — and the tail is the prophets whose teachings are lies! 16Those who lead these people have misled them and totally confused them. 17And so the Lord will not let any of the young men escape, and he will not show pity to any of the widows and orphans, because all the people are godless and wicked and everything they say is evil. Yet even so the LORD's anger will not be ended, but his hand will still be stretched out to punish.
18The wickedness of the people burns like a fire that destroys thorn bushes and thistles. It burns like a forest fire that sends up columns of smoke. 19Because the LORD Almighty is angry, his punishment burns like a fire throughout the land and destroys the people, and it is everyone for himself. 20Everywhere in the country people snatch and eat any bit of food they can find, but their hunger is never satisfied. They even eat their own children! 21The people of Manasseh and the people of Ephraim attack each other, and together they attack Judah. Yet even so the LORD's anger is not ended; his hand is still stretched out to punish.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.