Old Testament

Isaiah 9
The Second Description of Immanuel:
The Child Who Is Born to Us
91Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for the land that was in anguish.[] In former times, he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time[] he will cause it to be glorious, along the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles.
2The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.
For those living in the land of the shadow of death, the light has dawned.
3You have multiplied the nation. You have increased the joy for it.
They rejoice before you like the joy at harvest time,
like the celebration when people divide the plunder.
4For you have shattered the yoke that burdened them.
You have broken the bar on their shoulders and the rod of their oppressor,
as you did in the day of Midian.
5Every boot that marched in battle
and the garments rolled in blood will be burned.
They will be fuel for the fire.
6For to us a child is born.
To us a son is given.
The authority to rule will rest on his shoulders.
He will be named:
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
7There will be no limit to his authority
and no end to the peace he brings.
He will rule on David's throne and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
from now on, into eternity.
The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.
Judgment on Aram and Samaria
8The Lord sent a word against Jacob,
and it falls upon Israel.
9All the people will know,
including Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
who say with pride and with an arrogant heart,
10“The mud bricks have fallen down,
but we will build with cut stone.
The sycamore fig trees have been cut down,
but we will replace them with cedars.”
11Then the Lord will raise up Rezin's adversaries against him,
and he will stir up his enemies.
12Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west
will devour Israel with an open mouth.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.
13But the people have not returned to the one who struck them,
nor have they sought the Lord of Armies.
14Therefore, in one day the Lord will cut off from Israel
head and tail, palm branch and reed.
15The elder and the honored man are the head,
and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail.
16It is the leaders of this people who lead them astray,
and those who are led by them are destroyed.
17Therefore, the Lord will not rejoice over their young men,
nor will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows,
because everyone is godless and an evildoer,
and every mouth speaks foolishness.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.
18Now wickedness burns like a fire.
It devours the briers and thorns.
Look, it flares up in the thickets of the forest,
and it swirls upward in a column of smoke.
19By the wrath of the Lord of Armies, the land is burned up,
and the people are the fuel for the fire.
No one spares his brother.
20On the right hand they will gobble down food, but they will still be hungry.
On the left hand they will keep eating, but they will not be satisfied.
Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm.[]
21Manasseh will be against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh,
and together they will be against Judah.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.

Footnotes

  • 9:1 Literally for her who was in anguish
  • 9:1 The term latter time usually refers to the distant future, often to the end times, the Messianic era.
  • 9:20 Or his own offspring