1Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

2The people walking in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness

a light has dawned.

3You have enlarged the nation

and increased their joy;

they rejoice before you

as people rejoice at the harvest,

as warriors rejoice

when dividing the plunder.

4For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,

you have shattered

the yoke that burdens them,

the bar across their shoulders,

the rod of their oppressor.

5Every warrior’s boot used in battle

and every garment rolled in blood

will be destined for burning,

will be fuel for the fire.

6For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7Of the greatness of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the LordAlmighty

will accomplish this.

14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

1Endow the king with your justice, O God,

the royal son with your righteousness.

2May he judge your people in righteousness,

your afflicted ones with justice.

3May the mountains bring prosperity to the people,

the hills the fruit of righteousness.

4May he defend the afflicted among the people

and save the children of the needy;

may he crush the oppressor.

5May he endure as long as the sun,

as long as the moon, through all generations.

6May he be like rain falling on a mown field,

like showers watering the earth.

7In his days may the righteous flourish

and prosperity abound till the moon is no more.

8May he rule from sea to sea

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

9May the desert tribes bow before him

and his enemies lick the dust.

10May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores

bring tribute to him.

May the kings of Sheba and Seba

present him gifts.

11May all kings bow down to him

and all nations serve him.

12For he will deliver the needy who cry out,

the afflicted who have no one to help.

13He will take pity on the weak and the needy

and save the needy from death.

14He will rescue them from oppression and violence,

for precious is their blood in his sight.

15Long may he live!

May gold from Sheba be given him.

May people ever pray for him

and bless him all day long.

16May grain abound throughout the land;

on the tops of the hills may it sway.

May the crops flourish like Lebanon

and thrive like the grass of the field.

17May his name endure forever;

may it continue as long as the sun.

Then all nations will be blessed through him,

and they will call him blessed.

18Praise be to the LordGod, the God of Israel,

who alone does marvelous deeds.

19Praise be to his glorious name forever;

may the whole earth be filled with his glory.

Amen and Amen.

20This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.

Songs of Praise

1In that day you will say:

“I will praise you, Lord.

Although you were angry with me,

your anger has turned away

and you have comforted me.

2Surely God is my salvation;

I will trust and not be afraid.

The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense;

he has become my salvation.”

3With joy you will draw water

from the wells of salvation.

4In that day you will say:

“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;

make known among the nations what he has done,

and proclaim that his name is exalted.

5Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things;

let this be known to all the world.

6Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,

for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

The Branch From Jesse

1A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;

from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

2The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—

the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and of might,

the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—

3and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,

or decide by what he hears with his ears;

4but with righteousness he will judge the needy,

with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;

with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

5Righteousness will be his belt

and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

6The wolf will live with the lamb,

the leopard will lie down with the goat,

the calf and the lion and the yearling together;

and a little child will lead them.

7The cow will feed with the bear,

their young will lie down together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

8The infant will play near the cobra’s den,

and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

9They will neither harm nor destroy

on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

10In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. 11In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean.

12He will raise a banner for the nations

and gather the exiles of Israel;

he will assemble the scattered people of Judah

from the four quarters of the earth.

13Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,

and Judah’s enemies will be destroyed;

Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,

nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.

14They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west;

together they will plunder the people to the east.

They will subdue Edom and Moab,

and the Ammonites will be subject to them.

15The Lord will dry up

the gulf of the Egyptian sea;

with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand

over the Euphrates River.

He will break it up into seven streams

so that anyone can cross over in sandals.

16There will be a highway for the remnant of his people

that is left from Assyria,

as there was for Israel

when they came up from Egypt.

1Woe to those who make unjust laws,

to those who issue oppressive decrees,

2to deprive the poor of their rights

and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,

making widows their prey

and robbing the fatherless.

3What will you do on the day of reckoning,

when disaster comes from afar?

To whom will you run for help?

Where will you leave your riches?

4Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives

or fall among the slain.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

God’s Judgment on Assyria

5“Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger,

in whose hand is the club of my wrath!

6I send him against a godless nation,

I dispatch him against a people who anger me,

to seize loot and snatch plunder,

and to trample them down like mud in the streets.

7But this is not what he intends,

this is not what he has in mind;

his purpose is to destroy,

to put an end to many nations.

8‘Are not my commanders all kings?’ he says.

9‘Has not Kalno fared like Carchemish?

Is not Hamath like Arpad,

and Samaria like Damascus?

10As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols,

kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria—

11shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images

as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?’ ”

12When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. 13For he says:

“ ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this,

and by my wisdom, because I have understanding.

I removed the boundaries of nations,

I plundered their treasures;

like a mighty one I subduedtheir kings.

14As one reaches into a nest,

so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations;

as people gather abandoned eggs,

so I gathered all the countries;

not one flapped a wing,

or opened its mouth to chirp.’ ”

15Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it,

or the saw boast against the one who uses it?

As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up,

or a club brandish the one who is not wood!

16Therefore, the Lord, the LordAlmighty,

will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors;

under his pomp a fire will be kindled

like a blazing flame.

17The Light of Israel will become a fire,

their Holy One a flame;

in a single day it will burn and consume

his thorns and his briers.

18The splendor of his forests and fertile fields

it will completely destroy,

as when a sick person wastes away.

19And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few

that a child could write them down.

The Remnant of Israel

20In that day the remnant of Israel,

the survivors of Jacob,

will no longer rely on him

who struck them down

but will truly rely on the Lord,

the Holy One of Israel.

21A remnant will return,a remnant of Jacob

will return to the Mighty God.

22Though your people be like the sand by the sea, Israel,

only a remnant will return.

Destruction has been decreed,

overwhelming and righteous.

23The Lord, the LordAlmighty, will carry out

the destruction decreed upon the whole land.

24Therefore this is what the Lord, the LordAlmighty, says:

“My people who live in Zion,

do not be afraid of the Assyrians,

who beat you with a rod

and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did.

25Very soon my anger against you will end

and my wrath will be directed to their destruction.”

26The LordAlmighty will lash them with a whip,

as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb;

and he will raise his staff over the waters,

as he did in Egypt.

27In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders,

their yoke from your neck;

the yoke will be broken

because you have grown so fat.

28They enter Aiath;

they pass through Migron;

they store supplies at Mikmash.

29They go over the pass, and say,

“We will camp overnight at Geba.”

Ramah trembles;

Gibeah of Saul flees.

30Cry out, Daughter Gallim!

Listen, Laishah!

Poor Anathoth!

31Madmenah is in flight;

the people of Gebim take cover.

32This day they will halt at Nob;

they will shake their fist

at the mount of Daughter Zion,

at the hill of Jerusalem.

33See, the Lord, the LordAlmighty,

will lop off the boughs with great power.

The lofty trees will be felled,

the tall ones will be brought low.

34He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax;

Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.

2 Chronicles 27

Jotham King of Judah

1Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. 2He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done, but unlike him he did not enter the temple of the Lord. The people, however, continued their corrupt practices. 3Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the temple of the Lord and did extensive work on the wall at the hill of Ophel. 4He built towns in the hill country of Judah and forts and towers in the wooded areas.

5Jotham waged war against the king of the Ammonites and conquered them. That year the Ammonites paid him a hundred talents of silver, ten thousand cors of wheat and ten thousand cors of barley. The Ammonites brought him the same amount also in the second and third years.

6Jotham grew powerful because he walked steadfastly before the Lord his God.

7The other events in Jotham’s reign, including all his wars and the other things he did, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. 8He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. 9Jotham rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. And Ahaz his son succeeded him as king.

Isaiah 9

1Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

2The people walking in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness

a light has dawned.

3You have enlarged the nation

and increased their joy;

they rejoice before you

as people rejoice at the harvest,

as warriors rejoice

when dividing the plunder.

4For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,

you have shattered

the yoke that burdens them,

the bar across their shoulders,

the rod of their oppressor.

5Every warrior’s boot used in battle

and every garment rolled in blood

will be destined for burning,

will be fuel for the fire.

6For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7Of the greatness of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the LordAlmighty

will accomplish this.

The Lord’s Anger Against Israel

8The Lord has sent a message against Jacob;

it will fall on Israel.

9All the people will know it—

Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—

who say with pride

and arrogance of heart,

10“The bricks have fallen down,

but we will rebuild with dressed stone;

the fig trees have been felled,

but we will replace them with cedars.”

11But the Lord has strengthened Rezin’s foes against them

and has spurred their enemies on.

12Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west

have devoured Israel with open mouth.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

13But the people have not returned to him who struck them,

nor have they sought the LordAlmighty.

14So the Lord will cut off from Israel both head and tail,

both palm branch and reed in a single day;

15the elders and dignitaries are the head,

the prophets who teach lies are the tail.

16Those who guide this people mislead them,

and those who are guided are led astray.

17Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men,

nor will he pity the fatherless and widows,

for everyone is ungodly and wicked,

every mouth speaks folly.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

18Surely wickedness burns like a fire;

it consumes briers and thorns,

it sets the forest thickets ablaze,

so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.

19By the wrath of the LordAlmighty

the land will be scorched

and the people will be fuel for the fire;

they will not spare one another.

20On the right they will devour,

but still be hungry;

on the left they will eat,

but not be satisfied.

Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring:

21Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh;

together they will turn against Judah.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.