Isaiah 9-12

Easy-to-Read Version

A New Day Is Coming

9 But there will be an end to the gloom those people suffered. In the past, people thought the land of Zebulun and Naphtali was not important. But later, that land will be honored—the land along the sea, the land east of the Jordan River, and Galilee where people from other nations live. ² Those people lived in darkness, but they will see a great light. They lived in a place as dark as death, but a great light will shine on them.

³ God, you will make the nation grow, and you will make the people happy. They will rejoice in your presence as they do at harvest time. It will be like the joy when people take their share of things they have won in war. ⁴ That will happen because you will lift the heavy yoke off their shoulders and take away their heavy burden. You will take away the rod that the enemy used to punish your people, as you did when you defeated Midian.^[a]

⁵ Every boot that marched in battle and every uniform stained with blood will be destroyed and thrown into the fire. ⁶ This will happen when the special child is born. God will give us a son who will be responsible for leading the people. His name will be “Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God, Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace.” ⁷ His power will continue to grow, and there will be peace without end. This will establish him as the king sitting on David’s throne and ruling his kingdom. He will rule with goodness and justice forever and ever. The strong love^[b] that the Lord All-Powerful has for his people will make this happen!

God Will Punish Israel

⁸ The Lord gave a command against Jacob and someone in Israel fell.^{[c] 9} So all the people in Ephraim, including the ruler in Samaria, learned their lesson.

Those people are very proud and boastful now. They say, ¹⁰ “Yes, those bricks fell, but we will rebuild with strong stone. Yes, those little trees were chopped down, but we will plant new trees. And they will be large, strong trees.”

¹¹ The Lord found people to go up and fight against Rezin. He stirred up Rezin’s enemies. ¹² As for Israel, the Arameans are in front of him and the Philistines are behind him. And they are both eating away at him. But the Lord is not finished yet. He is still angry, and his arm is raised to continue punishing Israel.

¹³ The people did not stop sinning. They did not come to the Lord All-Powerful for help. ¹⁴ So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail. He took away the branch and the stalk in one day. ¹⁵ (The head means the elders and important leaders. The tail means the prophets who told lies.)

¹⁶ Their guides are leading them the wrong way, so those who follow them will be destroyed. ¹⁷ All of them are evil. So the Lord is not happy with the young men, and he will not show mercy to their widows and orphans. That is because they are evil hypocrites. They tell lies.

The Lord has punished them, but he is not finished yet. He is still angry, and his arm is raised to continue punishing his people.

¹⁸ That evil was like a small fire that started among the weeds and thorns and then spread to the larger bushes in the forest. Finally, it became a giant fire, and everything went up in smoke.

¹⁹ The Lord All-Powerful was angry, so the land was burned. The people were fuel for the fire. No one showed any compassion to anyone else. ²⁰ People looked to the right and grabbed whatever they could, but they were still hungry. They grabbed whatever was on their left, but still they were not satisfied. So they turned on themselves and began to eat the bodies of their own children. ²¹ Manasseh fought against Ephraim, and Ephraim fought against Manasseh. Then both of them turned on Judah.

But the Lord is not finished punishing his people. He is still angry, and his arm is raised to continue punishing them.

10 Just look at those lawmakers who write evil laws and make life hard for the people. ² They are not fair to the poor. They take away the rights of the poor and allow people to steal from widows and orphans.

³ Lawmakers, you will have to explain what you have done. What will you do then? Your destruction is coming from a faraway country. Where will you run for help? Your money and your riches will not help you. ⁴ You will have to bow down like a prisoner. You will fall down like a dead man, but that will not help you. God will still be angry and ready to punish you.

God Will Punish Assyria’s Pride

⁵ The Lord says, “I will use Assyria like a stick. In my anger I will use Assyria to punish Israel. ⁶ I will send Assyria to fight against the people who do evil. I am angry with them, and I will command Assyria to fight against them. Assyria will defeat them and take their wealth. Israel will be like dirt for Assyria to walk on in the streets.

⁷ “But Assyria does not understand that I will use him. He does not think of himself as my tool. He only wants to destroy other people. He only plans to destroy many nations. ⁸ Assyria says to himself, ‘All of my officers are like kings! ⁹ The city of Calno is no better than the city of Carchemish. Arpad is like Hamath, and Samaria is like Damascus. ¹⁰ I defeated those evil kingdoms and now I control them. The idols those people worship are better than the idols of Jerusalem and Samaria. ¹¹ I defeated Samaria and her gods. I will also defeat Jerusalem and the idols her people have made.’”

¹² When the Lord finishes doing what he planned to Jerusalem and Mount Zion, he will punish Assyria. The king of Assyria is very proud. His pride made him do many bad things, so God will punish him.

¹³ The king of Assyria said, “I am very wise. By my own wisdom and power I have done many great things. I have defeated many nations. I have taken their wealth and their people as slaves. I am a very powerful man. ¹⁴ With my own hands I have taken the riches of all these people—like someone taking eggs from a bird’s nest. A bird often leaves its nest and eggs, and there is nothing to protect the nest. There is no bird to chirp and fight with its wings and beak, so anyone can come take the eggs. And there is no one to stop me from taking all the people on earth.”

¹⁵ An ax is not better than the one who cuts with it. A saw is not better than the one who uses it. Is a stick stronger than the one who picks it up? It can’t do anything to the person who is using it to punish someone! ¹⁶ But Assyria doesn’t understand this. So the Lord God All-Powerful will send a terrible disease against him. He will lose his wealth and power like a sick man losing weight. Then Assyria’s glory will be destroyed. It will be like a fire burning until everything is gone. ¹⁷ The Light of Israel^[d] will be like a fire. The Holy One will be like a flame. He will be like a fire that first begins to burn the weeds and thorns ¹⁸ and then spreads to burn up the tall trees and vineyards. Finally, everything will be destroyed—even the people. Assyria will be like a rotting log. ¹⁹ There will be a few trees left standing in the forest—so few that even a child could count them.

²⁰ Then the people from Jacob’s family who are left living in Israel will stop depending on the one who beat them. They will learn to depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. ²¹ Those who are left in Jacob’s family will again follow the Powerful God.^[e]

²² Israel, your people are as many as the sands of the sea, but only a few of them will be left to come back to God. But before that happens, your country will be destroyed. God has announced that he will destroy the land. And then justice will come into the land like a river flowing full. ²³ The Lord God All-Powerful really will destroy this land.

²⁴ The Lord God All-Powerful says, “My people living in Zion, don’t be afraid of Assyria! Yes, he will beat you, and it will be just as the time when Egypt beat you with a stick. ²⁵ But after a short time my anger will stop. I will be satisfied that Assyria has punished you enough.”

²⁶ Then the Lord All-Powerful will beat Assyria with a whip, just as he defeated Midian at Raven Rock.^[f] He will punish his enemies, as he did when he raised his stick over the sea^[g] and led his people from Egypt.

²⁷ He will take away the troubles Assyria brought you—troubles that are like heavy weights carried with a yoke on your neck. But that yoke will be taken off your neck. The burden will be lifted from your shoulders.

The Army of Assyria Invades Israel

^28 [h] The army of Assyria will enter near the “Ruins” (Aiath). The army will walk on the “Threshing Floor” (Migron). It will keep its food in the “Storehouse” (Micmash). ²⁹ The army will cross the river at the “Crossing” (Maabarah) and sleep at Geba. Ramah will be afraid. The people at Gibeah of Saul^[i] will run away.

³⁰ Cry out, Bath Gallim^[j]! Laishah, listen! Anathoth, answer me! ³¹ The people of Madmenah are running away. The people of Gebim^[k] are hiding. ³² This day the army will stop at Nob and prepare to fight against Mount Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

³³ Look, the Lord God All-Powerful will use his great power and chop down that great tree. Their highest officials will be brought down. Their most important leaders will be humbled. ³⁴ God will cut down his enemies. Like the tall trees of Lebanon he will cut them down with an ax.

The King of Peace Is Coming

11 A small tree^[l] will begin to grow from the stump of Jesse.^[m] That branch will grow from Jesse’s roots. ² The Lord’s Spirit will always be with that new king to give him wisdom, understanding, guidance, and power. The Spirit will help him know and respect the Lord. ³ He will find joy in obeying the Lord.

This king will not judge people by the way things look. He will not judge by listening to rumors. ^4-5 He will judge the poor fairly and honestly. He will be fair when he decides what to do for the poor of the land. If he decides people should be beaten, he will give the command, and they will be beaten. If he decides people must die, he will give the command, and those evil people will be killed. Goodness and fairness will be like a belt he wears around his waist.

⁶ Then wolves will live at peace with lambs, and leopards will lie down in peace with young goats. Calves, lions, and bulls will all live together in peace. A little child will lead them. ⁷ Bears and cattle will eat together in peace, and all their young will lie down together and will not hurt each other. Lions will eat hay like cattle. ⁸ Even snakes will not hurt people. Babies will be able to play near a cobra’s^[n] hole and put their hands into the nest of a poisonous snake.

⁹ People will stop hurting each other. People on my holy mountain will not want to destroy things because they will know the Lord. The world will be full of knowledge about him, like the sea is full of water.

¹⁰ At that time there will be someone special from Jesse’s family. He will be like a flag that all the nations gather around. The nations will come to him and ask him what they should do. And the place where he is will be filled with glory.

¹¹ At that time the Lord will again reach out and take his people who are left in countries like Assyria, North Egypt, South Egypt, Ethiopia, Elam, Babylonia, Hamath, and other faraway countries around the world. ¹² He will gather the people of Israel and Judah who were forced to leave their country. They were scattered to all the faraway places on earth. But he will raise the flag as a sign for the other nations, and he will gather his people together again.

¹³ Then Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, and Judah will have no enemies left. And Judah will not cause trouble for Ephraim. ¹⁴ But Ephraim and Judah will attack the Philistines. These two nations will be like birds flying down to catch a small animal. Together, they will take the riches from the people in the East.^[o] Ephraim and Judah will control Edom, Moab, and the people in Ammon.^[p]

¹⁵ Just as the Lord divided the Red Sea near Egypt,^[q] he will raise his arm in anger over the Euphrates River and hit it. It will divide into seven small rivers. They will be so small that the people can walk across with their sandals on. ¹⁶ Then God’s people who are left in Assyria will have a way to leave. It will be just like the time God took the people out of Egypt.

A Song of Praise to God