Font Size
Isaiah 9-12
GOD’S WORD Translation
Isaiah 9-12
GOD’S WORD Translation
9 [a]But there will be no more gloom
for the land that is in distress.
God humbled the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali in earlier times.
But in the future he will bring glory to the road by the sea,
to the land across the Jordan River,
to Galilee, where foreigners live.
A Child Will Be Born as the Prince of Peace
2 The people who walk in darkness will see a bright light.
The light will shine on those who live in the land of death’s shadow.
3 You will expand the nation and increase its happiness.
It will be happy in your presence
like those who celebrate the harvest
or rejoice when dividing loot.
4 You will break the yoke [b] that burdens them,
the bar that is across their shoulders,
and the stick used by their oppressor,
as ⌞you did in the battle against⌟ Midian.
5 Every warrior’s boot marching to the sound of battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel in the fire.
6 A child will be born for us.
A son will be given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
He will be named:
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
7 His government and peace will have unlimited growth.
He will establish David’s throne and kingdom.
He will uphold it with justice and righteousness now and forever.
The Lord of Armies is determined to do this!
The Lord’s Message against His People
8 The Lord sent a message against Jacob.
The message is against Israel.
9 All the people of Ephraim
and the people who live in Samaria will know it.
With arrogant and conceited hearts they will say,
10 “Bricks have fallen,
but we will rebuild with hand-cut stones.
Fig trees have been cut down,
but we will replace them with cedars.”
11 The Lord will set Rezin’s oppressors against Israel
and will stir up its enemies—
12 the Arameans from the east and the Philistines from the west.
They will devour Israel with open mouths.
Even after all this, his anger will not disappear,
and he is still ready to use his power.
13 But the people have not returned to the one who struck them,
nor have they sought the Lord of Armies.
14 So in one day the Lord will cut off from Israel
both head and tail,
both palm branches and cattails.
15 Respected and honored leaders are the head.
Prophets who teach lies are the tail.
16 Those who guide these people lead them astray.
Those who are guided by them will be destroyed.
17 That is why the Lord isn’t happy with their young men,
nor will he show compassion for their orphans and widows.
Every one of them is a godless evildoer,
and every mouth speaks foolishness.
Even after all this, his anger will not disappear,
and he is still ready to use his power.
18 Surely wickedness burns like fire.
It burns up briars and thorns.
It sets the underbrush in the forest on fire,
and it whirls upward in clouds of smoke.
19 The land is scorched by the fury of the Lord of Armies,
and the people are like fuel for the fire.
No one shows concern for others:
20 On the right, one gobbles up food and is still hungry.
On the left, another eats and is never full.
Each person eats the flesh from his own arm.
21 Manasseh is against Ephraim.
Ephraim is against Manasseh.
Together they attack Judah.
Even after all this, his anger will not disappear,
and he is still ready to use his power.
10 How horrible it will be for those who make unjust laws
and who make oppressive regulations.
2 They deprive the poor of justice.
They take away the rights of the needy among my people.
They prey on widows and rob orphans.
3 What will you do on the day
you are called to account ⌞for these things⌟,
when the disaster comes from far away?
Where will you run for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?
4 Nothing’s left but to crouch among prisoners
and to fall with those who are killed.
Even after all this, his anger will not disappear,
and he is still ready to use his power.
The Lord’s Message against Assyria
5 “How horrible it will be for Assyria!
It is the rod of my anger.
My fury is the staff in the Assyrians’ hands.
6 I send them against a godless nation.
In my fury I order them against the people
to take their belongings, loot them,
and trample on them like mud in the streets.
7 But that’s not what they intend to do.
Their minds don’t work that way.
Their purpose is to destroy and put an end to many nations.
8 They ask, ‘Aren’t all our commanders kings?
9 Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?
Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?
Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?’
10 My power has reached kingdoms which have idols.
They had more carved statues than Jerusalem or Samaria.
11 I will do to Jerusalem and its idols
what I’ve done to Samaria and its idols.”
12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria for all his boasting and all his arrogance. 13 The king will say,
“I did this with my own two powerful hands.
I did this with my wisdom, because I am so clever.
I’ve eliminated the boundaries of nations.
I’ve looted treasuries.
I’ve brought down people like a mighty man.
14 I’ve found the riches of nations as one finds a nest.
I’ve gathered the whole world as one gathers abandoned eggs.
Not one of them flapped a wing, opened its mouth, or peeped.”
15 Can an ax attack the person who cuts with it?
Can a saw make itself greater than the person who saws with it?
A rod cannot move the person who lifts it.
A wooden stick cannot pick up a person.
16 That is why the Almighty Lord of Armies
will send a degenerative disease against brave men.
A flame will be turned into a raging fire under his power.
17 Israel’s light will become a flame.
Its Holy One will become a fire.
He will burn up and devour the weeds and thornbushes in one day.
18 The majestic forest and the orchard
will destroy both body and soul.
They will be like a sick person wasting away.
19 The trees that remain in the forest will be so few that
a child could count them.
20 At that time the remaining few Israelites,
the survivors of Jacob’s descendants
will no longer depend on the one who struck them.
They will only depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
21 A few, the remaining few of Jacob, will return to the mighty God.
22 Although your people Israel may be
as ⌞numerous as⌟ the grains of sand on the seashore,
only a few will return.
Destruction will be complete and fair.
23 The Almighty Lord of Armies will carry out this destruction
throughout the world as he has determined.
24 The Almighty Lord of Armies says:
My people who live in Zion,
don’t be afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with a rod
or when they raise their staff against you
as the Egyptians did.
25 Very soon I will unleash my fury,
and my anger will destroy them.
26 Then the Lord of Armies will raise his whip against them.
As he struck down Midian at the Rock of Oreb
and raised his staff over the water,
so he will lift it as he did in Egypt.
27 At that time their burden will be removed from your shoulders.
Their yoke [c] will be removed from your neck.
The yoke will be torn away because you have grown fat.
28 They come to Aiath.
They pass through Migron.
They store their equipment at Michmash.
29 They go through the mountain pass and lodge at Geba for the night.
The people in Ramah tremble; the people in Saul’s Gibeah flee.
30 Cry aloud, you people in Gallim!
Pay attention, you people in Laishah and miserable Anathoth!
31 The people in Madmenah flee; those who live in Gebim take shelter.
32 This day they stopped at Nob.
They shake their fist at the mountain of my people Zion,
at the mountain of Jerusalem.
33 Now look! The Almighty Lord of Armies
will trim the branches with terrifying power.
The highest trees will be cut down.
The tallest ones will be brought down.
34 He will cut down the underbrush of the forest with an ax.
Lebanon will fall in front of the Mighty One.
The Lord’s Kingdom Will Be Ruled by a Shoot from Jesse’s Stump
11 Then a shoot will come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from its roots will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of advice and power,
the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.
3 He will gladly bear the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what his eyes see
or decide by what his ears hear.
4 He will judge the poor justly.
He will make fair decisions for the humble people on earth.
He will strike the earth with a rod from his mouth.
He will kill the wicked with the breath from his lips.
5 Justice will be the belt around his waist.
Faithfulness will be the belt around his hips.
6 Wolves will live with lambs.
Leopards will lie down with goats.
Calves, young lions, and year-old lambs will be together,
and little children will lead them.
7 Cows and bears will eat together.
Their young will lie down together.
Lions will eat straw like oxen.
8 Infants will play near cobras’ holes.
Toddlers will put their hands into vipers’ nests.
9 They will not hurt or destroy anyone anywhere on my holy mountain.
The world will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
like water covering the sea.
10 At that time the root of Jesse will stand as a banner
for the people ⌞to gather around⌟.
The nations will come to him.
His resting place will be glorious.
11 At that time the Lord will use his power again
to recover what remains of his people
in Assyria, Upper and Lower Egypt,
Sudan, Elam, Babylonia, Hamath,
and the islands of the sea.
12 He will raise a banner for the nations ⌞to gather around⌟.
He will gather the outcasts of Israel
and bring together the scattered people of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
13 Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,
and Judah’s opponents will come to an end.
Ephraim won’t be jealous of Judah,
and Judah won’t oppose Ephraim.
14 They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia in the west.
Together they will loot the people of the east.
They will conquer Edom and Moab.
The people of Ammon will be subject to them.
15 The Lord will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian Sea.
He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River with his scorching wind
and divide it into seven streams
so that people can walk over it in their sandals.
16 There will be a highway
for the remaining few of his people left in Assyria
like there was for Israel when it came out of Egypt.
A Hymn of Praise from the Lord’s People in His Kingdom
12 At that time you will say,
“I will praise you, O Lord.
Although you had been angry with me,
you turned your anger away from me, and you comforted me.
2 Look! God is my Savior.
I am confident and unafraid,
because the Lord is my strength and my song.
He is my Savior.”
3 With joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation.
4 At that time you will say,
“Praise the Lord.
Call on his name.
Make his deeds known among the nations.
Make them remember that his name is highly honored.
5 Make music to praise the Lord.
He has done wonderful things.
Let this be known throughout the earth.
6 Shout loudly, and sing with joy, people of Zion!
The Holy One of Israel is great. He is among you.”
Footnotes
- 9:1 Isaiah 9:1–21 in English Bibles is Isaiah 8:23–9:20 in the Hebrew Bible.
- 9:4 A yoke is a wooden bar placed over the necks of work animals so that they can pull plows or carts.
- 10:27 A yoke is a wooden bar placed over the necks of work animals so that they can pull plows or carts.
Isaiah 9-12
New International Version
Isaiah 9-12
New International Version
9 [a]Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom(A) for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,(B) but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
2 The people walking in darkness(C)
have seen a great light;(D)
on those living in the land of deep darkness(E)
a light has dawned.(F)
3 You have enlarged the nation(G)
and increased their joy;(H)
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.(I)
4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,(J)
you have shattered(K)
the yoke(L) that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,(M)
the rod of their oppressor.(N)
5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,(O)
will be fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,(P)
to us a son is given,(Q)
and the government(R) will be on his shoulders.(S)
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor,(T) Mighty God,(U)
Everlasting(V) Father,(W) Prince of Peace.(X)
7 Of the greatness of his government(Y) and peace(Z)
there will be no end.(AA)
He will reign(AB) on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice(AC) and righteousness(AD)
from that time on and forever.(AE)
The zeal(AF) of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
The Lord’s Anger Against Israel
8 The Lord has sent a message(AG) against Jacob;
it will fall on Israel.
9 All the people will know it—
Ephraim(AH) and the inhabitants of Samaria(AI)—
who say with pride
and arrogance(AJ) of heart,
10 “The bricks have fallen down,
but we will rebuild with dressed stone;(AK)
the fig(AL) trees have been felled,
but we will replace them with cedars.(AM)”
11 But the Lord has strengthened Rezin’s(AN) foes against them
and has spurred their enemies on.
12 Arameans(AO) from the east and Philistines(AP) from the west
have devoured(AQ) Israel with open mouth.
13 But the people have not returned(AT) to him who struck(AU) them,
nor have they sought(AV) the Lord Almighty.
14 So the Lord will cut off from Israel both head and tail,
both palm branch and reed(AW) in a single day;(AX)
15 the elders(AY) and dignitaries(AZ) are the head,
the prophets(BA) who teach lies(BB) are the tail.
16 Those who guide(BC) this people mislead them,
and those who are guided are led astray.(BD)
17 Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men,(BE)
nor will he pity(BF) the fatherless and widows,
for everyone is ungodly(BG) and wicked,(BH)
every mouth speaks folly.(BI)
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.(BJ)
18 Surely wickedness burns like a fire;(BK)
it consumes briers and thorns,(BL)
it sets the forest thickets ablaze,(BM)
so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.
19 By the wrath(BN) of the Lord Almighty
the land will be scorched(BO)
and the people will be fuel for the fire;(BP)
they will not spare one another.(BQ)
20 On the right they will devour,
but still be hungry;(BR)
on the left they will eat,(BS)
but not be satisfied.
Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring[b]:
21 Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh;(BT)
together they will turn against Judah.(BU)
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.(BV)
10 Woe(BW) to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,(BX)
2 to deprive(BY) the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,(BZ)
making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless.(CA)
3 What will you do on the day of reckoning,(CB)
when disaster(CC) comes from afar?
To whom will you run for help?(CD)
Where will you leave your riches?
4 Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives(CE)
or fall among the slain.(CF)
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,(CG)
his hand is still upraised.
God’s Judgment on Assyria
5 “Woe(CH) to the Assyrian,(CI) the rod(CJ) of my anger,
in whose hand is the club(CK) of my wrath!(CL)
6 I send him against a godless(CM) nation,
I dispatch(CN) him against a people who anger me,(CO)
to seize loot and snatch plunder,(CP)
and to trample(CQ) them down like mud in the streets.
7 But this is not what he intends,(CR)
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(CS) all kings?’ he says.
9 ‘Has not Kalno(CT) fared like Carchemish?(CU)
Is not Hamath(CV) like Arpad,(CW)
and Samaria(CX) like Damascus?(CY)
10 As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols,(CZ)
kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria—
11 shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images
as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?(DA)’”
12 When the Lord has finished all his work(DB) against Mount Zion(DC) and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria(DD) for the willful pride(DE) of his heart and the haughty look(DF) in his eyes. 13 For he says:
“‘By the strength of my hand(DG) I have done this,(DH)
and by my wisdom, because I have understanding.
I removed the boundaries of nations,
I plundered their treasures;(DI)
like a mighty one I subdued[c] their kings.(DJ)
14 As one reaches into a nest,(DK)
so my hand reached for the wealth(DL) of the nations;
as people gather abandoned eggs,
so I gathered all the countries;(DM)
not one flapped a wing,
or opened its mouth to chirp.(DN)’”
15 Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it,
or the saw boast against the one who uses it?(DO)
As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up,
or a club(DP) brandish the one who is not wood!
16 Therefore, the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
will send a wasting disease(DQ) upon his sturdy warriors;(DR)
under his pomp(DS) a fire(DT) will be kindled
like a blazing flame.
17 The Light of Israel will become a fire,(DU)
their Holy One(DV) a flame;
in a single day it will burn and consume
his thorns(DW) and his briers.(DX)
18 The splendor of his forests(DY) and fertile fields
it will completely destroy,(DZ)
as when a sick person wastes away.
19 And the remaining trees of his forests(EA) will be so few(EB)
that a child could write them down.
The Remnant of Israel
20 In that day(EC) the remnant of Israel,
the survivors(ED) of Jacob,
will no longer rely(EE) on him
who struck them down(EF)
but will truly rely(EG) on the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.(EH)
21 A remnant(EI) will return,[d](EJ) a remnant of Jacob
will return to the Mighty God.(EK)
22 Though your people be like the sand(EL) by the sea, Israel,
only a remnant will return.(EM)
Destruction has been decreed,(EN)
overwhelming and righteous.
23 The Lord, the Lord Almighty, will carry out
the destruction decreed(EO) upon the whole land.(EP)
24 Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, says:
“My people who live in Zion,(EQ)
do not be afraid(ER) of the Assyrians,
who beat(ES) you with a rod(ET)
and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did.
25 Very soon(EU) my anger against you will end
and my wrath(EV) will be directed to their destruction.(EW)”
26 The Lord Almighty will lash(EX) them with a whip,
as when he struck down Midian(EY) at the rock of Oreb;
and he will raise his staff(EZ) over the waters,(FA)
as he did in Egypt.
27 In that day(FB) their burden(FC) will be lifted from your shoulders,
their yoke(FD) from your neck;(FE)
the yoke(FF) will be broken
because you have grown so fat.[e]
28 They enter Aiath;
they pass through Migron;(FG)
they store supplies(FH) at Mikmash.(FI)
29 They go over the pass, and say,
“We will camp overnight at Geba.(FJ)”
Ramah(FK) trembles;
Gibeah(FL) of Saul flees.(FM)
30 Cry out, Daughter Gallim!(FN)
Listen, Laishah!
Poor Anathoth!(FO)
31 Madmenah is in flight;
the people of Gebim take cover.
32 This day they will halt at Nob;(FP)
they will shake their fist(FQ)
at the mount of Daughter Zion,(FR)
at the hill of Jerusalem.
33 See, the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
will lop off(FS) the boughs with great power.
The lofty trees will be felled,(FT)
the tall(FU) ones will be brought low.(FV)
34 He will cut down(FW) the forest thickets with an ax;
Lebanon(FX) will fall before the Mighty One.(FY)
The Branch From Jesse
11 A shoot(FZ) will come up from the stump(GA) of Jesse;(GB)
from his roots a Branch(GC) will bear fruit.(GD)
2 The Spirit(GE) of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom(GF) and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,(GG)
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
3 and he will delight in the fear(GH) of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,(GI)
or decide by what he hears with his ears;(GJ)
4 but with righteousness(GK) he will judge the needy,(GL)
with justice(GM) he will give decisions for the poor(GN) of the earth.
He will strike(GO) the earth with the rod of his mouth;(GP)
with the breath(GQ) of his lips he will slay the wicked.(GR)
5 Righteousness will be his belt(GS)
and faithfulness(GT) the sash around his waist.(GU)
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,(GV)
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling[f] together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.(GW)
8 The infant(GX) will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s(GY) nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy(GZ)
on all my holy mountain,(HA)
for the earth(HB) will be filled with the knowledge(HC) of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day(HD) the Root of Jesse(HE) will stand as a banner(HF) for the peoples; the nations(HG) will rally to him,(HH) and his resting place(HI) will be glorious.(HJ) 11 In that day(HK) the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant(HL) of his people from Assyria,(HM) from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt,(HN) from Cush,[g](HO) from Elam,(HP) from Babylonia,[h] from Hamath(HQ) and from the islands(HR) of the Mediterranean.(HS)
12 He will raise a banner(HT) for the nations
and gather(HU) the exiles of Israel;(HV)
he will assemble the scattered people(HW) of Judah
from the four quarters of the earth.(HX)
13 Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,
and Judah’s enemies[i] will be destroyed;
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.(HY)
14 They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia(HZ) to the west;
together they will plunder the people to the east.(IA)
They will subdue Edom(IB) and Moab,(IC)
and the Ammonites(ID) will be subject to them.(IE)
15 The Lord will dry up(IF)
the gulf of the Egyptian sea;
with a scorching wind(IG) he will sweep his hand(IH)
over the Euphrates River.(II)
He will break it up into seven streams
so that anyone can cross over in sandals.(IJ)
16 There will be a highway(IK) for the remnant(IL) of his people
that is left from Assyria,(IM)
as there was for Israel
when they came up from Egypt.(IN)
Songs of Praise
12 In that day(IO) you will say:
“I will praise(IP) you, Lord.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away(IQ)
and you have comforted(IR) me.
2 Surely God is my salvation;(IS)
I will trust(IT) and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself,(IU) is my strength(IV) and my defense[j];
he has become my salvation.(IW)”
3 With joy you will draw water(IX)
from the wells(IY) of salvation.
4 In that day(IZ) you will say:
“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;(JA)
make known among the nations(JB) what he has done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.(JC)
5 Sing(JD) to the Lord, for he has done glorious things;(JE)
let this be known to all the world.
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy,(JF) people of Zion,
for great(JG) is the Holy One of Israel(JH) among you.(JI)”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 9:1 In Hebrew texts 9:1 is numbered 8:23, and 9:2-21 is numbered 9:1-20.
- Isaiah 9:20 Or arm
- Isaiah 10:13 Or treasures; / I subdued the mighty,
- Isaiah 10:21 Hebrew shear-jashub (see 7:3 and note); also in verse 22
- Isaiah 10:27 Hebrew; Septuagint broken / from your shoulders
- Isaiah 11:6 Hebrew; Septuagint lion will feed
- Isaiah 11:11 That is, the upper Nile region
- Isaiah 11:11 Hebrew Shinar
- Isaiah 11:13 Or hostility
- Isaiah 12:2 Or song
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)
Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.