19Now, should people say to you, “Inquire of the ghosts and familiar spirits that chirp and moan; for a people may inquire of its divine beingsl—of the dead on behalf of the living—20for instruction and message,” surely, for one who speaks thus there shall be no dawn. 21m-And he shall go about in it wretched and hungry; and when he is hungry, he shall rage and revolt against his king and his divine beings.-mHe may turn his face upward 22or he may look below, but behold,
Distress and darkness, n-with no daybreak; -n
Straitness and gloom, n-with no dawn. -n
23For o-if there were to be-o any break of day for that [land] which is in straits, only the former [king] would have brought abasement to the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali—while the later one would have brought honor to the Way of the Sea, the other side of the Jordan, and Galilee of the Nations.p
9 aThe people that walked in darkness
Have seen a brilliant light;
On those who dwelt in a land of gloom
Light has dawned.
2You have magnified that nation,
Have given it great joy;
They have rejoiced before You
As they rejoice at reaping time,
As they exult
When dividing spoil.
3For the yoke that they bore
And the stick on their back—
The rod of their taskmaster—
You have broken as on the day of Midian.b
4Truly, all the boots put on c-to stamp with-c
And all the garments donned in infamy
Have been fed to the flames,
Devoured by fire.
5For a child has been born to us,
A son has been given us.
And authority has settled on his shoulders.
He has been named
“The Mighty God is planning grace;d
The Eternal Father, a peaceable ruler”—
6In token of abundant authority
And of peace without limit
Upon David’s throne and kingdom,
That it may be firmly established
In justice and in equity
Now and evermore.
The zeal of the LORD of Hosts
Shall bring this to pass.
7My Lord
e-Let loose a word-e against Jacob
And it fell upon Israel.
8But all the people notedf—
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—
In arrogance and haughtiness:
9“Bricks have fallen—
We’ll rebuild with dressed stone;
Sycamores have been felled—
We’ll grow cedars instead!”
10So the LORD let g-the enemies of Rezin-g
Triumph over it
And stirred up its foes—
11Aram from the east
And Philistia from the west—
Who devoured Israel
With greedy mouths.
Yet His anger has not turned back,
And His arm is outstretched still.
12For the people has not turned back
To Him who struck it
And has not sought
The LORD of Hosts.
13So the LORD will cut off from Israel
Head and tail,
Palm branch and reed,
In a single day.
14Elders h-and magnates-h—
Such are the heads;
Prophets who give false instruction,
Such are the tailsi
15That people’s leaders have been misleaders,
So they that are led have been confused.
16That is why my Lord
Will not sparej their youths,
Nor show compassion
To their orphans and widows;
For all are ungodly and wicked,
And every mouth speaks impiety.
17Already wickedness has blazed forth like a fire
Devouring thorn and thistle.
It has kindled the thickets of the wood,
k-Which have turned into billowing smoke.-k
l-Yet His anger has not turned back,
And His arm is outstretched still.-l
18By the fury of the LORD of Hosts,
The earth was shaken.m
Next, the people became like devouring fire:
No man spared his countryman.
19They snatched on the right, but remained hungry,
And consumed on the left without being sated.
Each devoured the flesh of his n-own kindred-n—
20Manasseh Ephraim’s, and Ephraim Manasseh’s,o
And both of them against Judah!p
Yet His anger has not turned back,
And His arm is outstretched still.
10 Ha!
Those who write out evil writs
And compose iniquitous documents,
2To subvert the cause of the poor,
To rob of their rights the needy of My people;
That widows may be their spoil,
And fatherless children their booty!
3What will you do on the day of punishment,
When the calamity comes from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
And how will you save your carcassesa
4From collapsing under [fellow] prisoners,
From falling beneath the slain?
Yet His anger has not turned back,
And his arm is outstretched still.
5Ha!
Assyria, rod of My anger,
b-In whose hand, as a staff, is My fury!-b
6I send him against an ungodly nation,
I charge him against a people that provokes Me,
To take its spoil and to seize its booty
And to make it a thing trampled
Like the mire of the streets.
7But he has evil plans,
His mind harbors evil designs;
For he means to destroy,
To wipe out nations, not a few.
8For he thinks,
“After all, c-I have kings as my captains!-c
9Was Calno any different from Carchemish?
Or Hamath from Arpad?
Or Samaria from Damascus?
10d-Since I was able to seize
The insignificant kingdoms,
Whose images exceeded
Jersualem’s and Samaria’s,-d
11Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images
What I did to Samaria and her idols?”
12But when my Lord has carried out all his purpose on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, Hee will punish the majestic pride and overbearing arrogance of the king of Assyria. 13For he thought,
“By the might of my hand have I wrought it,
By my skill, for I am clever:
I have erased the borders of peoples;
I have plundered their treasures,
And exiled their vast populations.f
14I was able to seize, like a nest,
The wealth of peoples;
As one gathers abandoned eggs,
So I gathered all the earth:
Nothing so much as flapped a wing
Or opened a mouth to peep.”
15Does an ax boast over him who hews with it,
Or a saw magnify itself above him who wields it?
As though the rod raised him who lifts it,
As though the staff lifted the man!g
16Assuredly,
The Sovereign LORD of Hosts will send
A wasting away in itsh fatness;
And under its bodyi shall burn
A burning like that of fire,
j-Destroying frame and flesh.
It shall be like a sick man who pines away.-j
17The Light of Israel will be fire
And its Holy One flame.
It will burn and consume its thorns
And its thistles in a single day,
18And the mass of its scrub and its farm land.
19What trees remain of its scrub
Shall be so few that a boy may record them.
20And in that day,
The remnant of Israel
And the escaped of the House of Jacob
Shall lean no more upon him that beats it,k
But shall lean sincerely
On the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
21Only a remnant shall return,
Only a remnant of Jacob,
To Mighty God.
22Even if your people, O Israel,
Should be as the sands of the sea,
Only a remnant of it shall return.
Destruction is decreed;
Retribution comes like a flood!
23For my Lord GOD of Hosts is carrying out
A decree of destruction upon all the land.
24Assuredly, thus said my Lord GOD of Hosts: “O My people that dwells in Zion, have no fear of Assyria, who beats you with a rod and wields his staff over you as did the Egyptians. 25For very soon My wrath will have spent itself, and l-My anger that was bent on wasting them.”-l 26The LORD of Hosts will brandish a scourge over him as when He beat Midian at the Rock of Oreb,m and will wield His staff as He did over the Egyptians by the sea.
27And in that day,
His burden shall drop from your back,
n-And his yoke from your neck;
The yoke shall be destroyed because of fatness.
28He advanced upon Aiath,
He proceeded to Migron,
At Michmas he deposited his baggage.
29They made the crossing;
“Geba is to be our night quarters!”-n
Ramah was alarmed;
Gibeah of Saul took to flight.
30“Give a shrill cry, O Bath-gallim!
Hearken, Laishah!
Take up the cry, Anathoth!”
31Madmenah ran away;
The dwellers of Gebim sought refuge.
32This same day at Nob
He shall stand and wave his hand.o
O mount of Fair Zion!
O hill of Jerusalem!
33Lo! The Sovereign LORD of Hosts
Will hew off the tree-crowns with an ax:
The tall ones shall be felled,
The lofty ones cut down:
34The thickets of the forest shall be hacked away with iron,
And the Lebanon trees shall fall p-in their majesty.-p
11 But a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse,
A twig shall sprout from his stock.
2The spirit of the LORD shall alight upon him:
A spirit of wisdom and insight,
A spirit of counsel and valor,
A spirit of devotion and reverence for the LORD.
3a-He shall sense the truth-a by his reverence for the LORD:
He shall not judge by what his eyes behold,
Nor decide by what his ears perceive.
4Thus he shall judge the poor with equity
And decide with justice for the lowly of the land.
He shall strike down a landb with the rod of his mouth
And slay the wicked with the breath of his lips.
5Justice shall be the girdle of his loins,
And faithfulness the girdle of his waist.
6The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard lie down with the kid;
c-The calf, the beast of prey, and the fatling-c> together,
With a little boy to herd them.
7The cow and the bear shall graze,
Their young shall lie down together;
And the lion, like the ox, shall eat straw.
8A babe shall play
Over a viper’s hole,
And an infant passd his hand
Over an adder’s den.
9In all of e-My sacred mount-e
Nothing evil or vile shall be done;
For the land shall be filled with devotion to the LORD
As water covers the sea.
10In that day,
The stock of Jesse that has remained standing
Shall become a standard to peoples—
Nations shall seek his counsel
And his abode shall be honored.
11In that day, My Lord will apply His hand again to redeeming the other partf of His people from Assyria—as also from Egypt, Pathros, Nubia, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coastlands.
12He will hold up a signal to the nations
And assemble the banished of Israel,
And gather the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.
13Then Ephraim’s envy shall cease
And Judah’s harassment shall end;
Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14They shall pounce on the back of Philistia to the west,
And together plunder the peoples of the east;
Edom and Moab shall be subject to them
And the children of Ammon shall obey them.
15The LORD will dry up the tongue of the Egyptian sea.— He will raise His hand over the Euphrates with the mightd of His wind and break it
