Isaiah 9

Still, the darkness will not stay on the land that went through such distress. In an earlier time God brought low the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. In a later time he dealt heavily with the road by the sea, the land beyond the Jordan River, Galilee of the nations.

1Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.

NoteZebulun and Naphtali were two of Israel's twelve tribes, and their territories lay in the far north, around the Sea of Galilee. Being border land, they were the first to be overrun when armies came down from the north; Assyria took them in 733–732 BC. "The road by the sea" was the main trade route running from Damascus down past the lake to the Mediterranean coast, and "Galilee of the nations" means Galilee of the foreigners, the northern district had a heavily mixed population of non-Israelites. In Hebrew Bibles this verse is numbered 8:23, so verse numbers here run one behind for the rest of the chapter in some editions.

2The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. A light has shone on those who live in the land where death casts its shadow.

2The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "the land where death casts its shadow" can mean either deep, total darkness or, by an old reading of its parts, the shadow cast by death itself. Translations split between the two, and the King James "shadow of death" preserves the darker of the options.

3You have made the nation large, but you have not made its joy greater. They are glad in your presence the way people are glad at harvest time, the way men celebrate when they divide up what they took in battle.

3Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

NoteThe Hebrew text here contains a famous crux. As written, the sentence says "you have not increased the joy" (what the King James follows); an ancient marginal reading, which sounds identical when spoken aloud, gives "you have increased its joy for it" (what most modern translations follow). The rest of the verse, about harvest and plunder, fits the positive reading, which is why the two versions on this page differ.

4For you have broken the yoke that weighed him down, the bar across his shoulders, and the club of the man who drove him, just as you did on the day of Midian.

4For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.

NoteA yoke was the wooden beam strapped across the necks of draft animals to make them pull; laid on a person, it was the standard picture of being owned and driven by someone else. "The day of Midian" refers to Gideon's night victory over the Midianite raiders (Judges 7), where a tiny force won without a pitched battle, the stock example of an enemy broken by something other than Israel's own strength.

5Every soldier's boot that stamped in the noise of battle, and every uniform soaked in blood, will be burned up as fuel for the fire.

5For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.

NoteThe word the King James renders as "battle of the warrior... with confused noise" is a rare Hebrew term, and its sense is uncertain. It is now generally taken to be a loanword for a soldier's heavy boot, so the line lists two pieces of battlefield gear, boots and bloodied clothing, being thrown on a bonfire. The older reading heard in it the din of battle instead.

6For a child is born to us, a son is given to us, and the rule of the government will rest on his shoulders. And his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

NoteIn Hebrew, the name given at a birth was expected to say something true about the child or the circumstances, and royal accession names in the ancient Near East worked the same way: a new king received titles describing the reign. The four titles here are of that kind. The Hebrew does not mark where one title ends and the next begins, so "Wonderful, Counselor" and "Wonderful Counselor" are both legitimate readings. "Everlasting Father" is a standard ancient way of calling a king the permanent protector and provider of his people, not a statement about family relations.

7His government and his peace will keep growing and will never end. He will rule on David's throne and over David's kingdom, to set it in order and hold it steady with justice and fairness, from now on and forever. The burning purpose of the LORD of Armies will make this happen.

7Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

NoteDavid was Israel's second king, around 1000 BC, and God's promise that his descendants would rule permanently (2 Samuel 7) made "David's throne" shorthand for legitimate rule over the whole nation. Isaiah is writing some 250 years later, when that dynasty held only the small southern kingdom of Judah. "LORD of Armies" translates a title also rendered "LORD of hosts": the commander of heaven's armed forces.

8The Lord sent out a message against Jacob, and it has come down on Israel.

8The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.

NoteJacob was the ancestor whose twelve sons gave the tribes their names, and who was himself renamed Israel. From here to the end of the chapter, "Jacob" and "Israel" mean the northern kingdom specifically (the ten tribes that had broken away from Jerusalem's rule), not the whole people.

9All the people will know it, Ephraim and everyone living in Samaria, the people who say with proud and stubborn hearts:

9And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,

NoteEphraim was the largest northern tribe, and its name was commonly used as a nickname for the whole northern kingdom, the way "England" gets used for Britain. Samaria was that kingdom's capital city, roughly forty miles north of Jerusalem.

10"The brick walls have fallen down, but we will rebuild with cut stone. The sycamore trees have been chopped down, but we will replace them with cedars."

10The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.

NoteThis is a boast about upgrading. Ordinary walls were sun-dried mud brick, cheap and quick; dressed stone blocks were the expensive material used for palaces and temples. Sycamore-fig was a common local timber of poor quality; cedar had to be imported from Lebanon at great cost. The speakers are claiming the disaster will leave them better off than before.

11So the LORD stirs up the enemies of Rezin against him, and he brings his foes together against him.

11Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together;

NoteRezin was king of Aram (Syria), whose capital was Damascus. He and the northern kingdom of Israel were allies against Assyria at this time. The Hebrew phrase can be read either as the enemies Rezin himself faced (that is, Assyria) now being turned loose on Israel, or as Rezin's own forces being counted among Israel's attackers; translators divide on it.

12The Arameans come from the east and the Philistines from the west, and they swallow Israel with wide-open mouths. Even after all this, his anger has not turned away. His hand is still raised to strike.

12The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

NoteThe Arameans (called Syrians in the King James) lived to the north and east around Damascus; the Philistines held the coastal plain to the southwest. "His hand is still raised to strike" is a refrain that closes several sections of this chapter, the picture is of an arm drawn back and held there, the blow not yet finished.

13For the people have not turned back to the one who struck them, and they have not looked for the LORD of Armies.

13For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.

14So in a single day the LORD will cut off from Israel both the head and the tail, both the palm branch and the reed.

14Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.

Note"Head and tail, palm branch and reed" is a Hebrew way of naming the two ends of a range in order to include everything in between: from the highest of society to the lowest, the tall palm crown down to the marsh reed. The next verse spells the figure out.

15The head is the elder, the man people honor. The tail is the prophet who teaches lies.

15The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.

16The ones who guide this people lead them the wrong way, and the ones being led are swallowed up.

16For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.

17So the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men, and he shows no pity to their orphans and widows. Every one of them is godless and does evil, and every mouth speaks foolish talk. Even after all this, his anger has not turned away. His hand is still raised to strike.

17Therefore the LORD shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

NoteOrphans and widows were the class Israelite law singled out for special legal protection, since they had no man to defend their interests in court or provide for them. The shock of the line is that the group normally shielded first is not spared here.

18Wickedness burns like a fire. It eats up the briers and thorns, then sets the thick woods blazing, and they roll upward in clouds of smoke.

18For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.

19The land is scorched by the anger of the LORD of Armies, and the people are like fuel for the fire. No one spares even his own brother.

19Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother.

20A man tears off a piece on his right side and is still hungry. He eats on his left side, and they are still not full. Each one eats the flesh of his own arm.

20And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:

NoteThe last phrase is uncertain. The Hebrew word means "arm," which the King James keeps, giving a picture of a starving man eating himself. But the same consonants can mean "offspring" or "seed," and the parallel with the next verse, tribes devouring their own relatives, leads many translators to read it that way.

21Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh, and together the two of them turn against Judah. Even after all this, his anger has not turned away. His hand is still raised to strike.

21Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

NoteManasseh and Ephraim were brother tribes, both descended from Joseph, and their territories sat side by side in the northern kingdom. Judah was the separate southern kingdom, with Jerusalem as its capital. The picture is of the closest relatives turning on each other first, then jointly on the south.