Historical
9 The people walking in darkness
will see a great light.
Upon those dwelling in the land of the shadow of death,
light will shine.[a]
2 You will multiply the nation.
You will increase the joy.
They will rejoice before You
like the joy in the harvest,
as they revel when they divide spoil.
3 For You will break the burdensome yoke
and the rod on his shoulder—
the war-club of his oppressor—
as in the day of Midian.
4 For every stomping boot quaking
and cloak rolled in blood
will be for burning—
fuel for the fire.
Prince of Peace
5 For to us a child is born,
a son will be given to us,[b]
and the government will be upon His shoulder.[c]
His Name will be called
Wonderful Counselor,[d]
Mighty God
My Father of Eternity,
Prince of Peace.[e]
6 Of the increase of His government
and shalom there will be no end—
on the throne of David and over His kingdom—
to establish it and uphold it
through justice and righteousness
from now until forevermore.[f]
The zeal of Adonai-Tzva’ot
will accomplish this.
Warning About Defiance
7 Adonai sent a word to Jacob,
and it fell upon Israel.
8 All the people will know what Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria
say in pride and in arrogance of heart:
9 “The bricks are fallen,
but we will rebuild with cut stones.
The sycamores are cut down,
but we will replace them with cedars.”
10 Therefore Adonai raises up
Rezin’s adversaries against them,
and spurs on his enemies.
11 The Arameans from the east
and the Philistines from the west—
they will devour Israel with open mouth.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
yet His hand is still outstretched.
12 Yet the people will not turn back
to the One who strikes them,
nor will they seek Adonai-Tzva’ot.
13 So Adonai will cut off from Israel head and tail,
palm branch and bulrush in a single day.
14 The elder and the man of rank—
he is the head.
The prophet who teaches falsehood—
he is the tail.
15 The leaders of this people lead them astray.
Those they mislead are swallowed up.
16 Therefore Adonai will have no joy in their young men,
nor will He have compassion on their orphans and widows,
for everyone is ungodly and an evildoer,
and every mouth speaks foolishness.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
yet His hand is still outstretched.
17 For wickedness burns like a fire
and consumes the briers and thorns
It kindles the thickets of the forest,
so they roll up in a column of smoke.
18 By the wrath of Adonai-Tzva’ot
is the land burnt up;
The people are as fuel for the fire.
No one spares his brother.
19 One grabs with the right hand
but is hungry,
and eats with the left hand
but is not satisfied.
Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm—
20 Manasseh will devour Ephraim,
and Ephraim, Manasseh,
both are against Judah.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
yet His hand is outstretched.
Oy to Unjust Legislators
10 Oy to those enacting unjust decrees
and recording corrupt legislation,
2 to deprive the helpless of justice
and rob the rights of the poor of My people,
so that widows may be their spoil
and orphans their prey!
3 What will you do in the day of visitation,
when desolation comes from afar?
To whom will you flee for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?
4 One can only crouch among the captives
or collapse among the slain.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
yet His hand is still outstretched.
Assyria, the Rod
5 Oy to Assyria, the rod of My anger—
the club in their hand is My indignation!
6 I am sending it against an ungodly nation,
and against the people of My fury I am commissioning it,
to take spoil and plunder,
to trample them down
like mud in the streets.
7 Yet that is not what Assyria intends,
nor is that what he is thinking about.
Rather his heart is to destroy,
and to cut down nations—only a few!
8 For he says: “Aren’t all my princes kings?
9 Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?
Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?
Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has reached the kingdoms of the idols—
with more graven images than Jerusalem and Samaria—
11 as I’ve done to Samaria and her idols,
won’t I also do to Jerusalem and her idols?”
12 Therefore it will come to pass, when Adonai finishes all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glorying of his haughty eyes.” 13 For he said:
“By the strength of my own hand I’ve done it,
and my own wisdom,
for I am shrewd!
I abolished the borders of peoples,
and plundered their treasures.
As a mighty one I cast down inhabitants.
14 My hand found the riches of the peoples as a nest—
like gathering forsaken eggs,
I have gathered the entire earth.
Not a wing fluttered,
not a beak opened or chirped!”
15 Should the axe boast against the One who chops with it?
Should the saw magnify itself against the One who wields it?
It would be like a rod waving the One who lifts it,
or like a staff hoisting up the One who is not wood!
16 Therefore will the Lord Adonai-Tzva’ot,
send leanness among his fat ones.
Under its glory He will kindle a burning
like a blazing fire.
17 So the light of Israel will become a fire,
and its Holy One a flame.
He will burn and consume
its thorns and briers in one day.
18 Both the glory of his forest
and his fruitful field,
he will consume, both soul and body.
It will be like a sick man wasting away.
19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few,
a child could record them.
A Remnant Will Return
20 Yet it will come about in that day
that the remnant of Israel—
those of the house of Jacob who escaped—
will never again depend on the one
who struck them down,
but will depend upon Adonai,
the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 A remnant will return,
even the remnant of Jacob,[g]
to the Mighty God.
22 For though your people, O Israel,
be as the sand of the sea,
only a remnant of them will return.[h]
Destruction has been decreed.
Justice overflows.
23 For a complete destruction, as decreed,
will Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot make throughout the whole land.[i]
24 Therefore thus says Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot:
“O My people dwelling in Zion,
do not be afraid of Assyria,
though he strike you with the war-club,
and lift up his rod against you, as Egypt did.
25 “For in a very little while My indignation against you will be spent, and My anger will turn to their destruction.” 26 Adonai-Tzva’ot will stir up against him a scourge, as in the slaughter of Midian at the Rock of Oreb. As His staff was over the sea, so will He lift it up, as He did in Egypt.
27 In that day his burden will be taken off your shoulders,
and his yoke off your neck.
Indeed, the yoke will be broken
because of fatness.
Assyria Advancing
28 He has come to Aiath,
and passed through Migron.
At Michmas he deposited his supplies.
29 They have crossed over the pass.
They have taken up lodging at Geba.
Ramah is terrified;
Gibeath-shaul has fled.
30 Shriek your cry, daughter of Gallim!
Listen, O Laish! O poor Anathoth!
31 Madmenah has fled.
The inhabitants of Gebim take cover.
32 This very day he will halt at Nob.
He shakes his fist at the mountain
of the Daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord, Adonai-Tzva’ot
will lop off the branches with terror!
So the tall ones will be cut down
and the lofty ones laid low.
34 Yes, He will hack down the thickets of the forest with iron,
and Lebanon with its majesty will fall.
The Branch From David
11 Then a shoot will come forth out of the stem of Jesse,
and a branch will bear fruit out of His roots.[j]
2 The Ruach of Adonai will rest upon Him,
the Spirit of wisdom and insight,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge
and of the fear of Adonai.[k]
3 His delight will be in the fear of Adonai.
He will not judge by what His eyes see,
nor decide by what His ears hear.
4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor,
and decide with fairness for the poor of the land.
He will strike the land with the rod of His mouth,[l]
and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.
5 Also righteousness will be the belt around His loins,
and faithfulness the belt around His waist.
Messianic Age of Shalom
6 The wolf will dwell with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the kid,
the calf and the young lion and the yearling together,
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze,
their young ones lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like an ox.
8 A nursing child will play by a cobra’s hole,
and a weaned child will put his hand into a viper’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Adonai,
as the waters cover the sea.
Second Return from Diaspora
10 It will also come about in that day
that the root of Jesse will stand
as a banner for the peoples.[m]
The nations will seek for Him,
and His resting place will be glorious.[n]
11 It will also come about in that day that my Lord will again redeem—a second time with His hand—the remnant of His people who remain[o]
from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 He will lift up a banner for the nations,
and assemble the dispersed of Israel,
and gather the scattered of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.[p]
13 Ephraim’s envy will end,
those hostile to Judah will be cut off.
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
and Judah will not harass Ephraim.
14 They will swoop down on the Philistine slope to the west.
Together they will plunder the children of the east—
laying their hand on Edom and Moab,
the children of Ammon obeying them.
15 Then Adonai will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea.
He will wave His hand over the River with His scorching wind,
and will strike it into seven streams,
and let men walk over in sandals.
16 So there will be a highway for the remnant of His people
who remain, from Assyria,
as there was for Israel in the day
they came up out of the land of Egypt.
Wells of Salvation
12 In that day you will say:
“I will give You thanks, Adonai,
for though You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away,
and You comfort me.
2 Behold, God is my salvation!
I will trust and will not be afraid.
For the Lord Adonai is my strength
and my song.
He also has become my salvation.”[q]
3 With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
4 In that day you will say:
“Give thanks to Adonai.
Proclaim His Name!
Declare His works to the peoples,
so they remember His exalted Name.
5 Sing to Adonai, for He has done gloriously.
Let this be known in all the earth.
6 Cry out and shout, inhabitant of Zion!
For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.