Isaiah 8:11-22, Isaiah 9:1-21, Isaiah 10:1-19 NIV

Isaiah 8:11-22

This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

“Do not call conspiracy

everything this people calls a conspiracy;

do not fear what they fear,

and do not dread it.

The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,

he is the one you are to fear,

he is the one you are to dread.

He will be a holy place;

for both Israel and Judah he will be

a stone that causes people to stumble

and a rock that makes them fall.

And for the people of Jerusalem he will be

a trap and a snare.

Many of them will stumble;

they will fall and be broken,

they will be snared and captured.”

Bind up this testimony of warning

and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.

I will wait for the Lord,

who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob.

I will put my trust in him.

Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.

The Darkness Turns to Light

When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

Read More of Isaiah 8

Isaiah 9:1-21

In Hebrew texts 9:1 is numbered 8:23, and 9:2-21 is numbered 9:1-20. Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

The people walking in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness

a light has dawned.

You have enlarged the nation

and increased their joy;

they rejoice before you

as people rejoice at the harvest,

as warriors rejoice

when dividing the plunder.

For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,

you have shattered

the yoke that burdens them,

the bar across their shoulders,

the rod of their oppressor.

Every warrior’s boot used in battle

and every garment rolled in blood

will be destined for burning,

will be fuel for the fire.

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty

will accomplish this.

The Lord’s Anger Against Israel

The Lord has sent a message against Jacob;

it will fall on Israel.

All the people will know it—

Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—

who say with pride

and arrogance of heart,

“The bricks have fallen down,

but we will rebuild with dressed stone;

the fig trees have been felled,

but we will replace them with cedars.”

But the Lord has strengthened Rezin’s foes against them

and has spurred their enemies on.

Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west

have devoured Israel with open mouth.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

But the people have not returned to him who struck them,

nor have they sought the Lord Almighty.

So the Lord will cut off from Israel both head and tail,

both palm branch and reed in a single day;

the elders and dignitaries are the head,

the prophets who teach lies are the tail.

Those who guide this people mislead them,

and those who are guided are led astray.

Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men,

nor will he pity the fatherless and widows,

for everyone is ungodly and wicked,

every mouth speaks folly.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

Surely wickedness burns like a fire;

it consumes briers and thorns,

it sets the forest thickets ablaze,

so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.

By the wrath of the Lord Almighty

the land will be scorched

and the people will be fuel for the fire;

they will not spare one another.

On the right they will devour,

but still be hungry;

on the left they will eat,

but not be satisfied.

Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring9:20 Or arm:

Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh;

together they will turn against Judah.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

Read More of Isaiah 9

Isaiah 10:1-19

Woe to those who make unjust laws,

to those who issue oppressive decrees,

to deprive the poor of their rights

and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,

making widows their prey

and robbing the fatherless.

What will you do on the day of reckoning,

when disaster comes from afar?

To whom will you run for help?

Where will you leave your riches?

Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives

or fall among the slain.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

God’s Judgment on Assyria

“Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger,

in whose hand is the club of my wrath!

I send him against a godless nation,

I dispatch him against a people who anger me,

to seize loot and snatch plunder,

and to trample them down like mud in the streets.

But this is not what he intends,

this is not what he has in mind;

his purpose is to destroy,

to put an end to many nations.

‘Are not my commanders all kings?’ he says.

‘Has not Kalno fared like Carchemish?

Is not Hamath like Arpad,

and Samaria like Damascus?

As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols,

kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria—

shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images

as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?’ ”

When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. For he says:

“ ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this,

and by my wisdom, because I have understanding.

I removed the boundaries of nations,

I plundered their treasures;

like a mighty one I subdued10:13 Or treasures; / I subdued the mighty, their kings.

As one reaches into a nest,

so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations;

as people gather abandoned eggs,

so I gathered all the countries;

not one flapped a wing,

or opened its mouth to chirp.’ ”

Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it,

or the saw boast against the one who uses it?

As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up,

or a club brandish the one who is not wood!

Therefore, the Lord, the Lord Almighty,

will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors;

under his pomp a fire will be kindled

like a blazing flame.

The Light of Israel will become a fire,

their Holy One a flame;

in a single day it will burn and consume

his thorns and his briers.

The splendor of his forests and fertile fields

it will completely destroy,

as when a sick person wastes away.

And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few

that a child could write them down.

Read More of Isaiah 10