1Yet the gloom will not stay as it was in her time of trouble. At first he brought only light affliction on the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But afterward he afflicted her more heavily, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.
2The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. On those who live in the land of the shadow of death, the light has shone.
3You have made the nation many, and not increased the joy. They are glad before you as men are glad at harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4For you have broken the yoke that weighed him down, and the bar across his shoulder, the rod of the one who oppressed him, as on the day of Midian.
5Every battle of the warrior is fought with confused noise, and with clothes rolled in blood. But this will be with burning, and fuel for the fire.
6For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. The government will be on his shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7Of the growth of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and to make it firm with judgment and with justice, from this time on and for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
8The Lord sent a word to Jacob, and it has fallen on Israel.
9All the people will know it, even Ephraim and the people living in Samaria, who say in pride and hardness of heart,
10"The bricks have fallen down, but we will build with cut stones. The sycomores are cut down, but we will put cedars in their place."
11So the LORD will stir up the enemies of Rezin against him, and bring his foes together:
12the Syrians in front, and the Philistines behind. They will devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
13For the people do not turn to the one who strikes them, and they do not seek the LORD of hosts.
14So the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed, in one day.
15The elder and the honoured man, he is the head. The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
16For the leaders of this people lead them astray, and those who are led by them are destroyed.
17So the Lord will have no joy in their young men, and will have no mercy on their fatherless children and their widows. For every one of them is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
18For wickedness burns like a fire. It devours the briers and thorns, and sets the thickets of the forest alight, and they go up in rolling smoke.
19By the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land is darkened, and the people are like fuel for the fire. No man spares his brother.
20He snatches food on the right hand, and is still hungry. He eats on the left hand, and they are not satisfied. Each one eats the flesh of his own arm: