2  ^{3 i}The people ^kwho walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of ^ldeep darkness,

on them has light shone.

3  ^mYou have multiplied the nation;

you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

as with ⁿjoy at the harvest,

as they ^oare glad ^pwhen they divide the spoil.

4  ^qFor the yoke of his burden,

^rand the staff for his shoulder,

the rod of his oppressor,

you have broken as ^son the day of Midian.

5  ^tFor every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult

and every garment rolled in blood

will be burned as fuel for the fire.

6  ^uFor to us a child is born,

to us ^va son is given;

^wand the government shall be ^xupon⁴ his shoulder,

and his name shall be called⁵

Wonderful ^yCounselor, ^zMighty God,

^aEverlasting ^bFather, Prince of ^cPeace.

7  Of the increase of his government and of peace

^dthere will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

^ewith justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

^fThe zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

8  The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,

and it will fall on Israel;

9  and all the people will know,

^gEphraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,

who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:

10  “The bricks have fallen,

but we will build with dressed stones;

the sycamores have been cut down,

but we will put cedars in their place.”

11  But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,

and stirs up his enemies.

12  ^hThe Syrians on the east and ⁱthe Philistines on the west

devour Israel with open mouth.

^jFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

13  The people ^kdid not turn to him who struck them,

nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.

14  So the Lord cut off from Israel ^lhead and tail,

palm branch and reed in one day—

15  ^mthe elder and honored man is the head,

and ⁿthe prophet who teaches lies is the tail;

16  for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,

and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.

17  Therefore the Lord does not ^orejoice over their young men,

and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;

for everyone is ^pgodless and an evildoer,

and every mouth speaks ^qfolly.⁶

^jFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

18  For wickedness burns like ^ra fire;

it consumes briers and thorns;

it kindles the thickets of the forest,

and they roll upward in a column of smoke.

19  Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts

the land is scorched,

and ^sthe people are like fuel for the fire;

^tno one spares another.

20  ^uThey slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,

and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;

^veach devours the flesh of his own arm,

21  Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;

together they are ^wagainst Judah.

^xFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

10  Woe to those who ^ydecree iniquitous decrees,

and the writers who ^zkeep writing oppression,

2  to turn aside the needy from justice

and ^ato rob the poor of my people of their right,

that widows may be their spoil,

and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

3  What will you do on ^bthe day of punishment,

in the ruin that will come ^cfrom afar?

To whom will you flee for help,

and where will you leave your wealth?

4  Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners

or fall among the slain.

^dFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

5  Woe to Assyria, ^ethe rod of my anger;

the staff in their hands is my fury!

6  Against a ^fgodless nation I send him,

and against the people of my wrath I command him,

to take ^gspoil and seize plunder,

and to ^htread them down like the mire of the streets.

7  But he ⁱdoes not so intend,

and his heart does not so think;

but it is in his heart to destroy,

and to cut off nations not a few;

8  for he says:

^j“Are not my commanders all kings?

9  ^kIs not ^lCalno like ^mCarchemish?

Is not ⁿHamath like ^oArpad?

^pIs not ^qSamaria like Damascus?

10  As my hand has reached to ^rthe kingdoms of the idols,

whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

11  shall I not do to Jerusalem and ^sher idols

^tas I have done to Samaria and her images?”

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,

and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;

I remove the boundaries of peoples,

and plunder their treasures;

like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.

14  My hand has found like a nest

the wealth of the peoples;

and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,

so I have gathered all the earth;

and there was none that moved a wing

or opened the mouth or chirped.”

15  Shall ^xthe axe boast over him who hews with it,

or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?

As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,

or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!

16  Therefore the Lord God of hosts

will send wasting sickness among his ^ystout warriors,

and under his glory ^za burning will be kindled,

like the burning of fire.

17  ^aThe light of Israel will become a fire,

and ^bhis Holy One a flame,

and ^cit will burn and devour

his thorns and briers ^din one day.

18  The glory of ^ehis forest and of his ^ffruitful land

the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,

and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.

19  The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few

that a child can write them down.

28  He has come to Aiath;

he has passed through ^yMigron;

at Michmash he stores ^zhis baggage;

29  they have crossed over ^athe pass;

at ^bGeba they lodge for the night;

^cRamah trembles;

^dGibeah of Saul has fled.

30  Cry aloud, O daughter of ^eGallim!

Give attention, O Laishah!

O poor ^fAnathoth!

31  Madmenah is in flight;

the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.

32  This very day he will halt at ^gNob;

he will shake his fist

at the mount of ^hthe daughter of Zion,

the hill of Jerusalem.

33  Behold, the Lord God of hosts

ⁱwill lop ^jthe boughs with terrifying power;

the great in height will be hewn down,

and the lofty will be brought low.

34  He will cut down ^jthe thickets of the forest with an axe,

and ^kLebanon will fall by the Majestic One.

11  There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of ^lJesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

2  And ^mthe Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

3  And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

ⁿHe shall not judge by ^owhat his eyes see,

or decide disputes by ^owhat his ears hear,

4  but ^pwith righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall ^qstrike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and ^rwith the breath of his lips ^she shall kill the wicked.

5  Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

and ^tfaithfulness the belt of his loins.

6  ^uThe wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;

and a little child shall lead them.

7  The cow and the bear shall graze;

their young shall lie down together;

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8  The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,

and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.

9  ^uThey shall not hurt or destroy

in all ^vmy holy mountain;

^wfor the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

12  He will raise ^za signal for the nations

and will assemble ⁱthe banished of Israel,

and gather the dispersed of Judah

from the four corners of the earth.

13  ^jThe jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,

and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;

Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,

and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.

14  ^kBut they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,

and together they shall plunder ^lthe people of the east.

They shall put out their hand ^magainst ⁿEdom and ^oMoab,

and ^pthe Ammonites shall obey them.

15  And the Lord will utterly destroy²

^qthe tongue of the Sea of Egypt,

and will wave his hand over ^rthe River³

with his scorching breath,⁴

and strike it into seven channels,

and he will lead people across in sandals.

16  And there will be ^sa highway from Assyria

for the remnant that remains of his people,

^tas there was for Israel

when they came up from the land of Egypt.

12  You¹ will say ^uin that day:

“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,

for though you were angry with me,

^vyour anger turned away,

that you might comfort me.

2  “Behold, God is my salvation;

I will trust, and will not be afraid;

for ^wthe Lord God² is my strength and my song,

and he has become my salvation.”

^z“Give thanks to the Lord,

call upon his name,

^amake known his deeds among the peoples,

proclaim ^bthat his name is exalted.

5  ^c“Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;

let this be made known⁴ in all the earth.

6  Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,

for great ^din your⁵ midst is ^ethe Holy One of Israel.”

2  On a bare hill ^hraise a signal;

cry aloud to them;

wave the hand for ⁱthem to enter

the gates of the nobles.

3  I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,

and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,

my proudly exulting ones.¹

4  The sound ^jof a tumult is on the mountains

as of a great multitude!

The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,

of nations gathering together!

^kThe Lord of hosts is mustering

a host for battle.

5  ^lThey come from a distant land,

from the end of the heavens,

the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,

to destroy the whole land.²

6  ^mWail, for ⁿthe day of the Lord is near;

as destruction from the Almighty³ it will come!

7  Therefore all hands will be feeble,

and every human heart ^owill melt.

8  They will be dismayed:

^ppangs and agony will seize them;

^qthey will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

They will look aghast at one another;

their faces will be aflame.

9  Behold, ⁿthe day of the Lord comes,

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

to make the land a desolation

and ^rto destroy its sinners from it.

10  ^sFor the stars of the heavens and their constellations

will not give their light;

^tthe sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light.

11  I will punish ^uthe world for its evil,

and the wicked for their iniquity;

I will ^vput an end to the pomp of the arrogant,

^wand lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

12  I will make ^xpeople more rare than fine gold,

and mankind than the ^ygold of Ophir.

13  Therefore ^zI will make the heavens tremble,

and the earth will be shaken out of its place,

at the wrath of the Lord of hosts

in the day of his fierce anger.

14  And like a hunted gazelle,

or like sheep with none to gather them,

^aeach will turn to his own people,

and each will flee to his own land.

15  Whoever is found will be thrust through,

and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

16  ^bTheir infants will be dashed in pieces

before their eyes;

their houses will be plundered

and their wives ravished.

17  Behold, ^cI am stirring up the Medes against them,

who have no regard for silver

and do not delight in gold.

18  ^dTheir bows will slaughter⁴ the young men;

they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

their eyes will not pity children.

19  And Babylon, ^ethe glory of kingdoms,

the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,

will be ^flike Sodom and Gomorrah

when God overthrew them.

20  ^gIt will never be inhabited

or lived in for all generations;

no ^hArab will pitch his tent there;

no ⁱshepherds will make their flocks lie down there.

21  But ^jwild animals will lie down there,

and their houses will be full of howling creatures;

there ^kostriches⁵ will dwell,

and there wild goats will dance.

22  Hyenas⁶ will cry in its towers,

and ^ljackals in ^mthe pleasant palaces;

its time is close at hand

and its days will not be prolonged.