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.

1  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.

1  O Lord, ^jyou are my God;

^kI will exalt you; I will praise your name,

for you have done wonderful things,

^lplans formed of old, faithful and sure.

2  For you have made the city ^ma heap,

the fortified city a ruin;

the foreigners’ palace is a city no more;

it will never be rebuilt.

3  ⁿTherefore strong peoples will glorify you;

cities of ruthless nations will fear you.

4  ^oFor you have been a stronghold to the poor,

a stronghold to the needy in his distress,

^pa shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;

^qfor the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,

5  ^rlike heat in a dry place.

You subdue the noise of the foreigners;

as heat by the shade of a cloud,

so the song of the ruthless is put down.

6  ^sOn this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,

^tof rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

7  And he will swallow up ^son this mountain

the covering that is cast over all peoples,

^uthe veil that is spread over all nations.

8  ^vHe will swallow up death forever;

and ^wthe Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,

and ^xthe reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,

^yfor the Lord has spoken.

9  It will be said on that day,

“Behold, this is our God; ^zwe have waited for him, that he might save us.

This is the Lord; we have waited for him;

^alet us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

10  For the hand of the Lord will rest ^son this mountain,

and ^bMoab shall be trampled down in his place,

as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.¹

11  ^cAnd he will spread out his hands in the midst of it

as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,

but the Lord ^dwill lay low his pompous pride together with the skill² of his hands.

12  And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down,

lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.

“We have a strong city;

he sets up ^fsalvation

as walls and bulwarks.

2  ^gOpen the gates,

that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.

3  ^hYou keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on you,

because he trusts in you.

4  Trust in the Lord forever,

for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

5  ⁱFor he has humbled

the inhabitants of the height,

the lofty city.

He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,

casts it to the dust.

6  The foot tramples it,

the feet of ^jthe poor,

the steps of ^jthe needy.”

7  The path of the righteous is level;

^kyou make level the way of the righteous.

8  In the path of your judgments,

O Lord, we wait for you;

^lyour name and ^lremembrance

are the desire of our soul.

9  My soul yearns for you in the night;

my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.

^mFor when your judgments are in the earth,

the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

10  ⁿIf favor is shown to the wicked,

he does not learn righteousness;

in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly

and does not see the majesty of the Lord.

11  O Lord, ^oyour hand is lifted up,

but ^pthey do not see it.

Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.

Let ^qthe fire for your adversaries consume them.

12  O Lord, you will ordain ^rpeace for us,

for you have indeed done for us all our works.

13  O Lord our God,

^sother lords besides you have ruled over us,

^tbut your name alone we bring to remembrance.

14  They are dead, they will not live;

they are shades, they will not arise;

to that end you have visited them with destruction

and wiped out all remembrance of them.

15  ^uBut you have increased the nation, O Lord,

you have increased the nation; you are glorified;

^vyou have enlarged all the borders of the land.

16  O Lord, ^win distress they sought you;

they poured out a whispered prayer

when your discipline was upon them.

17  ^xLike a pregnant woman

who writhes and cries out in her pangs

when she is near to giving birth,

so were we because of you, O Lord;

18  ^xwe were pregnant, we writhed,

but we have given birth to wind.

We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,

and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.

19  ^yYour dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.

You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!

For ^zyour dew is a dew of light,

and the earth will give birth to the dead.

20  Come, my people, enter your chambers,

and shut your doors behind you;

hide yourselves ^afor a little while

until the fury has passed by.

21  ^bFor behold, the Lord is coming out from his place

to punish the inhabitants of ^cthe earth for their iniquity,

and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,

and will no more cover its slain.

1  ^tThe wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;

^uthe desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;

2  it shall blossom abundantly

and rejoice with joy and singing.

^vThe glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

the majesty of ^wCarmel and ^xSharon.

^yThey shall see the glory of the Lord,

the majesty of our God.

3  ^zStrengthen the weak hands,

and make firm the feeble knees.

4  Say to those who have an anxious heart,

“Be strong; fear not!

^aBehold, your God

will come with vengeance,

with the recompense of God.

He will come and save you.”

5  ^bThen the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

6  ^bthen shall the lame man leap like a deer,

and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

^cFor waters break forth in the wilderness,

and streams in the desert;

7  ^dthe burning sand shall become a pool,

and the thirsty ground springs of water;

in the haunt of ^ejackals, where they lie down,

the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

8  ^fAnd a highway shall be there,

and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;

^gthe unclean shall not pass over it.

It shall belong to those who walk on the way;

even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.¹

9  No lion shall be there,

nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;

they shall not be found there,

but the redeemed shall walk there.

10  ^hAnd the ransomed of the Lord shall return

and come to Zion with singing;

ⁱeverlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

they shall obtain gladness and joy,

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

1  ^gI was ready to be sought by ^hthose who did not ask for me;

I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.

I said, “Here I am, here I am,”

to a nation that was not called by¹ my name.

2  ⁱI spread out my hands all the day

to a rebellious people,

who walk in a way that is not good,

following their own devices;

3  a people who provoke me

to my face continually,

^jsacrificing in gardens

and making offerings on bricks;

4  who sit in tombs,

and spend the night in secret places;

^kwho eat pig’s flesh,

and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;

5  who say, “Keep to yourself,

do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”

^lThese are a smoke in my nostrils,

a fire that burns all the day.

6  Behold, ^mit is written before me:

ⁿ“I will not keep silent, but I will repay;

^oI will indeed repay into their lap

7  both your iniquities ^pand your fathers’ iniquities together,

says the Lord;

^qbecause they made offerings on the mountains

^qand insulted me on the hills,

I will measure into their lap

payment for their former deeds.”²

8  Thus says the Lord:

^r“As the new wine is found in the cluster,

and they say, ‘Do not destroy it,

for there is a blessing in it,’

so I will do for my servants’ sake,

^sand not destroy them all.

9  ^tI will bring forth offspring from Jacob,

and from Judah possessors of my mountains;

my chosen shall possess it,

and my servants shall dwell there.

10  ^uSharon shall become a pasture for flocks,

and ^vthe Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,

for my people ^wwho have sought me.

11  But ^xyou who forsake the Lord,

who forget ^ymy holy mountain,

who ^zset a table for Fortune

and ^zfill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,

12  I will destine you to the sword,

and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,

^abecause, when I called, you did not answer;

when I spoke, you did not listen,

^bbut you did what was evil in my eyes

and chose what I did not delight in.”

13  Therefore thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, ^cmy servants shall eat,

but you shall be hungry;

behold, my servants shall drink,

but you shall be thirsty;

behold, my servants shall rejoice,

but you shall be put to shame;

14  behold, ^dmy servants shall sing for gladness of heart,

but you shall cry out for pain of heart

and shall wail for breaking of spirit.

15  You shall leave your name to ^emy chosen ^ffor a curse,

and the Lord God will put you to death,

but his servants ^ghe will call by another name,

16  so that he who ^hblesses himself in the land

shall bless himself by ^hthe God of truth,

and he who takes an oath in the land

shall swear by ⁱthe God of truth;

^jbecause the former troubles are forgotten

and are hidden from my eyes.

17  “For behold, ^kI create new heavens

and a new earth,

and the former things shall not be remembered

or come into mind.

18  But be glad and rejoice forever

in that which I create;

for behold, ^lI create Jerusalem to be a joy,

and her people to be a gladness.

19  ^mI will rejoice in Jerusalem

and be glad in my people;

ⁿno more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping

and the cry of distress.

20  No more shall there be in it

an infant who lives but a few days,

or an old man who does not fill out his days,

for ^othe young man shall die a hundred years old,

and ^pthe sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.

21  ^qThey shall build houses and inhabit them;

they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

22  ^qThey shall not build and another inhabit;

they shall not plant and another eat;

^rfor like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,

and my chosen shall long enjoy³ the work of their hands.

23  ^sThey shall not labor in vain

^tor bear children for calamity,⁴

for ^uthey shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,

and their descendants with them.

24  ^vBefore they call I will answer;

^wwhile they are yet speaking I will hear.

25  ^xThe wolf and the lamb shall graze together;

the lion shall eat straw like the ox,

and ^ydust shall be the serpent’s food.

^zThey shall not hurt or destroy

in all my holy mountain,”

says the Lord.

1  ^aThus says the Lord:

^b“Heaven is my throne,

and the earth is my footstool;

what is the house that you would build for me,

and what is the place of my rest?

2  ^cAll these things my hand has made,

and so all these things came to be,

declares the Lord.

^dBut this is the one to whom I will look:

he who is humble and contrite in spirit

and trembles at my word.

3  ^e“He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man;

he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck;

he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers ^fpig’s blood;

he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol.

^gThese have chosen their own ways,

and their soul delights in their abominations;

4  ^hI also will choose harsh treatment for them

and bring ⁱtheir fears upon them,

^jbecause when I called, no one answered,

when I spoke, they did not listen;

^kbut they did what was evil in my eyes

and chose that in which I did not delight.”

5  Hear the word of the Lord,

you who tremble at his word:

“Your brothers who hate you

and cast you out for my name’s sake

have said, ^l‘Let the Lord be glorified,

that we may see your joy’;

but it is they who shall be put to shame.

6  “The sound of an uproar from the city!