2  ^{3 w}The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,

on them has light shone.

3  ^xYou have multiplied the nation;

you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

as with joy at the harvest,

as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

4  For the ^yyoke of his burden,

and the staff for his shoulder,

the rod of his oppressor,

you have broken ^zas on the day of Midian.

5  For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult

and every garment rolled in blood

will be burned as fuel for the fire.

6  For ^ato us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon⁴ his shoulder,

and his name shall be called⁵

^bWonderful Counselor, ^cMighty God,

Everlasting ^dFather, Prince of ^ePeace.

7  Of the increase of his government and of peace

^fthere will be no end,

on the ^gthrone of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with ^hjustice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

ⁱThe 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,

Ephraim 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  The Syrians on the east and the 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 did not turn to him who struck them,

nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.

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

palm branch and reed in one day—

15  the elder and honored man is the head,

and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail;

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

and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.

17  Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men,

and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;

for everyone is godless and an evildoer,

and every mouth speaks folly.⁶

For all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

18  For wickedness burns like a 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 the people are like fuel for the fire;

no one spares another.

20  They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,

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

each devours the flesh of his own arm,

21  Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;

together they are ^magainst Judah.

For all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

10  Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees,

and the writers who keep writing oppression,

2  to turn aside the needy from justice

and to 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 the day of punishment,

in the ruin that will come from 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.

ⁿFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

5  Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;

the staff in their hands is my fury!

6  Against a godless nation I send him,

and against the people of my wrath I command him,

to take spoil and seize plunder,

and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

7  But he does 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:

“Are not my commanders all kings?

9  Is not Calno like Carchemish?

Is not Hamath like Arpad?

Is not Samaria like Damascus?

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

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

11  shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols

as 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  ^oShall the 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 stout warriors,

and under his glory a burning will be kindled,

like the burning of fire.

17  The light of Israel will become a fire,

and his Holy One a flame,

and it will burn and devour

his thorns and briers in one day.

18  The glory of his forest and of his fruitful 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 Migron;

at Michmash he stores his baggage;

29  they have crossed over the pass;

at Geba they lodge for the night;

Ramah trembles;

Gibeah of Saul has fled.

30  Cry aloud, O daughter of Gallim!

Give attention, O Laishah!

O poor Anathoth!

31  Madmenah is in flight;

the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.

32  This very day he will halt at ^aNob;

he will shake his fist

at the mount of the daughter of Zion,

the hill of Jerusalem.

33  Behold, the Lord God of hosts

will lop the boughs with terrifying power;

the great in height will be hewn down,

and the lofty will be brought low.

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

and Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.

11  ^bThere shall come forth a shoot from the stump of ^cJesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

2  And ^dthe 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.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

4  but ^ewith righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and ^fwith the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

5  Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

6  ^gThe 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  They shall not hurt or destroy

in all my ^hholy mountain;

for ⁱthe earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

12  He will ⁿraise a signal for the nations

and will ^oassemble the banished of Israel,

and ^pgather the dispersed of Judah

from the four corners of the earth.

13  The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,

and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;

^qEphraim shall not be jealous of Judah,

and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.

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

and together they shall plunder the people of the east.

They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab,

and the Ammonites shall obey them.

15  And the Lord will utterly destroy²

the tongue of the Sea of Egypt,

and will ^rwave his hand over the River³

with his scorching breath,⁴

and strike it into seven channels,

^sand he will lead people across in sandals.

16  And there will be a ^thighway from Assyria

for the remnant that remains of his people,

as there was for Israel

when they came up from the land of Egypt.

12  You¹ will say in that day:

“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,

for though you were angry with me,

^uyour anger turned away,

that you might ^vcomfort me.

2  “Behold, God is my salvation;

I will ^wtrust, and will not be afraid;

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

and he has become my salvation.”

^z“Give thanks to the Lord,

call upon his name,

make known his deeds among the peoples,

proclaim that his name is exalted.

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

let this be made known⁴ in all the earth.

6  ^bShout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,

for great in your⁵ midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

2  On a bare hill raise a signal;

cry aloud to them;

wave the hand for them 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 of a tumult is on the mountains

as of a great multitude!

The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,

of nations gathering together!

The Lord of hosts is mustering

a host for battle.

5  They 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  ^eWail, ^ffor the 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 will melt.

8  They will be dismayed:

^gpangs and agony will seize them;

they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

They will look aghast at one another;

their faces will be aflame.

9  Behold, the day of the Lord comes,

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

to make the land a desolation

and to destroy its sinners from it.

10  For the stars of the heavens and their constellations

^hwill not give their light;

the sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light.

11  I will ⁱpunish the world for its evil,

and the wicked for their iniquity;

I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,

and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

12  I will make people more rare than fine gold,

and mankind than the gold of ^jOphir.

13  Therefore I will make the ^kheavens 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,

^leach 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  Their infants will be ^mdashed in pieces

before their eyes;

their houses will be plundered

and their wives ravished.

17  Behold, I am stirring up the ⁿMedes against them,

who have no regard for silver

and do not delight in gold.

18  Their 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, the glory of kingdoms,

the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,

will be ^olike Sodom and Gomorrah

^pwhen God overthrew them.

20  It will never be inhabited

or lived in for all generations;

no Arab will pitch his tent there;

no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.

21  But ^qwild animals will lie down there,

and their houses will be full of howling creatures;

there ostriches⁵ will dwell,

and there wild goats will dance.

22  Hyenas⁶ will cry in its towers,

and jackals in the pleasant palaces;

its time is close at hand

and its days will not be prolonged.