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.

1  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.