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The Righteous Reign of the Coming King

9^*But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
^{2 *}The people who walked in darkness
   have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
   on them light has shined.
³ You have multiplied the nation,
   you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
   as with joy at the harvest,
   as people exult when dividing plunder.
⁴ For the yoke of their burden,
   and the bar across their shoulders,
   the rod of their oppressor,
   you have broken as on the day of Midian.
⁵ For all the boots of the tramping warriors
   and all the garments rolled in blood
   shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
⁶ For a child has been born for us,
   a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
   and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ His authority shall grow continually,
   and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
   He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
   from this time onwards and for evermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Judgement on Arrogance and Oppression

⁸ The Lord sent a word against Jacob,
   and it fell on Israel;
⁹ and all the people knew it—
   Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—
   but in pride and arrogance of heart they said:
¹⁰ ‘The bricks have fallen,
   but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycomores have been cut down,
   but we will put cedars in their place.’
¹¹ So the Lord raised adversaries^* against them,
   and stirred up their enemies,
¹² the Arameans in the east and the Philistines in the west,
   and they devoured Israel with open mouth.
For all this, his anger has not turned away;
   his hand is stretched out still.

¹³ The people did not turn to him who struck them,
   or seek the Lord of hosts.
¹⁴ So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail,
   palm branch and reed in one day—
¹⁵ elders and dignitaries are the head,
   and prophets who teach lies are the tail;
¹⁶ for those who led this people led them astray,
   and those who were led by them were left in confusion.
¹⁷ That is why the Lord did not have pity on^* their young people,
   or compassion on their orphans and widows;
for everyone was godless and an evildoer,
   and every mouth spoke folly.
For all this, his anger has not turned away;
   his hand is stretched out still.

¹⁸ For wickedness burned like a fire,
   consuming briers and thorns;
it kindled the thickets of the forest,
   and they swirled upwards in a column of smoke.
¹⁹ Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
   the land was burned,
and the people became like fuel for the fire;
   no one spared another.
²⁰ They gorged on the right, but still were hungry,
   and they devoured on the left, but were not satisfied;
they devoured the flesh of their own kindred;^*
21 Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
   and together they were against Judah.
For all this, his anger has not turned away;
   his hand is stretched out still.

10Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees,
   who write oppressive statutes,
² to turn aside the needy from justice
   and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be your spoil,
   and that you may make the orphans your prey!
³ What will you do on the day of punishment,
   in the calamity that will come from far away?
To whom will you flee for help,
   and where will you leave your wealth,
⁴ so as not to crouch among the prisoners
   or fall among the slain?
For all this, his anger has not turned away;
   his hand is stretched out still.

Arrogant Assyria Also Judged

⁵ Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger—
   the club 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 this is not what he intends,
   nor does he have this in mind;
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 images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
¹¹ shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols
   what I have done to Samaria and her images?’

12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he^* will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride. ¹³For he says:
‘By the strength of my hand I have done it,
   and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I have removed the boundaries of peoples,
   and have plundered their treasures;
   like a bull I have brought down those who sat 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 its mouth, or chirped.’

¹⁵ Shall the axe vaunt itself over the one who wields it,
   or the saw magnify itself against the one who handles it?
As if a rod should raise the one who lifts it up,
   or as if a staff should lift the one who is not wood!
¹⁶ Therefore the Sovereign, the Lord 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 his fruitful land
   the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
   and it will be as when an invalid wastes away.
¹⁹ The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
   that a child can write them down.

The Repentant Remnant of Israel

20 On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on the one who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ²¹A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. ²²For though your people Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. ²³For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in all the earth.^*

24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: O my people, who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they beat you with a rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. ²⁵For in a very little while my indignation will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. ²⁶The Lord of hosts will wield a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. ²⁷On that day his burden will be removed from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck.

He has gone up from Rimmon,^*
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 Gallim!
   Listen, O Laishah!
   Answer her, O Anathoth!
³¹ Madmenah is in flight,
   the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
³² This very day he will halt at Nob,
   he will shake his fist
   at the mount of daughter Zion,
   the hill of Jerusalem.

³³ Look, the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,
   will lop the boughs with terrifying power;
the tallest trees will be cut down,
   and the lofty will be brought low.
³⁴ He will hack down the thickets of the forest with an axe,
   and Lebanon with its majestic trees^* will fall.

The Peaceful Kingdom

11A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
   and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
² The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
   the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
   the spirit of counsel and might,
   the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
³ His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
   or decide by what his ears hear;
⁴ but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
   and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
   and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
   and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

⁶ The wolf shall live with the lamb,
   the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling 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 asp,
   and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
⁹ They will not hurt or destroy
   on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
   as the waters cover the sea.

Return of the Remnant of Israel and Judah

10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

11 On that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia,^* from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.
¹² He will raise a signal for the nations,
   and will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
   from the four corners of the earth.
¹³ The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,
   the hostility of Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
   and Judah shall not be hostile towards Ephraim.
¹⁴ But they shall swoop down on the backs of the Philistines in the west;
   together they shall plunder the people of the east.
They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab,
   and the Ammonites shall obey them.
¹⁵ And the Lord will utterly destroy
   the tongue of the sea of Egypt;
and will wave his hand over the River
   with his scorching wind;
and will split it into seven channels,
   and make a way to cross on foot;
¹⁶ so there shall be a highway from Assyria
   for the remnant that is left of his people,
as there was for Israel
   when they came up from the land of Egypt.