¹For it will not be faint, as regards the land's straitness, as on the first occasion when he brought the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali into contempt, and later made it more grievous, on the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles.

²The people who walked in darkness

Have seen a great light,

And on those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death

A light has shone.”

³You have multiplied the nation,

You have increased its joy;

They rejoice before you

As they do with joy at harvest time,

Or as when they delight

As they share the spoil.

⁴For you have broken their burdensome yoke

And their shoulder bar

– The rod which was used to drive them on –

As on the day of Midian.

⁵For every boot treading in the tumult

And shirt rolled in blood

Will be fit for burning,

As fuel for fire.

⁶For a child is to be born for us,

A son is to be given to us,

And he will shoulder government,

And he will be called Wonderful, Counsellor,

Mighty God, Father of Perpetuity,

Prince of Peace.

⁷There will be no end to the great extent of government,

Or to peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

In setting it up and in perpetuating it in justice and in righteousness,

From that time and age-abidingly.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

⁸The Lord^* sent a word through Jacob,

And it alighted on Israel.

⁹And the entire people will know

– Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria –

Those who in the arrogance

And haughtiness of their heart said,

¹⁰“The bricks have fallen,

But we will build with hewn stone;

The sycamores have been cut down,

But we will replace them with cedars.”

¹¹But the Lord will strengthen the adversarial forces of Rezin against the people,

And he will incite their enemies –

¹²Aramaea from the east

And the Philistines from the west –

And they will consume Israel with a voracious appetite.

Yet for all this, his anger will not recede,

And his hand will still be stretched out.

¹³But the people are not returning

To him who is striking them,

And they have not sought the Lord of hosts.

¹⁴And the Lord will cut off from Israel

Head and tail,

Palm-branch and bulrush,

In one day.

¹⁵The elder and dignitary

Is who the head is,

And the prophet who teaches lies

Is who the tail is.

¹⁶And those guiding this people

Have led it astray,

And those guided by them

Have been swallowed up.

¹⁷This is why the Lord^* will not rejoice over their young men

And will not have compassion on their orphans and their widows,

For they are all profane and wrongdoing,

And every mouth speaks foolishness.

Despite all this, his anger will not recede,

And his hand will still be stretched out.

¹⁸For wickedness burns like fire;

It consumes briars and thorns,

And it kindles fire in the thickets of the forest,

And they will swell up

Like the billowing of smoke.

¹⁹In the wrath of the Lord of hosts,

The land will be burned,

And the people will be like fuel for the fire.

A man will not spare his brother.

²⁰And he will divide a portion on the right hand side,

Yet be hungry,

And eat on the left hand side.

But they will not be satisfied.

Each will eat the flesh of his own arm.

²¹Manasseh will eat Ephraim,

And Ephraim Manasseh.

Together they will be against Judah.

Despite all this, his anger will not recede,

And his hand will still be stretched out.

Reference(s) in Chapter 9: v.1 ↔ Matthew 4:15 ● v.2 ↔ Matthew 4:16 ● v.6 ↔ Luke 2:11.