UST GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR EZRA NEH EST JOB PSA PROV ECC SNG ISA JER LAM EZE DAN HOS JOEL AMOS OBA YNA MIC NAH HAB ZEP HAG ZEC MAL MAT MARK LUKE YHN ACTs ROM 1 COR 2 COR GAL EPH PHP COL 1 TH 2 TH 1 TIM 2 TIM TIT PHM HEB YAC 1 PET 2 PET 1 YHN 2 YHN 3 YHN YUD REV

ISA C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31 C32 C33 C34 C35 C36 C37 C38 C39 C40 C41 C42 C43 C44 C45 C46 C47 C48 C49 C50 C51 C52 C53 C54 C55 C56 C57 C58 C59 C60 C61 C62 C63 C64 C65 C66

UST ISA Chapter 9

◄ ISA 9 ► ║ ═ ©

9 However, the people who have been suffering will not continue to suffer. Previously, Yahweh made the people experience great difficulties who lived in the kingdom of Israel, such as in the territories of Zebulun and Naphtali. But in the future, he will make the situation much better for the people of that kingdom, such as those who live along the road to the sea and in the Galilee region east of the Jordan River, where many foreigners live.

2 Yahweh will make life much better for those people who were experiencing such distress.

Yes, he will make life better for those who were living in a land where there was much trouble.

3 Yahweh, you will cause the nation to grow larger,

and you will cause its people to be very happy.

They will rejoice in your presence as people do when they harvest their crops,

or as soldiers celebrate when they divide among themselves the things that they have captured in battle.

4 The people will be happy because you will free them from carrying heavy loads,

and because you will free them from the power of those who have been oppressing them,

just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.

5 Then people will burn as fuel for their cooking fires

all the boots that the soldiers were wearing as they marched along

and all of their garments that got blood stains on them.

6 We will also rejoice because God will give us a special child.

A woman will give birth to a son who will be our ruler.

People will call him “Wonderful Counselor,” “Mighty God,”

“Everlasting Father,” and “Prince of Peace.”

7 He will continually rule over more territory, and he will make things go well for his people.

He will rule as King David did over his kingdom.

He will make it strong and lasting

by continually doing what is fair and right.

Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies,

will make this happen because he very much wants it to happen.

8 The Lord sent a warning to the descendants of Jacob,

and those Israelites heard it.

9-10 9-10The people of the northern kingdom of Israel,

including those who lived in the city of Samaria,

knew what he said.

But they were very proud and arrogant.

They said, “If our enemies knock down our brick buildings,

we will build new buildings from stone blocks.

If they destroy the houses we built from sycamore wood,

we will build new ones from cedar wood.”

11 Yahweh influenced the enemies of Rezin to attack his ally, Israel.

Yahweh influenced other foreign kingdoms to attack Israel as well.

12 In fact, the army of Aram, Israel’s former ally, attacked from the east,

and the army of Philistia attacked from the west.

They conquered Israel as if they had been an animal that was gobbling up its prey.

Even so, Yahweh continues to be very angry,

and he is ready to use his power to punish his people further.

13 Even though Yahweh punished the people like that, they still would not worship him.

They still did not ask Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, to help them.

14 Therefore, all at once Yahweh will destroy people in Israel of every kind,

from the important people who are like stately palm trees

to less important people who are like marsh reeds that sway in the wind.

15 The important ones are the elders and others whom people honor.

The least important ones are the false prophets.

16 The leaders of the people are telling them to do the wrong things.

As a result, the people they are leading are suffering greatly.

17 The people do not respect God, and so they do wrong things,

and they say it is acceptable to do those things.

Because of that, the Lord does not help the Israelite soldiers win battles,

and he does not even act mercifully toward widows and orphans.

Even so, Yahweh continues to be very angry,

and he is ready to use his power to punish his people further.

18 The wicked behavior of the people is spreading as if it were a wildfire,

as if it were burning up briars and thorns and then starting a great fire in the forests,

from which a great cloud of smoke was rising.

19 Because Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, is extremely angry,

he is allowing enemies to devastate the land as if they were burning it up.

The people are like fuel for a great fire.

It is as if no one is trying to rescue even his own brother from that fire.

20 Foreign armies have invaded the country from the east and from the west,

and no matter how many things they destroy, they keep destroying more things.

Israelites are even attacking and killing their own kinsmen.

21 People from Manasseh attack people from Ephraim,

and people from Ephraim attack people from Manasseh.

Meanwhile, soldiers from both tribes are attacking the people of Judah.

Even so, Yahweh continues to be very angry,

and he is ready to use his power to punish his people further.