2[†]The people who walk in darkness

Will see a great light;

Those who live in the land of the shadow of death,

The light will shine on them.

3You shall multiply the nation,

You shall [†]make great [†]their gladness;

They will be glad in Your presence

As with the gladness [†]of harvest,

As [†]men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

4For You shall shatter the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,

The rod of their taskmaster, as [†]at the battle of Midian.

5For every boot of the booted warrior in the rumbling of battle,

And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.

6For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;

And the government will [†]rest on His shoulders;

And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

7There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,

On the throne of David and over his kingdom,

To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness

From then on and forevermore.

The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will accomplish this.

Yahweh’s Anger with Israel’s Arrogance

8The Lord sends a [†]message against Jacob,

And it falls on Israel.

9And all the people know it,

That is, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,

Saying in lofty pride and in arrogance of heart:

10“The bricks have fallen down,

But we will rebuild with cut stones;

The sycamores have been cut in pieces,

But we will replace them with cedars.”

11Therefore Yahweh exalts against them adversaries from Rezin

And incites their enemies,

12The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west;

And they devour Israel with [†]gaping jaws.

In spite of all this, His anger does not turn back,

And His hand is still stretched out.

13Yet the people do not turn back to Him who struck them,

Nor do they seek Yahweh of hosts.

14So Yahweh cuts off head and tail from Israel,

Both palm branch and bulrush in a single day.

15The head is the elder and the [†]highly respected man,

And the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail.

16For those who guide this people are leading them astray;

And those who are guided by them are [†]brought to confusion.

17Therefore the Lord is not glad in their choice men,

Nor does He have compassion on their [†]orphans or their widows;

For every one of them is godless and an evildoer,

And every mouth is speaking wicked foolishness.

In spite of all this, His anger does not turn back,

And His hand is still stretched out.

18For wickedness burns like a fire;

It consumes briars and thorns;

It even sets the thickets of the forest aflame,

And they roll upward in a column of smoke.

19By the fury of Yahweh of hosts the land is burned up,

And the people are like fuel for the fire;

No man spares his brother.

20[†]They slice off what is on the right hand but still are hungry,

And [†]they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied;

Each of them eats the flesh of his own arm.

21Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,

And together they are against Judah.

In spite of all this, His anger does not turn back,

And His hand is still stretched out.