| New King James Version | New Living Translation |
| 1Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, As when at first He lightly esteemed The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, And afterward more heavily oppressed her, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of the Gentiles. | 1 Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory. |
| 2The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined. | 2 The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. |
| 3You have multiplied the nation And increased its joy; They rejoice before You According to the joy of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. | 3You will enlarge the nation of Israel, and its people will rejoice. They will rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest and like warriors dividing the plunder. |
| 4For You have broken the yoke of his burden And the staff of his shoulder, The rod of his oppressor, As in the day of Midian. | 4For you will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders. You will break the oppressor’s rod, just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian. |
| 5For every warrior’s sandal from the noisy battle, And garments rolled in blood, Will be used for burning and fuel of fire. | 5The boots of the warrior and the uniforms bloodstained by war will all be burned. They will be fuel for the fire. |
| 6For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. | 6For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. |
| 7Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. | 7His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen! The LORD’s Anger against Israel |
| 8The Lord sent a word against Jacob, And it has fallen on Israel. | 8The Lord has spoken out against Jacob; his judgment has fallen upon Israel. |
| 9All the people will know— Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria— Who say in pride and arrogance of heart: | 9And the people of Israel and Samaria, who spoke with such pride and arrogance, will soon know it. |
| 10“The bricks have fallen down, But we will rebuild with hewn stones; The sycamores are cut down, But we will replace them with cedars.” | 10They said, “We will replace the broken bricks of our ruins with finished stone, and replant the felled sycamore-fig trees with cedars.” |
| 11Therefore the LORD shall set up The adversaries of Rezin against him, And spur his enemies on, | 11But the LORD will bring Rezin’s enemies against Israel and stir up all their foes. |
| 12The Syrians before and the Philistines behind; And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still. | 12The Syrians from the east and the Philistines from the west will bare their fangs and devour Israel. But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike. |
| 13For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them, Nor do they seek the LORD of hosts. | 13For after all this punishment, the people will still not repent. They will not seek the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. |
| 14Therefore the LORD will cut off head and tail from Israel, Palm branch and bulrush in one day. | 14Therefore, in a single day the LORD will destroy both the head and the tail, the noble palm branch and the lowly reed. |
| 15The elder and honorable, he is the head; The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail. | 15The leaders of Israel are the head, and the lying prophets are the tail. |
| 16For the leaders of this people cause them to err, And those who are led by them are destroyed. | 16For the leaders of the people have misled them. They have led them down the path of destruction. |
| 17Therefore the Lord will have no joy in their young men, Nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows; For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, And every mouth speaks folly. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still. | 17That is why the Lord takes no pleasure in the young men and shows no mercy even to the widows and orphans. For they are all wicked hypocrites, and they all speak foolishness. But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike. |
| 18For wickedness burns as the fire; It shall devour the briers and thorns, And kindle in the thickets of the forest; They shall mount up like rising smoke. | 18This wickedness is like a brushfire. It burns not only briers and thorns but also sets the forests ablaze. Its burning sends up clouds of smoke. |
| 19Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts The land is burned up, And the people shall be as fuel for the fire; No man shall spare his brother. | 19The land will be blackened by the fury of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. The people will be fuel for the fire, and no one will spare even his own brother. |
| 20And he shall snatch on the right hand And be hungry; He shall devour on the left hand And not be satisfied; Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm. | 20They will attack their neighbor on the right but will still be hungry. They will devour their neighbor on the left but will not be satisfied. In the end they will even eat their own children. |
| 21Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; Together they shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still. | 21Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, Ephraim will feed on Manasseh, and both will devour Judah. But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike. |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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