HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 981
ISAIAH 9
page 611
until it is chin deep. It will spread its wings, submerging your land from one end to the other,
O Immanuel.
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“Huddle together, you nations, and
be terrified.
Listen, all you distant lands.
Prepare for battle, but you will be crushed!
Yes, prepare for battle, but you will
be crushed!
Call your councils of war, but they will be
worthless.
Develop your strategies, but they will
not succeed.
For God is with us!*”
A Call to Trust the LORD
11 The Lord has given me a strong warning not
to think like everyone else does. He said,
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“Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like
they do,
and don’t live in dread of what frightens
them.
Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in
your life.
He is the one you should fear.
He is the one who should make you
tremble.
He will keep you safe.
But to Israel and Judah
he will be a stone that makes people
stumble,
a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem
he will be a trap and a snare.
Many will stumble and fall,
never to rise again.
They will be snared and captured.”
Preserve the teaching of God;
entrust his instructions to those who
follow me.
I will wait for the Lord,
who has turned away from the
descendants of Jacob.
I will put my hope in him.
18 I and the children the Lord has given me
serve as signs and warnings to Israel from the
Lord of Heaven’s Armies who dwells in his
Temple on Mount Zion.
19 Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the
mediums and those who consult the spirits of
the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t
people ask God for guidance? Should the living
seek guidance from the dead?
20 Look to God’s instructions and teachings!
8:10 Hebrew Immanuel! 9:1 Verse 9:1 is numbered 8:23
in Hebrew text. 9:2a Verses 9:2-21 are numbered 9:1-20 in
Hebrew text. 9:2b Greek version reads a land where death
casts its shadow. Compare Matt 4:16. 9:6 Or Wonderful,
Counselor.
People who contradict his word are completely
in the dark. 21 They will go from one place to
another, weary and hungry. And because they
are hungry, they will rage and curse their king
and their God. They will look up to heaven 22 and
down at the earth, but wherever they look, there
will be trouble and anguish and dark despair.
They will be thrown out into the darkness.
Hope in the Messiah
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.
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2*The
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people who walk in darkness
will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep
darkness,*
a light will shine.
You 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.
For 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.
The boots of the warrior
and the uniforms bloodstained by war
will all be burned.
They will be fuel for the fire.
For 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.
His government and its peace
will never end.
• Bible
I S A I A H 8:16
“Preserve the teaching of God; entrust his
instructions . . .” This is God’s command
concerning his Word. To each generation
comes the privilege and responsibility
to read, understand, and apply God’s
Word—and pass it on. What can you do
to strengthen the links in this chain of
God’s blessing into the future?