First light over the Sea of Galilee: silver water, mist lying in the valleys of the green hills around it, a small fishing village on the shore far below.

Immanuel

Isaiah 9

Galilee was the first land to fall to Assyria, about 732 BC. Have you lived in a darkness you thought would never lift?

21 verses≈ 4 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of JesseChapter 9
13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restored
56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

Unto Us a Child Is Born

Isaiah

Isaiah

Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those in distress. In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future He will honor the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations:

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Isaiah

Isaiah

You have enlarged the nation

and increased its joy.

The people rejoice before You

as they rejoice at harvest time,

as men rejoice in dividing the plunder.

Isaiah

Morning on a dusty Judean road: a wooden yoke of two thick bars joined by leather straps lying broken in two on the ground, the straps snapped, terraced hills behind.

For as in the day of Midian

You have shattered the yoke of their burden,

the bar across their shoulders,

and the rod of their oppressor.

Isaiah

Isaiah

For every trampling boot of battle

and every garment rolled in blood

will be burned as fuel for the fire.

Isaiah

For unto us a child is born,

unto us a son is given,

and the government will be upon His shoulders.

And He will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Isaiah

Morning on the old City of David: the narrow ridge with a royal palace of cut stone and the temple above it, terraces falling to the Kidron valley, light on the stone.

Of the increase of His government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on the throne of David

and over his kingdom,

to establish and sustain it

with justice and righteousness

from that time and forevermore.

The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

Question

Quick question

Matthew quotes 9:1–2 when Jesus begins to preach. Read verse 1 again before you answer.

Where does Matthew say Jesus began to preach, fulfilling these words?

Judgment against Israel’s Pride

Isaiah

Isaiah

The Lord has sent a message against Jacob,

and it has fallen upon Israel.

All the people will know it—

Ephraim and the dwellers of Samaria.

With pride and arrogance of heart

they will say:

Isaiah

Samaria’s lower slope after disaster: fallen mud-brick walls and felled sycamore-fig trunks, and beside them masons setting new courses of fine squared stone, cedar beams stacked ready.

“The bricks have fallen,

but we will rebuild with finished stone;

the sycamores have been felled,

but we will replace them with cedars.”

Isaiah

The LORD has raised up the foes of Rezin against him

and joined his enemies together.

Aram from the east and Philistia from the west

have devoured Israel with open mouths.

Despite all this, His anger is not turned away;

His hand is still upraised.

Judgment against Israel’s Hypocrisy

Isaiah

A quiet riverbank at morning: a tall date palm cut down, its crown lying in the shallow water beside a bed of reeds cut off at the root.

But the people did not return to Him who struck them;

they did not seek the LORD of Hosts.

So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail,

both palm branch and reed in a single day.

The head is the elder and honorable man,

and the tail is the prophet who teaches lies.

For those who guide this people mislead them,

and those they mislead are swallowed up.

Isaiah

Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men;

He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows.

For every one of them is godless and wicked,

and every mouth speaks folly.

Despite all this, His anger is not turned away;

His hand is still upraised.

Judgment against Israel’s Unrepentance

Isaiah

A hillside of thorn, brier and forest thicket burning at dusk, billows of dark smoke rolling upward into a dark sky.

For wickedness burns like a fire

that consumes the thorns and briers

and kindles the forest thickets,

which roll upward in billows of smoke.

By the wrath of the LORD of Hosts

the land is scorched,

and the people are fuel for the fire.

No man even spares his brother.

0:17

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Isaiah

They carve out what is on the right,

but they are still hungry;

they eat what is on the left,

but they are still not satisfied.

Each one devours the flesh of his own offspring.

Manasseh devours Ephraim,

and Ephraim Manasseh;

together they turn against Judah.

Despite all this, His anger is not turned away;

His hand is still upraised.

Pray

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace: shine into my darkness. Break every yoke on me, and reign in me with justice and righteousness.

You’ve experienced

Isaiah 9

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A verse to carry with you

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

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