Isaiah 9 KJV
A Child Is Born
Isaiah Chapter 9: A Child Is Born
Isaiah 9 ties the messianic dawn explicitly to Zebulun and Naphtali, the first Israelite territories depopulated by Tiglath-Pileser III, framing restoration as beginning precisely where Assyrian judgment struck hardest.
1evertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.
2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.cf.
3 Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4 For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.
5 For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.cf.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.cf.
8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.
9 And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
10 The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
11 Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together;
12 The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
13 For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.
14 Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
15 The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.
17 Therefore the LORD shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
18 For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.
19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother.
20 And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:
21 Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
โ โ arrow keys to navigate chapters ยท spacebar to play/pause audio
Did You Know?
Isaiah 9 ties the messianic dawn explicitly to Zebulun and Naphtali, the first Israelite territories depopulated by Tiglath-Pileser III, framing restoration as beginning precisely where Assyrian judgment struck hardest.
The five titles in verse 6 include 'Everlasting Father,' an unusual paternal epithet for the coming king that stresses his eternal provision rather than mere dynastic succession.
Verse 4's allusion to the 'day of Midian' recasts Gideon's improbable victory in Judges 7 as the paradigm for the Messiah's defeat of future oppressors, emphasizing divine intervention over military strength.
The chapter's abrupt shift from oracles of doom (verses 8-21) to the birth announcement creates a literary hinge, showing that the same divine word that executes judgment also guarantees the enduring throne of David.
In the KJV rendering, the child receives the title 'The mighty God' (El Gibbor), a direct ascription of deity otherwise reserved for Yahweh alone in Isaiah, collapsing the distinction between the promised son and Israel's God.
Commentary & Study Notes Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871) ยท Public Domain Nevertheless, &c. โ rather, "For darkness shall not (continually) be on it (that is, the land) on which there is (now) distress" [HENGSTENBERG and MAURER]. The "for" refers, noโฆ
Classic verse-by-verse commentary on Isaiah 9 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: Continuation of the prophecy in the eighth chapter.
- 1
- Nevertheless, &c. โ rather, "For darkness shall not (continually) be on it (that is, the land) on which there is (now) distress" [HENGSTENBERG and MAURER]. The "for" refers, not to the words immediately preceding, but to the consolations in Isa 8:9,
- 10,17,18
- Do not despair, for, &c. when at the first, &c. โ rather, "as the former time has brought contempt on the land of Zebulun and Naphtali (namely, the deportation of their inhabitants under Tiglath-pileser, 2Ki 15:29, a little before the giving of this prophecy); so shall the after-coming time bring honor to the way of the sea (the district around the lake of Galilee), the land beyond (but HENGSTENBERG, "by the side of") Jordan (Perea, east of Jordan, belonging to Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh), the circle (but HENGSTENBERG, "Galilee") (that is, region) of the "Gentiles" [MAURER, HENGSTENBERG, &c.]. Galil in Hebrew is a "circle," "circuit," and from it came the name Galilee. North of Naphtali, inhabited by a mixed race of Jews and Gentiles of the bordering Phยnician race (Jud 1:30; 1Ki 9:11). Besides the recent deportation by Tiglath-pileser, it had been sorely smitten by Ben-hadad of Syria, two hundred years before (1Ki 15:20). It was after the Assyrian deportation colonized with heathens, by Esar-haddon (2Ki 17:24). Hence arose the contempt for it on the part of the southern Jews of purer blood (Joh 1:46; 7:52). The same region which was so darkened once, shall be among the first to receive Messiah's light (Mt 4:13, 15, 16). It was in despised Galilee that He first and most publicly exercised His ministry; from it were most of His apostles. Foretold in De 33:18, 19; Ac 2:7; Ps 68:27, 28, Jerusalem, the theocratic capital, might readily have known Messiah; to compensate less favored Galilee, He ministered mostly there; Galilee's very debasement made it feel its need of a Saviour, a feeling not known to the self-righteous Jews (Mt 9:13). It was appropriate, too, that He who was both "the Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of His people Israel," should minister chiefly on the border land of Israel, near the Gentiles.
Read all 23 notes on Isaiah 9 โ