World English Bible · Under Assyria
Isaiah 9
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But there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of and the land of ; but in the latter time he has made it , by of the sea, beyond , of the nations. The people who walked have seen a great . has shined on those who lived in the land of the shadow of . You have multiplied the nation. You have increased their joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the plunder. For the of his burden, and the of his shoulder, the of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of . For all the armor of the armed man in the noisy battle, and the garments rolled in , will be for burning, fuel for the . For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful , Mighty , , Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on , and on , to establish it, and to uphold it with and with from that time on, even . The of of Armies will perform this. sent a word into , and it falls on Israel. All the people will know, including and the inhabitants of , who say in pride and in arrogance of , "The bricks have fallen, but we will build with cut stone. The sycamore fig trees have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place." Therefore will set up on high against him the of Rezin, and will stir up his , in front, and the behind; and they will devour Israel with open . For all this, his is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them, neither have they sought of Armies. Therefore will Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed, in one day. The elder and the honorable man is the head, and the who teaches lies is the tail. For those who lead this people lead them astray; and those who are led by them are destroyed. Therefore will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have on their and ; for everyone is profane and an evildoer, and every speaks folly. For all this his is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For wickedness burns like a . It devours the and ; yes, it kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke. Through of Armies' , the land is burned up; and the people are the fuel for the . No one spares his brother. One will devour on , and be hungry; and he will eat on the left hand, and they will not be satisfied. Everyone will eat of his own arm: Manasseh eating and eating Manasseh, and they together will be against Judah. For all this his is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Assyria, 745 BC to 612 BC ›
Assyria at full stretch, deporting whole populations as policy. The northern kingdom is destroyed in 722 BC and Judah survives as a tribute-paying vassal.
- Assyria
- The first empire to run mass deportation as ordinary administration: move the leadership somewhere else, settle strangers in their place, and the province stops being a nation. It worked. Samaria fell in 722 BC and the northern tribes did not come back. Assyria also advertised its cruelty deliberately, carving flayings and impalements on palace walls where envoys would see them, because terror is cheaper than garrisons.
- Judah
- Survives by paying. Hezekiah rebels, Sennacherib takes forty-six Judean towns and besieges Jerusalem in 701 BC, and the city holds. The Assyrian account boasts of shutting Hezekiah up like a bird in a cage and pointedly does not claim to have taken the city, which is one of the more interesting silences in ancient records.
- Egypt
- The splintered reed of a staff that Assyria's field commander mocks Judah for leaning on. It promises help and cannot deliver, and Isaiah spends decades saying so. Assyria eventually invades and sacks Thebes.
- Further afield
- Greece is in its archaic period, founding colonies from Spain to the Black Sea. Rome is under kings. Assyria's own libraries are collecting the literature of Mesopotamia, which is how Gilgamesh survived to be read again in the nineteenth century.
All of Isaiah