Isaiah 9:8-21

8The Lord sent a message against Jacob; it came against Israel.

9All the people — Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria  — will know it. They will say with pride and arrogance,

10“The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with cut stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.”

11The Lord has raised up Rezin’s adversaries against him and stirred up his enemies.

12Aram from the east and Philistia from the west have consumed Israel with open mouths. In all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still raised to strike.

13The people did not turn to him who struck them; they did not seek the Lord of Armies.

14So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail, palm branch and reed in a single day.

15The head is the elder, the honored one; the tail is the prophet, the one teaching lies.

16The leaders of the people mislead them, and those they mislead are swallowed up.

17Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over Israel’s young men and has no compassion on its fatherless and widows, for everyone is a godless evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. In all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still raised to strike.

18For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets so that they go up in a column of smoke.

19The land is scorched by the wrath of the Lord of Armies, and the people are like fuel for the fire. No one has compassion on his brother.

20They carve meat on the right, but they are still hungry; they have eaten on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one eats the flesh of his arm.

21Manasseh eats Ephraim, and Ephraim, Manasseh; together, both are against Judah. In all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still raised to strike.