Wait Upon the Lord – Isaiah 8:16-9:7
8 (16) Bind up the Testimony, and seal the Law among my disciples! (17) I will wait for Jehovah, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, I will look to him. (18) Look! I and the children whom Jehovah has given me are given as signs and wonders to Israel from Jehovah of hosts, the One who dwells on Mount Zion. (19) When men ask you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter; ask them, Should not a people consult their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? (20) Instruct them to ask you to look to the Law and to the Testimony! If they do not make this request, there will be no light of dawn for them. (21) They will wander through the land distressed and hungry—and when they are famished, they will become enraged, and looking upward, they will curse their King and their God. (22) Then they will look toward the earth, but they shall see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be driven into utter darkness.
9 Nevertheless, in the future there will be no gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt; but in the future he will bring glory to the way towards the sea, the region along the Jordan River—Galilee of the Gentiles. (2) The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; the light has dawned upon those living in the land of the shadow of death. (3) You will enlarge the nation and increase their joy. They will rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the plunder—(4) because, just as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you will shatter the yoke that burdened them, the wooden bar stretched across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. (5) Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every cloak rolled in blood will be consigned to the flames, they will be fuel for the fire—(6) because a child has been born for us, a son has been given to us, and the government will rest upon his shoulders. He will be called, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (7) There will be no end to the expansion of his rule and of peace. He will sit upon the throne of David and reign over his kingdom, establishing it and upholding it by means of justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will accomplish this.
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
