King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 2 notes
1Nevertheless 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.
2The 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.
3Thou 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.
4For 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.
5For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.
Here we have another example of mixing present-day realities with a distant occurrence of the Messiah.
Oh, this timeless God.
6For 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.
7Of 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.
8The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.
9And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
10The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
11Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together;
12The 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.
I just read this whole chapter up to this point in the NLT — and the NLT did a great job of narrating this passage in such a way that it is easy to understand and decipher.
Inserted clauses to ensure smooth transition and flow of thought.
There are even subheadings that ensure you move from context to the next context without getting lost, that there is now a change of topic.
But the ancient text and writing itself, not only did it lack such headings, but I am told there were no commas or such annotation. The text just continued.
No wonder it was so difficult to understand such ancient writings, and indeed they were classified as sacred, and it took scribes and scholars to understand and even transcribe the text.
It was indeed sacred and mysterious in many respects. It (the text) can move from the past right past the present into the future 4000 years without transitioning.
You just move from a war today to a war millennia later, and you can't tell you have moved until you realise what is being said does not apply to the present time.
I suspect it is also because of the way these sacred writings were revealed.
It seemed they were written as the prophets saw the vision. So just like in a dream, where you can be in one location and the next moment you are in the next, all merged as one dream, the prophets wrote as they saw and kept it that way without interpreting it.
Indeed, we are told the prophets of old themselves looked into these things and sought to understand it, but they knew it was not for their time. But even they did not fully comprehend it.
1 Peter 1:12 KJV
Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
Even angels desired to look into such things.
13For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.
14Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
15The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
16For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.
17Therefore 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.
18For 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.
19Through 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.
20And 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:
21Manasseh, 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.