--- title: "Isaiah 9 - Study King James Bible with pooles english annotations on the holy bible" description: "Read Isaiah 9 with pooles english annotations on the holy bible commentary. 1 Nevertheless 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," image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/isaiah/9" --- [ Read](/kjv/isaiah/9)[ Commentary](/study/isaiah/9)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/isaiah/9) Audio 1 Nevertheless 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. 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. 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. 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. [Isaiah 8](/study/isaiah/8) [Isaiah 10](/study/isaiah/10) ## Commentary To verse 1 **The dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation:** the words thus rendered contain a mitigation of the foregoing threatening; and so the sense of the verse may be this, The calamity of this land and its inhabitants shall be great, yet not such as that which was brought upon the kingdom of the ten tribes by the king of Assyria, who at first indeed dealt more gently with them, but afterwards quite rooted them out, and carried them away into a dreadful captivity, from whence they were not to return, no, not when the Messiah came into the world; for after this darkness of which I have now spoken, there shall come a glorious light, as it follows in the next verse. The Dutch interpreters take it in the same sense, and render the words thus, *But* the land *that was distressed shall not be* utterly *darkened*. To the same purpose they may be thus rendered, according to the Hebrew, *But darkness shall not be* (i.e. shall not abide or continue; for to be is sometimes put for to *abide* or *continue to be*, as [1 Samuel 12:14](/kjv/1-samuel/12/14); [Proverbs 23:5](/kjv/proverbs/23/5); [Matthew 17:4](/kjv/matthew/17/4); [Hebrews 8:4](/kjv/hebrews/8/4)) *unto her*, (to wit, the land, which by the consent of interpreters is understood here, as it was [Isaiah 8:21](/kjv/isaiah/8/21)) to whom this distress is or shall be. She shall be distressed and darkened, as I said before, [Isaiah 8:22](/kjv/isaiah/8/22), but not irrecoverably, nor for ever. Some understand the words to be an aggravation of the darkness or misery threatened [Isaiah 8:22](/kjv/isaiah/8/22), rendering the words thus, *for the dimness shall not be*, &c. And so the sense is, This shall not be so slight an affliction as that which befell them by Pul, [2 Kings 15:19](/kjv/2-kings/15/19), nor as that which succeeded it by Tiglathpileser, who, at the desire of Ahaz, did about this time make another invasion into the land of Israel, [2 Kings 15:29](/kjv/2-kings/15/29), and was a heavier stroke than the former; but this shall be far heavier than either of them. But the former sense seems better to agree, both with the following verses, and with [Matthew 4:14-16](/kjv/matthew/4/14-16), where these words are expounded as a promise, and said to be fulfilled by Christ’s preaching the gospel in these parts. *At the first*; in the first invasion which the king of Assyria made upon Israel. *He*, to wit, God, who is oft understood in such cases, and who is here supposed to be the author or inflicter of this judgment. Or it is an impersonal speech, *he afflicted* for *was afflicted*, than which nothing is more common in the Hebrew language. *Lightly afflicted*; either, 1. By Pul; or rather, 2. By Tiglath-pileser, who at this time invaded and subdued these parts, as it is expressed, [2 Kings 15:29](/kjv/2-kings/15/29); *the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali*: these parts are particularly mentioned, because this storm fell most heavily upon them; but under them the other parts of the land are understood by a common figure called synecdoche. *Did more grievously afflict her*; either, 1. By Tiglath-pileser; or rather, 2. By Shalmaneser, who took Samaria, and carried Israel into captivity, [2 Kings 17:5](/kjv/2-kings/17/5),[2 Kings 17:6](/kjv/2-kings/17/6); of which calamity, though yet to come, the prophet speaks as if it were past, as the manner of the prophet is. *By the way of the sea*; in that part of the land which bordereth upon the sea, to wit, the lake of Gennesaret, which is very commonly called a sea, as [Matthew 4:18](/kjv/matthew/4/18); [John 21:1](/kjv/john/21/1), &c., and upon which the portions of Zebulun and Naphtali bordered. *Beyond Jordan*; or, on this side Jordan; for this preposition is used both ways, and this land might be said to be either *beyond* or *on this side Jordan*, in divers respects. *Galilee of the nations*, or *Galilee of the Gentiles*, to wit, the *Upper Galilee*, so called because it bordered upon the Gentiles. But this last clause, and the two foregoing clauses, are otherwise rendered and interpreted by divers learned men, as a prophecy concerning the light of the gospel that should shine in those parts: *As at the first time* (to wit, in the former ages of the Israelitish church and commonwealth) *he made the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali vile or contemptible*; (as he might be said to have done, partly, by putting those people at so great a distance from his sanctuary; partly, by exposing them to some calamities which other tribes escaped; and partly, by denying them those honours and privileges which he afforded to other tribes, of which see [John 7:52](/kjv/john/7/52), *Out of Galilee ariseth no prophet*; and [John 1:46](/kjv/john/1/46), *Can any good thing come out of Nazareth*? which was an eminent city of Galilee;) so in the *latter* or *last* time (to wit, in the days of the Messiah, or of the gospel, which are frequently so called in the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament) *he made it* (i.e. he will make it, for the prophet speaks of things to come as past, as he doth most commonly in this prophecy) *glorious* (to wit, by Christ’s first preaching the gospel in those parts) *in* or *towards the way of the sea*, (to wit, of Galilee or Gennesaret,)*beyond* or *on this side Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles*: which interpretation I thought fit to propose, as deserving further consideration. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/isaiah/9#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/isaiah/9#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/isaiah/9","name":"Isaiah 9 - 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