Isaiah 9:2
New International Version
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

New Living Translation
The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.

English Standard Version
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

Berean Standard Bible
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.

New American Standard Bible
The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.

NASB 1995
The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.

NASB 1977
The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.

Legacy Standard Bible
The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in the land of the shadow of death, The light will shine on them.

Amplified Bible
The people who walk in [spiritual] darkness Will see a great Light; Those who live in the dark land, The Light will shine on them.

Christian Standard Bible
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness.

American Standard Version
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
The people who walk in darkness have seen great light, and light has risen upon those dwelling in the land of the shadows of death

Brenton Septuagint Translation
O people walking in darkness, behold a great light: ye that dwell in the region and shadow of death, a light shall shine upon you.

Contemporary English Version
Those who walked in the dark have seen a bright light. And it shines upon everyone who lives in the land of darkest shadows.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen.

English Revised Version
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The people who walk in darkness will see a bright light. The light will shine on those who live in the land of death's shadow.

Good News Translation
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. They lived in a land of shadows, but now light is shining on them.

International Standard Version
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; for those living in a land of deep darkness, a light has shined upon them.

JPS Tanakh 1917
The people that walked in darkness Have seen a great light; They that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them hath the light shined.

Literal Standard Version
The people who are walking in darkness | Have seen a great light, | Dwellers in a land of death-shade, | Light has shone on them.

Majority Standard Bible
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.

New American Bible
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Upon those who lived in a land of gloom a light has shone.

NET Bible
The people walking in darkness see a bright light; light shines on those who live in a land of deep darkness.

New Revised Standard Version
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.

New Heart English Bible
The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light. Those living in the land and shadow of death, on them a light has shined.

Webster's Bible Translation
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shades of death, upon them hath the light shined.

World English Bible
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. The light has shined on those who lived in the land of the shadow of death.

Young's Literal Translation
The people who are walking in darkness Have seen a great light, Dwellers in a land of death-shade, Light hath shone upon them.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Unto Us a Child is Born
1Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those in distress. In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future He will honor the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations: 2The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. 3You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people rejoice before You as they rejoice at harvest time, as men rejoice in dividing the plunder.…

Cross References
Matthew 4:16
the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned."

Luke 1:79
to shine on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."

Luke 2:32
a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel."

Ephesians 5:8
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,

1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Isaiah 50:10
Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of His Servant? Who among you walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD; let him lean on his God.

Isaiah 60:19
No longer will the sun be your light by day, nor the brightness of the moon shine on your night; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your splendor.


Treasury of Scripture

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, on them has the light shined.

walked

Isaiah 50:10
Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.

Isaiah 60:1-3,19
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee…

Micah 7:8,9
Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me…

in the land

Job 10:21
Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

Psalm 23:4
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Psalm 107:10,14
Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; …

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Dark Darkness Dawned Death Death-Shade Deep Deepest Dwell Dwellers Dwelt Great Light Night Shades Shadow Shine Shined Shone Walk Walked Walking
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Dark Darkness Dawned Death Death-Shade Deep Deepest Dwell Dwellers Dwelt Great Light Night Shades Shadow Shine Shined Shone Walk Walked Walking
Isaiah 9
1. What joy shall be in the midst of afflictions, by the birth and kingdom of Christ
8. The judgments upon Israel for their pride
13. For their hypocrisy
18. And for their unrepentance














(2) The people that walked in darkness . . .--The words throw us back upon Isaiah 8:21-22. The prophet sees in his vision a light shining on the forlorn and weary wanderers. They had been wandering in the "valley of the shadow of death" (the phrase comes from Psalm 23:4; Job 3:5), almost as in the gloom of Sheol itself. Now there breaks in the dawn of a glorious day. Historically the return of some of the inhabitants of that region to their allegiance to Jehovah and the house of David (2Chronicles 30:11; 2Chronicles 30:13) may have been the starting point of the prophet's hopes. The words have to the Christian student a special interest, as having been quoted by St. Matthew (Matthew 4:15-16) in connection with our Lord's ministry in Galilee, perhaps with His being "of Nazareth," which was in the tribe of Zebulun. We cannot positively say that such a fulfilment as that was in the prophet's thoughts. The context shows in that he was thinking of Assyrian invasions, and the defeat of Assyrian armies, of a nation growing strong in numbers and prosperity. In this, as in other cases, the Evangelist adapts the words of prophecy to a further meaning than that which apparently was in the mind of the writer, and interprets them by his own experience. When he compared the state of Galilee, yet more, perhaps, that of his own soul, before and after the Son of man had appeared as the light of the world, Isaiah's words seemed the only adequate expression of the change. . . . Verse 2. - The people that walked in darkness (comp. Isaiah 8:22). All the world was "in darkness" when Christ came; but here the Jews especially seem to be intended. It was truly a dark time with them when Christ came (see Dollinger's 'Judenthum and Heidenthum,' vol. 2. pp. 301-335). Have seen; rather, saw. The "prophetic" preterit is used throughout the whole passage. A great light. "The Light of the world," "the Sun of righteousness," "the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, "first broke on man in that northern tract" by the way of the sea, "when Jesus came forward to teach and to preach in "Galilee of the Gentiles." For thirty years he had dwelt at Nazareth, in Zebulon. There he had first come forward to teach in a synagogue (Luke 4:16-21); in Galilee he had done his first miracles (John 2:11; John 4:54); at Capernaum. "Upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim," he commenced his preaching of repentance (Matthew 4:13-17). The "light" first streamed forth in this quarter, glorifying the region on which contempt had long been poured.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
The people
הָעָם֙ (hā·‘ām)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

walking
הַהֹלְכִ֣ים (ha·hō·lə·ḵîm)
Article | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

in darkness
בַּחֹ֔שֶׁךְ (ba·ḥō·šeḵ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2822: The dark, darkness, misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness

have seen
רָא֖וּ (rā·’ū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 7200: To see

a great
גָּד֑וֹל (gā·ḏō·wl)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 1419: Great, older, insolent

light;
א֣וֹר (’ō·wr)
Noun - common singular
Strong's 216: Illumination, luminary

on
עֲלֵיהֶֽם׃ (‘ă·lê·hem)
Preposition | third person masculine plural
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

those living
יֹשְׁבֵי֙ (yō·šə·ḇê)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct
Strong's 3427: To sit down, to dwell, to remain, to settle, to marry

in the land
בְּאֶ֣רֶץ (bə·’e·reṣ)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 776: Earth, land

of the shadow of death,
צַלְמָ֔וֶת (ṣal·mā·weṯ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6757: Death-like shadow, deep shadow

a light
א֖וֹר (’ō·wr)
Noun - common singular
Strong's 216: Illumination, luminary

has dawned.
נָגַ֥הּ (nā·ḡah)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5050: To glitter, to illuminate


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have (Isa Isi Is)
Isaiah 9:1
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