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Epiphany Season · Third Sunday in Ordinary Time · Year A

Isaiah 8:23–9:3

Light Dawns on Zebulun and Naphtali

January 25, 2026

The Song of the Lark, Jules Breton
The Song of the Lark, Jules Breton, 1884Art Institute of Chicago
A barefoot girl stops in a field at dawn with her sickle, head lifted, listening. It was voted the most popular painting in America in 1934.The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light: the reading is a sunrise, and this is a face at one.Jules BretonA French painter of rural labour whose glowing field scenes made him far more popular in his lifetime than Millet.Art Institute of ChicagoFounded in 1879 as both a museum and a school, and the home of American Gothic and of a famous Impressionist collection.Art Institute of Chicago
Roman Lectionary
GospelMatt. 4:12-23Mt 4:12-23 orMatt. 4:12-17Mt 4:12-17
Second Reading1 Cor. 1:10-13, 171 Cor 1:10-13, 17
First ReadingIsa. 8:23–9:3Is 8:23–9:3
Responsorial PsalmPs. 27:1, 4, 13-14 (1a)Ps 27:1, 4, 13-14 (1a)

Overview & Insights

"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." (Isaiah 9:2)

Isaiah names the very territories Assyria humiliated first, Zebulun and Naphtali, as the first to see God's reversal. He compares the coming joy to a plentiful harvest and to Gideon's rout of Midian, when a yoke and a rod of oppression were broken.

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Take it further: Isaiah 8:23–9:3

Commentary

Commentary on Isaiah 9:1-4Commentary on Is 9:1-4 Working Preacher

Luther Seminary commentary on Isaiah's transition from a word of judgment to a psalm of thanksgiving.

Isaiah 9:1-4 CommentaryIs 9:1-4 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching

Reformed preaching commentary on the specific geography of Zebulun and Naphtali named as the first to see light.

Isaiah 9 CommentaryIs 9 Commentary Enduring Word · David Guzik

David Guzik's verse by verse reading of the promised child and the reversal of the Assyrian gloom.

Isaiah 9 CommentaryIs 9 Commentary Precept Austin

Deep verse by verse study notes gathering many conservative scholars on the day of Midian imagery.

Isaiah 9:1 CommentariesIs 9:1 Commentaries BibleHub

Aggregated classic commentary on the region humbled first by Assyria being honored first by God.

Isaiah 9 - Barnes' NotesIs 9 - Barnes' Notes StudyLight

Barnes' Notes verse by verse on the broken yoke and the harvest joy Isaiah describes.

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A Agape Bible Study

Catholic Bible study notes tracing why Galilee of the Gentiles becomes the site of the promised light.

Background & Word Study

Isaiah 9:1 InterlinearIs 9:1 Interlinear BibleHub

Hebrew word by word with parsing for darkness, great light, and the land of the shadow of death.

Isaiah 9:1Is 9:1 Sefaria

Hebrew text alongside English for the oracle Matthew later quotes as fulfilled in Capernaum.

The Church Fathers

Isaiah 8Is 8 Catena

Verse-by-verse comment from the Fathers on Isaiah 8.

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