The Bible

Isaiah Chapter 8

¹Yahweh said to me, "Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man's pen, 'For Maher Shalal Hash Baz'; ²and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah."

³I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, "Call his name 'Maher Shalal Hash Baz.' ⁴For before the child knows how to say, 'My father' and 'My mother,' the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria."

⁵Yahweh spoke to me yet again, saying, ⁶"Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son; ⁷now therefore, look, LordOfMine brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks. ⁸It will pass through Judah; it will overflow and pass through. It will reach to the neck. The stretching out of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel.

⁹Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered! Dress for battle, and be shattered! ¹⁰Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand, for God is with us."

¹¹For Yahweh said this to me with a strong hand, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, ¹²"Don't say, 'A conspiracy!' concerning all that this people call a conspiracy. Don't fear what they fear or dread it. ¹³Yahweh of Armies - him you must consecrate. He is your fear. He is your dread. ¹⁴He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, he will be a stumbling stone and a rock that makes them fall. For the people of Jerusalem, he will be a trap and a snare. ¹⁵Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured."

¹⁶Wrap up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples. ¹⁷I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. ¹⁸Look, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Yahweh of Armies, who dwells in Mount Zion.

¹⁹When they tell you, "Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter," shouldn't a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don't speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them. ²¹They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry; and when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse their king and their God. They will turn their faces upward, ²²then look to the earth and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.