Isaiah 8

1 Then the Lord told me, “Get a large tablet and write on it in with an ordinary pen, ‘Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’

And the LORD said unto me: 'Take thee a great tablet, and write upon it in common script: The spoil speedeth, the prey hasteth;

2 I will need Uriah the priest and Zechariah, son of Jeberekiah, to be my trustworthy witnesses.”

and I will take unto Me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.'

3 Then I slept with my wife the prophetess, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. The Lord told me, “Call him Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bore a son. Then said the LORD unto me: 'Call his name Maher-shalal-hashbaz.

4 For even before the boy knows how to say ‘Daddy’ or ‘Mommy,’ the king of Assyria will carry off Damascus' wealth and Samaria's possessions.”

For before the child shall have knowledge to cry: My father, and: My mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be carried away before the king of Assyria.'

5 Then the Lord spoke to me again, saying,

And the LORD spoke unto me yet again, saying:

6 “Because this people has rejected the waters of Shiloah that gently flow and instead have rejoiced with Rezin and Remaliah's son,

Forasmuch as this people hath refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoiceth with Rezin and Remaliah's son;

7 the Lord is going to bring the powerful floodwaters of the Euphrates River against them—the king of Assyria with all his glorious army. It will flood all its channels and overflow all its banks.

Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the River, mighty and many, even the king of Assyria and all his glory; and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks;

8 It will sweep on into Judah, overflowing and flooding through, reaching up to the neck. Like outspread wings it will engulf the whole of your land, Immanuel!

And he shall sweep through Judah overflowing as he passeth through he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.

9 Pay attention, you nations, and be smashed! Listen, all you distant lands, get ready, but you will be smashed. Get ready, but you will be smashed.

Make an uproar, O ye peoples, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.

10 You can plan your strategy, but it will be foiled; you can say what you're intending, but it won't happen, for God is with us.”

Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand; for God is with us.

11 For this is what the Lord told me, holding me with a strong hand, instructing me not to follow the way of this people. He said,

For the LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand, admonishing me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying:

12 Don't call a conspiracy everything that these people call a conspiracy. Don't fear what they fear. Don't be overawed!

'Say ye not: A conspiracy, concerning all whereof this people do say: A conspiracy; neither fear ye their fear, nor account it dreadful.

13 The Lord Almighty is the one you should see as holy. He is the one you should fear, he is the one you should be in awe of.

The LORD of hosts, Him shall ye sanctify; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.

14 He will be a sanctuary for you. But to the royal families of both Israel and Judah he will be a stone they trip over and a rock that makes them stumble, a trap and a snare to the people who live in Jerusalem.

And He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15 Many people will stumble over them. They will fall and be broken. They will be trapped and caught.

And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.'

16 Safeguard this testimony, seal these instructions—they are for my disciples.

'Bind up the testimony, seal the instruction among My disciples.'

17 I will wait for the Lord, the one who is hiding his face from Jacob's descendants. I will wait in hope for him.

And I will wait for the LORD, that hideth His face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for Him.

18 Look, I'm here, together with the children the Lord has given me. They are signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who lives on Mount Zion.

Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me shall be for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Zion.

19 When someone suggests to you, “Go and ask mediums and spiritists who whisper and mutter,” shouldn't people ask their God? Why should they ask the dead on behalf of the living?

And when they shall say unto you: 'Seek unto the ghosts and the familiar spirits, that chirp and that mutter; should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living unto the dead

20 Go and examine God's law and his instructions! If what they say doesn't correspond with God's word, there will be no dawn for them.

for instruction and for testimony?' — Surely they will speak according to this word, wherein there is no light. —

21 They will wander round the country, depressed and hungry. When they are starving they will become furious, and looking up they will curse their king and their God.

And they shall pass this way that are sore bestead and hungry; and it shall come to pass that, when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse by their king and by their God, and, whether they turn their faces upward,

22 Then they will look towards the earth and see only misery and gloom and agonizing depression, and they will be thrown out into the darkness.

or look unto the earth, behold distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and outspread thick darkness.