Isaiah 8
1 Moreover, the Lord sayd vnto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a mans penne, Make speede to the spoyle: haste to the praye.
Then the Lord told me, “Get a large tablet and write on it in with an ordinary pen, ‘Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’
2 Then I tooke vnto me faithfull witnesses to recorde, Vriah the Priest, and Zechariah the sonne of Ieberechiah.
I will need Uriah the priest and Zechariah, son of Jeberekiah, to be my trustworthy witnesses.”
3 After, I came vnto the Prophetesse, which conceiued, and bare a sonne. Then sayd the Lord to me, Call his name, Mahershalalhash-baz.
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.
4 For before the childe shall haue knowledge to crye, My father, and my mother, he shall take away the riches of Damascus and the spoyle of Samaria, before the King of Asshur.
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.”
5 And the Lord spake yet againe vnto me, saying,
Then the Lord spoke to me again, saying,
6 Because this people hath refused the waters of Shiloah that runne softly, and reioyce with Rezin, and the sonne of Remaliah,
“Because this people has rejected the waters of Shiloah that gently flow and instead have rejoiced with Rezin and Remaliah's son,
7 Nowe therefore, beholde, the Lord bringeth vp vpon them the waters of the Riuer mightie and great, euen the King of Asshur with all his glory, and he shall come vp vpon all their riuers, and goe ouer all their banks,
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.
8 And shall breake into Iudah, and shall ouerflowe and passe through, and shall come vp to the necke, and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanu-el.
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!
9 Gather together on heapes, O ye people, and ye shalbe broken in pieces, and hearken all ye of farre countreys: gird your selues, and you shalbe broken in pieces: gird your selues, and you shalbe broken in pieces.
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.
10 Take counsell together, yet it shall be brought to nought: pronounce a decree, yet shall it not stand: for God is with vs.
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.”
11 For the Lord spake thus to me in taking of mine hand, and taught me, that I should not walke in the way of this people, saying,
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,
12 Say ye not, A confederacie to all them, to whome this people sayth a confederacie, neither feare you their feare, nor be afrayd of them.
Don't call a conspiracy everything that these people call a conspiracy. Don't fear what they fear. Don't be overawed!
13 Sanctifie the Lord of hostes, and let him be your feare, and let him be your dread,
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.
14 And he shalbe as a Sanctuarie: but as a stumbling stone, and as a rocke to fall vpon, to both the houses of Israel, and as a snare and as a net to the inhabitants of Ierusalem.
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.
15 And many among them shall stumble, and shall fall and shalbe broken and shalbe snared and shalbe taken.
Many people will stumble over them. They will fall and be broken. They will be trapped and caught.
16 Binde vp the testimonie: seale vp the Law among my disciples.
Safeguard this testimony, seal these instructions—they are for my disciples.
17 Therefore I will waite vpon the Lord that hath hid his face from the house of Iaakob, and I wil looke for him.
I will wait for the Lord, the one who is hiding his face from Jacob's descendants. I will wait in hope for him.
18 Beholde, I and the children whome the Lord hath giuen me, are as signes and as wonders in Israel, by the Lord of hostes, which dwelleth in mount Zion.
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.
19 And when they shall say vnto you, Enquire at them that haue a spirit of diuination, and at the soothsayers, which whisper and murmure, Should not a people enquire at their God? from the liuing to the dead?
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?
20 To the Law, and to the testimonie, if they speake not according to this worde: it is because there is no light in them.
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.
21 Then he that is afflicted and famished, shall go to and from in it: and when he shalbe hungry, he shall euen freat himselfe, and curse his King and his gods, and shall looke vpward.
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.
22 And when he shall looke to the earth, beholde trouble, and darkenes, vexation and anguish, and he is driuen to darkenes.
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.
