Esias 8

1 And the Lord said to me, Take to yourself a volume of a great new [book], and write in it with a man's pen concerning the making a rapid plunder of spoils; for it is near at hand.

And the Lord said to me: “Take up for yourself a large book, and with a man’s pen write in it: ‘Take away the spoils quickly; plunder swiftly.’”

2 And make me witnesses [of] faithful men, Urias, and Zacharias the son of Barachias.

And I summoned to myself faithful witnesses: Uriah, the priest, and Zechariah, the son of Berechiah.

3 And I went in to the prophetess; and she conceived, and bore a son. And the Lord said to me, Call his name, Spoil quickly, plunder speedily.

And I joined with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said to me: “Call his name: ‘Rush to take away the spoils; Hurry to be plundered.’

4 For before the child shall know [how] to call [his] father or [his] mother, [one] shall take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria before the king of the Assyrians.

For before the boy knows how to call to his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be taken away, in the sight of the king of the Assyrians.”

5 And the Lord spoke to me yet again, [saying],

And the Lord spoke to me further, saying:

6 Because this people chooses not the water of Siloam that goes softly, but wills to have Rassin, and the son of Romelias [to be] king over you;

“Because this people has cast aside the waters of Shiloah, which go forth silently, and has instead chosen Rezin and the son of Remaliah,

7 therefore, behold, the Lord brings up upon you the water of the river, strong and abundant, [even] the king of the Assyrians, and his glory: and he shall come up over every valley of yours, and shall walk over every wall of yours:

for this reason, behold, the Lord will lead over them the waters of a river, strong and plentiful: the king of the Assyrians with all his glory. And he will rise up throughout all his streams, and he will overflow all his banks.

8 and he shall take away from Juda [every] man who shall be able to lift up his head, [and every one] able to accomplish anything; and his camp shall fill the breadth of your land, [O] God with us.

And he will pass through Judah, inundating it, and he will cross over and arrive, even at its neck. And he will extend his wings, filling the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”

9 Know, you Gentiles, and be conquered; listen you, even to the extremity of the earth: be conquered, after you strengthened yourselves; for even if you should again strengthen yourselves, you shall again be conquered.

O people, gather together, and be conquered! All distant lands, listen! Be strengthened, and be conquered! Gird yourselves, and be conquered!

10 And whatever counsel you shall take, the Lord shall bring it to nothing; and whatever word you shall speak, it shall not stand among you: for God is with us.

Undertake a plan, and it will be dissipated! Speak a word, and it will not be done! For God is with us.

11 Thus says the Lord, With a strong hand they revolt from the course of the way of this people, saying,

For the Lord said this to me, and he has instructed this to me with a strong hand, lest I go forth in the way of this people, saying:

12 Let them not say, [It is] hard, for whatever this people says, is hard: but fear not you their fear, neither be dismayed.

“You should not say ‘It is conspiracy!’ For all that this people speaks is a conspiracy. And you should not be frightened or alarmed with their fear.

13 Sanctify you the Lord himself; and he shall be your fear.

Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself. Let him be your dread, and let him be your fear.

14 And if you shall trust in him, he shall be to you for a sanctuary; and you shall not come against [him] as against a stumbling-stone, neither as against the falling of a rock: but the houses of Jacob are in a snare, and the dwellers in Jerusalem in a pit.

And so shall he be a sanctification to you. But he will be a stone of offense and a rock of scandal to the two houses of Israel, and a snare and a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15 Therefore many among them shall be weak, and fall, and be crushed; and they shall draw near, and men shall be taken securely.

And very many of them will stumble and fall, and they will be broken and entangled and seized.

16 Then shall those who seal themselves that they may not learn the law be made manifest.

Bind the testimony, seal the law, among my disciples.”

17 And [one] shall say, I will wait for God, who has turned away his face from the house of Jacob, and I will trust in him.

And I will wait for the Lord, who has concealed his face from the house of Jacob, and I will stand before him.

18 Behold I and the children which God has given me: and they shall be [for] signs and wonders in the house of Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in mount Sion.

Behold: I and my children, whom the Lord has given to me as a sign and a portent, in Israel, from the Lord of hosts, who lives on Mount Zion.

19 And if they should say to you, Seek those who have in them a divining spirit, and them that speak out of the earth, them that speak vain words, who speak out of their belly: shall not a nation diligently seek to their God? why do they seek to the dead concerning the living?

And though they say to you, “Seek from seers and diviners,” they who hiss in their incantations, should not the people seek from their God, for the sake of the living, and not from the dead?

20 For he has given the law for a help, that they should not speak according to this word, concerning which there are no gifts to give for it.

And this is, moreover, for the sake of the law and the testimony. But if they do not speak according to this Word, then he will not have the morning light.

21 And famine shall come sorely upon you, and it shall come to pass, [that] when you shall be hungry, you shall be grieved, and you shall speak ill of the prince and your fathers' ordinances: and they shall look up to heaven above,

And he will pass by it; he will fall and become hungry. And when he is hungry, he will become angry, and he will speak evil against his king and his God, and he will lift himself upward.

22 and they shall look on the earth below, and behold severe distress, and darkness, affliction, and anguish, and darkness so that [one can’t] see; and he that is in anguish shall not be distressed only for a time.

And he will gaze downward to the earth, and behold: tribulation and darkness, dissolution and distress, and a pursuing gloom. For he will not be able to fly away from its distress.