Isaiah 8

1 And Yahweh said unto me: Take thee a large tablet, —and write thereon in plain characters, To Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ["Speed-spoil-hurry-prey".]

And the Lord said to me, Take a great writing-board, and on it put down in common letters, Maher-shalal-hash-baz;

2 That I may take in attestation, faithful witnesses, —even Uriah the priest, and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.

And take true witnesses to the writing, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah, the son of Jeberechiah.

3 Then approached I unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bare a son, —and Yahweh said unto me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

And I went in to my wife, and she became with child, and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, Give him the name Maher-shalal-hash-baz,

4 For before the boy 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.

For before the child is able to say, Father, or, Mother, the wealth of Damascus and the goods of Samaria will be taken away by the king of Assyria.

5 And again Yahweh spake unto me yet further saying:

And the Lord said again to me,

6 Because this people hath refused the waters of Shiloah which flow softly, —and are rejoicing with Rezin and the son of Remaliah,

Because this people will have nothing to do with the softly-flowing waters of Shiloah, and have fear of Rezin and Remaliah's son;

7 now therefore, lo! the Lord is about to bring up against them the waters, strong and many, of the River ["Euphrates"], even the king of Assyria and all his glory, —and he shall rise over all his channels, and flow over all his banks;

For this cause the Lord is sending on them the waters of the River, deep and strong, even the king of Assyria and all his glory: and it will come up through all its streams, overflowing all its edges:

8 and roll on throughout Judah—overflow and pass along, till unto the neck, he shall reach, —and it shall be, that, the stretching out of his wings, shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel!

And it will come on into Judah; rushing on and overflowing, till the waters are up to the neck; and his outstretched wings will be covering the land from side to side: for God is with us.

9 Rage, O ye peoples, —and be overthrown, And give ear, all ye distant parts of the earth, —Gird yourselves and be overthrown, Gird yourselves, and be overthrown:

Have knowledge, O peoples, and be in fear; give ear, all you far-off parts of the earth:

10 Determine a plan, —and it shall be frustrated, —Speak a word, and it shall not stand, For With-us-is-GOD!

Let your designs be formed, and they will come to nothing; give your orders, and they will not be effected: for God is with us.

11 For, thus, spake Yahweh unto me like a firm grasp of the hand, —when he admonished me, not to walk in the way of this people, saying:

For the Lord, controlling me with a strong hand, gave me orders not to go in the way of this people, saying,

12 Ye shall not say—A confederacy! of everything of which this people may say. A confederacy! And their fear, shall ye not fear or regard as awful:

Do not say, It is holy, about everything of which this people says, It is holy; and do not be in fear of what they go in fear of.

13 Yahweh of hosts, him, shall ye hallow, —And let, him, be your fear, and let, him inspire you with awe;

But let the Lord of armies be holy to you, and go in fear of him, giving honour to him.

14 So shall he become a hallowed asylum, —But a stone to strike against, and a rock to stumble over unto both houses of Israel A trap and a snare to the dweller in Jerusalem;

And he will be for a holy place: but for a stone of falling and a rock of trouble to the two houses of Israel, and to the men of Jerusalem, for a net in which they may be taken.

15 And many, shall stumble among them, —and fall and be torn, and snared, and captured.

And numbers of them, falling on the stone, will be broken, and will be taken in the net.

16 Bind thou up the testimony, —Seal the instruction amongst my disciples.

Let my teaching be kept secret: and my words be given to my disciples only.

17 I will therefore long for Yahweh, Who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, —And will wait, for him.

And I will be waiting for the Lord, whose face is veiled from the house of Jacob, and I will be looking for him.

18 Lo! I and the children whom Yahweh hath given me, are for signs and for wonders in Israel, —from Yahweh of hosts, who is making his habitation in Mount Zion.

See, I and the children whom the Lord has given me, are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of armies, whose resting-place is in Mount Zion.

19 But, when they say unto you—Seek ye unto the necromancers and unto the wizards, who chirp, and who mutter, Should not a people seek, unto its God? In behalf of the living, [should it seek] unto the dead?

And when they say to you, Make request for us to those who have control of spirits, and to those wise in secret arts, who make hollow bird-like sounds; is it not right for a people to make request to their gods, to make request for the living to the dead?

20 To the law and to the testimony! If they speak not according to this word, [It is], because they have no dawning day.

Then say to them, Put your faith in the teaching and the witness. ... If they do not say such things. ... For him there is no dawn. ...

21 Therefore shall they pass through it hard pressed and hungry, —And it shall be when they hunger, then will they rage and revile their king and their god and turn their faces upwards;

And he will go through the land in bitter trouble and in need of food; and when he is unable to get food, he will become angry, cursing his king and his God, and his eyes will be turned to heaven on high;

22 And unto the land, shall they look hard, And lo! distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, driven away!

And he will be looking down on the earth, and there will be trouble and dark clouds, black night where there is no seeing.