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

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

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

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 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 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 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 again Yahweh spake unto me yet further saying:

And the Lord spoke to me further, saying:

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

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 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 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 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 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:

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

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

Undertake a plan, and it will be dissipated! Speak a word, and it will not be done! 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 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 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:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.