Isaiah 8

The LORD said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it with an ordinary stylus, ‘Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’ I will call reliable witnesses for myself, Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.” Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. The LORD said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz, for before the boy knows to cry, ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.” The LORD spoke to me again: “Because this people has rejected the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoices in Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the mighty and abundant waters of the River, the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will rise above all its channels and overflow all its banks. It will sweep through Judah, flooding and passing on, reaching to the neck. Its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel.” Be shattered, peoples, and be dismayed!
Listen, all you distant parts of the earth.
Gird yourselves and be dismayed;
gird yourselves and be dismayed! Devise a plan, but it shall be frustrated;
speak a word, but it shall not stand, for God is with us. For the LORD spoke to me with a strong hand and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, “Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear or be terrified. The LORD of hosts is the one you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. He shall become a sanctuary, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense for both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Many shall stumble over them; they shall fall and be broken, snared and captured.” Bind up the testimony; seal the instruction among my disciples. I will wait for the LORD, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. Behold, I and the children the LORD has given me are signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the instruction and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there is no dawn for them. They will pass through the land, distressed and hungry. When they are hungry, they will become enraged and curse their king and their God, turning upward. Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; they will be driven into deep darkness.

Rights and attribution