Isaiah 1-10

New American Standard Bible

Rebellion of God’s People

1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning ^(A)Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the ^[a]reigns of ^(B)Uzziah, ^(C)Jotham, ^(D)Ahaz, and ^(E)Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

²^(F)Listen, heavens, and hear, ^(G)earth;
For the Lord has spoken:
“^(H)Sons I have raised and brought up,
But they have ^(I)revolted against Me.
³An ox knows its owner,
And a donkey its master’s manger,
But Israel ^(J)does not know,
My people ^(K)do not understand.”

⁴Oh, sinful nation,
People weighed down with guilt,
^[b]^(L)Offspring of evildoers,
Sons who ^(M)act corruptly!
They have ^(N)abandoned the Lord,
They have ^(O)despised the Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away ^[c]from Him.

⁵Where will you be stricken again,
As you ^(P)continue in your rebellion?
The entire head is ^(Q)sick
And the entire heart is faint.
⁶^(R)From the sole of the foot even to the head
There is ^(S)nothing healthy in it,
Only bruises, slashes, and raw wounds;
^(T)Not pressed out nor bandaged,
Nor softened with oil.

⁷Your ^(U)land is desolate,
Your cities are burned with fire;
As for your fields, strangers are devouring them in front of you;
It is desolation, as overthrown by strangers.
⁸The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard,
Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a city under watch.
⁹^(V)If the Lord of armies
Had not left us a few ^(W)survivors,
We would be like ^(X)Sodom,
We would be like Gomorrah.

God Has Had Enough

¹⁰Hear ^(Y)the word of the Lord,
You rulers of ^(Z)Sodom;
Listen to the instruction of our God,
You people of Gomorrah!
¹¹“^(AA)What are your many sacrifices to Me?”
Says the Lord.
“I ^[d]have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of fattened cattle;
And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats.
¹²When you come ^(AB)to appear before Me,
Who requires ^[e]of you this trampling of My courtyards?
¹³Do not go on bringing your worthless offerings,
^(AC)Incense is an abomination to Me.
^(AD)New moon and Sabbath, the ^(AE)proclamation of an assembly—
I cannot ^(AF)endure wrongdoing and the festive assembly.
¹⁴^[f]I hate your new moon festivals and your ^(AG)appointed feasts,
They have become a burden to Me;
I am ^(AH)tired of bearing them.
¹⁵So when you ^(AI)spread out your hands in prayer,
^(AJ)I will hide My eyes from you;
Yes, even though you ^(AK)offer many prayers,
I will not be listening.
^(AL)Your hands are ^[g]covered with blood.

¹⁶“^(AM)Wash yourselves, ^(AN)make yourselves clean;
^(AO)Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight.
^(AP)Stop doing evil,
¹⁷Learn to do good;
^(AQ)Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor,
^(AR)Obtain justice for the orphan,
Plead for the widow’s case.

Invitation to Debate

¹⁸“Come now, and ^(AS)let us ^[h]debate your case,”
Says the Lord,
“^(AT)Though your sins are as scarlet,
They shall become as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be like wool.
¹⁹^(AU)If you are willing and obedient,
You will ^(AV)eat the best of the land;
²⁰But if you refuse and rebel,
You will be ^(AW)devoured by the sword.”
For ^(AX)the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Zion Corrupted; Will Be Redeemed

²¹How the faithful city has become a ^(AY)prostitute,
She who was full of justice!
Righteousness once dwelt in her,
But now murderers.
²²Your silver has become ^[i]waste matter,
Your drink diluted with water.
²³Your ^(AZ)rulers are rebels
And companions of thieves;
Everyone ^(BA)loves a bribe
And chases after gifts.
They ^(BB)do not obtain justice for the ^[j]orphan,
Nor does the widow’s case come before them.

²⁴Therefore the Lord ^[k]God of armies,
The ^(BC)Mighty One of Israel, declares,
“Ah, I will have satisfaction against My adversaries,
And ^(BD)avenge Myself on My enemies.
²⁵I will also turn My hand against you,
And ^(BE)smelt away your impurities as with lye;
And I will remove all your slag.
²⁶Then I will restore your ^(BF)judges as at first,
And your counselors as at the beginning;
After that you will be called the ^(BG)city of righteousness,
A faithful city.”

²⁷Zion will be ^(BH)redeemed with justice
And her ^[l]repentant ones with righteousness.
²⁸But ^[m]wrongdoers and sinners together will be ^(BI)broken,
And those who abandon the Lord will come to an end.
²⁹^[n]You certainly will be ashamed of the ^[o]^(BJ)oaks which you have desired,
And you will be embarrassed by the ^(BK)gardens which you have chosen.
³⁰For you will be like an ^[p]oak whose ^(BL)leaf withers away,
Or like a garden that has no water.
³¹The strong man will become like ^[q]flax fiber,
And his work a spark.
So they shall both ^(BM)burn together
And there will be ^(BN)no one to extinguish them.

God’s Universal Reign

2 The word which ^(BO)Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

²Now it will come about that
^(BP)In the last days
The ^(BQ)mountain of the house of the Lord
Will be established ^[r]as the chief of the mountains,
And will be raised above the hills;
And ^(BR)all the nations will stream to it.
³And many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
So that He may teach us ^[s]about His ways,
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For ^[t]the law will go out ^(BS)from Zion
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
⁴And He will judge between the nations,
And will mediate for many peoples;
And ^(BT)they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning knives.
^(BU)Nation will not lift up a sword against nation,
And never again will they learn war.

⁵Come, ^(BV)house of Jacob, and let’s walk in the ^(BW)light of the Lord.
⁶For You have ^(BX)abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob,
Because they are filled with influences from the east,
And they are soothsayers ^(BY)like the Philistines.
They also ^[u]^(BZ)strike bargains with the children of foreigners.
⁷Their land has also been filled with silver and gold
And there is no end to their treasures;
Their land has also been filled with ^(CA)horses,
And there is no end to their chariots.
⁸Their land has also been ^(CB)filled with idols;
They worship the ^(CC)work of their hands,
That which their fingers have made.
⁹So ^(CD)the common person has been humbled
And the person of importance has been brought low,
But ^(CE)do not forgive them.
¹⁰^(CF)Enter the rocky place and hide in the dust
^(CG)From the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty.
¹¹The ^[v]^(CH)proud look of humanity will be brought low,
And the ^(CI)arrogance of people will be humbled;
And the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.

A Day of Reckoning Coming

¹²For the Lord of armies will have a day of reckoning
Against ^(CJ)everyone who is arrogant and haughty,
And against everyone who is lifted up,
That he may be brought low.
¹³And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up,
Against all the ^(CK)oaks of Bashan,
¹⁴Against all the ^(CL)lofty mountains,
Against all the hills that are lifted up,
¹⁵Against every ^(CM)high tower,
Against every fortified wall,
¹⁶Against all the ^(CN)ships of Tarshish
And against all the delightful ships.
¹⁷And the pride of humanity will be humbled
And the arrogance of people will be brought low;
And the Lord alone will be exalted on that day,
¹⁸And the ^(CO)idols will completely vanish.
¹⁹People will ^(CP)go into caves of the rocks
And into holes in the ^[w]ground
Away from the terror of the Lord
And the splendor of His majesty,
When He arises ^(CQ)to terrify the earth.
²⁰On that day people will ^(CR)throw away to the moles and the ^(CS)bats
Their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
Which they made for themselves to worship,
²¹In order to ^(CT)go into the clefts of the rocks and the crannies of the cliffs
Before the terror of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty,
When He arises to terrify the earth.
²²^[x]^(CU)Take no account of man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils;
For ^[y]^(CV)why should he be esteemed?

God Will Remove the Leaders

3 For behold, the Lord ^[z]God of armies ^(CW)is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah
Both supply and support, the entire supply of bread
And the entire supply of water;
²^(CX)The mighty man and the warrior,
The judge and the prophet,
The diviner and the elder,
³The captain of fifty and the esteemed person,
The counselor and the expert artisan,
And the skillful enchanter.
⁴And I will make mere ^(CY)boys their leaders,
And ^[aa]mischievous children will rule over them,
⁵And the people will be ^(CZ)oppressed,
Each one by another, and each one by his ^(DA)neighbor;
The youth will assault the elder,
And the contemptible person will assault the one honored.
⁶When a man ^(DB)lays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying,
“You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler!
And these ruins will be under your ^[ab]authority,”
⁷He will ^[ac]protest on that day, saying,
“I will not be your ^[ad]^(DC)healer,
For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
You should not appoint me ruler of the people.”
⁸For ^(DD)Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,
Because their ^[ae]^(DE)speech and their actions are against the Lord,
To ^(DF)rebel against ^[af]His glorious presence.
⁹^[ag]The expression of their faces testifies against them,
And they ^[ah]display their sin like ^(DG)Sodom;
They do not even conceal it.
Woe to ^[ai]them!
For they have ^(DH)done evil to themselves.
¹⁰Say to the ^(DI)righteous that it will go well for them,
For they will eat the fruit of their actions.
¹¹Woe to the wicked! It will go badly for him,
For ^[aj]^(DJ)what he deserves will be done to him.
¹²My people! Their oppressors ^(DK)treat them violently,
And women rule over them.
My people! ^(DL)Those who guide you lead you astray
And confuse the direction of your paths.

God Will Judge

¹³^(DM)The Lord arises to contend,
And stands to judge the people.
¹⁴The Lord ^(DN)enters into judgment with the elders and leaders of His people,
“It is you who have ^[ak]^(DO)devoured the vineyard;
The ^(DP)goods stolen from the poor are in your houses.
¹⁵What do you mean by ^(DQ)crushing My people
And ^[al]oppressing the face of the poor?”
Declares the Lord ^[am]God of armies.

Judah’s Women Denounced

¹⁶Moreover, the Lord said, “Because the ^(DR)daughters of Zion are haughty
And walk with ^[an]heads held high and seductive eyes,
And go along with mincing steps
And jingle the anklets on their feet,
¹⁷The Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs,
And the Lord will make their foreheads bare.”

¹⁸On that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, headbands, ^(DS)crescent ornaments, ¹⁹dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, ²⁰^(DT)headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets, ²¹^[ao]finger rings, ^(DU)nose rings, ²²festive robes, outer garments, shawls, purses, ²³papyrus garments, undergarments, headbands, and veils.

²⁴Now it will come about that instead of ^(DV)balsam oil there will be a stench;
Instead of a belt, a rope;
Instead of ^(DW)well-set hair, a ^(DX)plucked-out scalp;
Instead of fine clothes, a ^(DY)robe of sackcloth;
And branding instead of beauty.
²⁵Your men will ^(DZ)fall by the sword
And your ^[ap]mighty ones in battle.
²⁶And her ^[aq]^(EA)gates will lament and mourn,
And she will ^(EB)sit deserted on the ground.

A Remnant Prepared

4 For seven women will take hold of ^(EC)one man on that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; ^(ED)take away our disgrace!”

²On that day the ^(EE)Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the ^(EF)fruit of the earth will be the pride and the beauty of the ^(EG)survivors of Israel. ³And it will come about that the one who is ^(EH)left in Zion and remains behind in Jerusalem will be called ^(EI)holy—everyone who is ^(EJ)recorded for life in Jerusalem. ⁴When the Lord has washed away the filth of the ^(EK)daughters of Zion and ^[ar]purged the ^(EL)bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the ^(EM)spirit of judgment and the ^(EN)spirit of ^[as]burning, ⁵then the Lord will create over the entire area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies ^(EO)a cloud by day, and smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the ^(EP)glory will be a canopy. ⁶And there will be a ^(EQ)shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and ^[at]protection from the storm and the rain.

Parable of the Vineyard

5 Let me sing now for my beloved
A song of my beloved about His vineyard.
My beloved had a ^(ER)vineyard on ^[au]a fertile hill.
²He dug it all around, cleared it of stones,
And planted it with ^[av]the ^(ES)choicest vine.
And He built a tower in the middle of it,
And also carved out a ^[aw]wine vat in it;
Then He ^(ET)expected it to produce good grapes,
But it produced only ^[ax]worthless ones.

³“And now, you inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
^(EU)Judge between Me and My vineyard.
⁴^(EV)What more was there to do for My vineyard ^[ay]that I have not done in it?
Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce ^[az]worthless ones?
⁵So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:
I will ^(EW)remove its hedge and it will be consumed;
I will ^(EX)break down its wall and it will become ^(EY)trampled ground.
⁶I will ^(EZ)lay it waste;
It will not be pruned nor hoed,
But briars and thorns will come up.
I will also command the clouds not to ^(FA)rain on it.”

⁷For the ^(FB)vineyard of the Lord of armies is the house of Israel,
And the people of Judah are His delightful plant.
So He waited for justice, but behold, there was ^(FC)bloodshed;
For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.

Woes for the Wicked

⁸Woe to those who ^(FD)attach house to house and join field to field,
Until there is no more room,
And you alone are a landowner in the midst of the land!
⁹In my ears the Lord of armies has sworn, “^(FE)Many houses shall certainly become ^(FF)desolate,
Even great and fine ones, without occupants.
¹⁰For ^(FG)ten acres of vineyard will yield only one ^[ba]bath of wine,
And a ^[bb]^(FH)homer of seed will yield only an ^[bc]ephah of grain.”
¹¹Woe to those who rise early in the morning so that they may pursue ^(FI)intoxicating drink,
Who stay up late in the evening so that wine may inflame them!
¹²Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and ^(FJ)harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine;
But they ^(FK)do not pay attention to the deeds of the Lord,
Nor do they consider the work of His hands.

¹³Therefore My people go into exile for their ^(FL)lack of knowledge;
And their ^[bd]^(FM)nobles are famished,
And their multitude is parched with thirst.
¹⁴Therefore ^(FN)Sheol has enlarged its ^[be]throat and opened its mouth beyond measure;
And ^[bf]Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her noise of revelry, and the jubilant within her, descend into it.
¹⁵So the common people will be humbled and the person of importance brought low,
^(FO)The eyes of the haughty also will be brought low.
¹⁶But the ^(FP)Lord of armies will be ^(FQ)exalted in judgment,
And the holy God will show Himself ^(FR)holy in righteousness.
¹⁷^(FS)Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,
And strangers will eat in the ruins of the ^[bg]wealthy.

¹⁸Woe to those who drag ^(FT)wrongdoing with the cords of ^[bh]deceit,
And sin as if with cart ropes;
¹⁹^(FU)Who say, “Let Him hurry, let Him do His work quickly, so that we may see it;
And let the plan of the Holy One of Israel approach
And come to pass, so that we may know it!”
²⁰Woe to those who ^(FV)call evil good, and good evil;
Who ^[bi]^(FW)substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who ^[bj]substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
²¹Woe to those who are ^(FX)wise in their own eyes
And ^[bk]clever in their own sight!
²²^(FY)Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine,
And valiant men in mixing intoxicating drink,
²³^(FZ)Who declare the wicked innocent for a bribe,
And ^(GA)take away the ^[bl]rights of the ones who are in the right!

²⁴Therefore, ^(GB)as a tongue of fire consumes stubble,
And dry grass collapses in the flame,
So their ^(GC)root will become ^(GD)like rot, and their blossom ^[bm]blow away like dust;
For they have ^(GE)rejected the Law of the Lord of armies,
And discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel.
²⁵For this reason the ^(GF)anger of the Lord has burned against His people,
And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them.
And the ^(GG)mountains quaked, and their ^(GH)corpses ^[bn]lay like refuse in the middle of the streets.
^(GI)Despite all this, His anger ^[bo]is not spent,
But His ^(GJ)hand is still stretched out.

²⁶He will also lift up a ^(GK)flag to the distant ^[bp]nation,
And ^(GL)whistle for it ^(GM)from the ends of the earth;
And behold, it will ^(GN)come with speed swiftly.
²⁷^(GO)No one in it is tired or stumbles,
No one slumbers or sleeps;
Nor is the ^(GP)undergarment at his waist loosened,
Nor his sandal strap broken.
²⁸^[bq]^(GQ)Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent;
The hoofs of its horses ^[br]seem like flint, and its chariot ^(GR)wheels like a storm wind.
²⁹Its ^(GS)roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions;
It growls as it ^(GT)seizes the prey
And carries it off with ^(GU)no one to save it.
³⁰And it will ^(GV)roar against it on that day like the roaring of the sea.
If one ^(GW)looks across to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress;
Even the light is darkened by its clouds.

Isaiah’s Vision

6 In the year of ^(GX)King Uzziah’s death ^(GY)I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. ²Seraphim were standing above Him, ^(GZ)each having six wings: with two each covered his face, and with two each covered his feet, and with two each flew. ³And one called out to another and said,

“^(HA)Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies.
The ^[bs]^(HB)whole earth is full of His glory.”

⁴And the ^[bt]foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the ^[bu]^(HC)temple was filling with smoke. ⁵Then I said,

“^(HD)Woe to me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of ^(HE)unclean lips,
And I live among a ^(HF)people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the ^(HG)King, the Lord of armies.”

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the ^(HH)altar with tongs. ⁷He ^(HI)touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and ^(HJ)your guilt is taken away and atonement is made for your sin.”

Isaiah’s Commission

⁸Then I heard the ^(HK)voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then ^(HL)I said, “Here am I. Send me!” ⁹And He said, “Go, and tell this people:

‘Keep on ^(HM)listening, but do not understand;
And keep on looking, but do not gain knowledge.’
¹⁰^(HN)Make the hearts of this people ^[bv]^(HO)insensitive,
Their ears ^[bw]dull,
And their eyes ^[bx]blind,
^(HP)So that they will not see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their hearts,
And return and be healed.”

¹¹Then I said, “Lord, ^(HQ)how long?” And He answered,

“Until ^(HR)cities are devastated and without inhabitant,
Houses are without people
And the land is utterly desolate,
¹²The Lord has ^(HS)completely removed people,
And there ^[by]are many ^(HT)forsaken places in the midst of the land.
¹³Yet there will still be a tenth portion in it,
And it will again be subject to burning,
Like a terebinth or an ^(HU)oak
Whose stump remains when it is cut down.
The ^(HV)holy seed is its stump.”

War against Jerusalem

7 Now it came about in the days of ^(HW)Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that ^(HX)Rezin the king of Aram and ^(HY)Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but ^(HZ)could not ^[bz]conquer it. ²When it was reported to the ^(IA)house of David, saying, “The Arameans ^(IB)have taken a stand by ^(IC)Ephraim,” his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake from the wind.

³Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son ^[ca]Shear-jashub, at the end of the ^(ID)conduit of the upper pool, on the road to the ^[cb]fuller’s field, ⁴and say to him, ‘Take care and be ^(IE)calm, have no ^(IF)fear and ^(IG)do not be fainthearted because of these two stumps of smoldering ^(IH)logs, on account of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the ^(II)son of Remaliah. ⁵Because ^(IJ)Aram, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has planned evil against you, saying, ⁶“Let’s go up against Judah and ^[cc]terrorize it, and take it for ourselves by assault and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” ⁷this is what the Lord ^[cd]God says: “^(IK)It shall not stand nor shall it come to pass. ⁸For the head of Aram is ^(IL)Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin (now within another sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken to pieces, so that it is no longer a people), ⁹and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. ^(IM)If you will not believe, you certainly shall not ^[ce]last.”’”

The Child Immanuel

¹⁰Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹“Ask for a ^(IN)sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ^[cf]make it deep as Sheol or high as ^[cg]heaven.” ¹²But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I put the Lord to the test!” ¹³Then he said, “Listen now, ^(IO)house of David! Is it too trivial a thing for you to ^[ch]try the patience of men, that you will ^[ci]^(IP)try the patience of ^(IQ)my God as well? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, ^(IR)the ^[cj]virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him ^[ck]^(IS)Immanuel. ¹⁵He will eat ^[cl]^(IT)curds and honey ^[cm]at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. ¹⁶^(IU)For before the boy knows enough to refuse evil and choose good, ^(IV)the land whose two kings you dread will be abandoned.

Trials to Come for Judah

¹⁷The Lord will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that ^(IW)Ephraim separated from Judah—the days of the ^(IX)king of Assyria.”

¹⁸On that day the Lord will ^(IY)whistle for the fly that is in the ^[cn]^(IZ)remotest part of the canals of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹They will all come and settle on the steep ^[co]ravines, on the ^(JA)ledges of the cliffs, ^(JB)on all the thorn bushes, and on all the watering places.

²⁰On that day the Lord will ^(JC)shave with a ^(JD)razor, ^(JE)hired from regions beyond ^(JF)the Euphrates River (that is, with the king of Assyria), the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard.

²¹Now on that day a person may keep alive only a ^(JG)heifer and a pair of sheep; ²²and because of the abundance of the milk produced he will eat ^[cp]curds, for everyone who is left within the land will eat ^[cq]^(JH)curds and honey.

²³And it will come about on that day, ^(JI)that every place where there used to be a thousand vines, valued at a thousand shekels of silver, will become ^(JJ)briars and thorns. ²⁴People will come there with bows and arrows, because all the land will be briars and thorns. ²⁵As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the plow, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for ^[cr]^(JK)pasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.

Damascus and Samaria Fall

8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet and ^(JL)write on it ^[cs]in ordinary letters: ^[ct]^(JM)Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ²And ^[cu]I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, ^(JN)Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” ³So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Name him ^[cv]^(JO)Maher-shalal-hash-baz; ⁴for ^(JP)before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of ^(JQ)Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

⁵Again the Lord spoke to me further, saying,

⁶“Inasmuch as these people have ^(JR)rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
And rejoice in ^(JS)Rezin and the son of Remaliah;
⁷Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the ^(JT)strong and abundant waters of the ^(JU)Euphrates River,
That is, the ^(JV)king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will ^(JW)rise over all its channels and go over all its banks.
⁸Then ^(JX)it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through,
It will ^(JY)reach as far as the neck;
And the spread of its wings will ^[cw]fill the expanse of ^[cx]your land, ^(JZ)Immanuel.

A Believing Remnant

⁹“^(KA)Be broken, you peoples, and be ^[cy]^(KB)shattered;
And listen, all remote places of the earth.
^[cz]Get ready, yet be ^[da]shattered;
^[db]Get ready, yet be ^[dc]shattered.
¹⁰^(KC)Devise a plan, but it will fail;
State a ^[dd]proposal, but ^(KD)it will not stand,
For ^[de]^(KE)God is with us.”

¹¹For so the Lord spoke to me ^[df]with ^(KF)mighty power and instructed me ^(KG)not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

¹²“You are not to say, ‘It is a ^(KH)conspiracy!’
Regarding everything that this people call a conspiracy,
And ^(KI)you are not to fear ^[dg]what they fear or be in dread of it.
¹³It is the ^(KJ)Lord of armies ^(KK)whom you are to regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.
¹⁴Then He will become a ^(KL)sanctuary;
But to both houses of Israel, He will be a ^(KM)stone of stumbling and a rock ^[dh]of offense,
And a snare and a ^(KN)trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
¹⁵Many ^(KO)will stumble over them,
Then they will fall and be broken;
They will be snared and caught.”

¹⁶^(KP)Bind up the testimony, ^(KQ)seal the ^[di]Law among ^(KR)my disciples. ¹⁷And I will ^(KS)wait for the Lord ^(KT)who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will wait eagerly for Him. ¹⁸^(KU)Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for ^(KV)signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of armies, who ^(KW)dwells on Mount Zion.

¹⁹When they say to you, “^(KX)Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should a people not ^(KY)consult their God? Should they ^(KZ)consult the dead in behalf of the living? ²⁰To the ^[dj]^(LA)Law and to the testimony! If they do not speak in accordance with this word, it is because ^(LB)they have no dawn. ²¹They will pass through ^[dk]the land ^(LC)dejected and hungry, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will become enraged and curse ^[dl]their king and their God as they face upward. ²²Then they will ^(LD)look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be ^(LE)driven away into darkness.

Birth and Reign of the Prince of Peace

9 ^[dm]But there will be no more ^(LF)gloom for her who was in anguish. In earlier times He ^(LG)treated the ^(LH)land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He will make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the ^[dn]Gentiles.

²^[do]^(LI)The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.
³^(LJ)You will multiply the nation,
You ^(LK)will ^[dp]increase ^[dq]their joy;
They will rejoice in Your presence
As with the joy ^[dr]of harvest,
As people ^(LL)rejoice when they divide the spoils.
⁴For ^(LM)You will break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,
The rod of their ^(LN)oppressor, as ^[ds]at the battle of ^(LO)Midian.
⁵For every boot of the marching warrior in the roar of battle,
And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
⁶For a ^(LP)Child will be born to us, a ^(LQ)Son will be given to us;
And the ^(LR)government will ^[dt]rest ^(LS)on His shoulders;
And His name will be called ^(LT)Wonderful Counselor, ^(LU)Mighty God,
Eternal ^(LV)Father, Prince of ^(LW)Peace.
⁷There will be ^(LX)no end to the increase of His government or of peace
On the ^(LY)throne of David and over ^[du]his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with ^(LZ)justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
^(MA)The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this.

God’s Anger with Israel’s Arrogance

⁸The Lord sends a ^[dv]message against Jacob,
And it falls on Israel.
⁹And all the people know it,
That is, ^(MB)Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
Asserting in pride and in ^(MC)arrogance of heart:
¹⁰“The bricks have fallen down,
But we will ^(MD)rebuild with smooth stones;
The sycamores have been cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”
¹¹Therefore the Lord raises superior adversaries against them from ^(ME)Rezin
And provokes their enemies,
¹²The Arameans from the east and the ^(MF)Philistines from the west;
And they ^(MG)devour Israel with ^[dw]gaping jaws.
^(MH)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away,
And His hand is still stretched out.

¹³Yet the people ^(MI)do not turn back to Him who struck them,
Nor do they ^(MJ)seek the Lord of armies.
¹⁴So the Lord cuts off ^(MK)head and tail from Israel,
Both palm branch and bulrush ^(ML)in a single day.
¹⁵The head is ^(MM)the elder and esteemed man,
And the prophet who teaches ^(MN)falsehood is the tail.
¹⁶^(MO)For those who guide this people are leading them astray;
And those who are guided by them are ^[dx]confused.
¹⁷Therefore the Lord does ^(MP)not rejoice over their young men,
^(MQ)Nor does He have compassion on their ^[dy]orphans or their widows;
For every one of them is ^(MR)godless and an ^(MS)evildoer,
And every ^(MT)mouth is speaking foolishness.
^(MU)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away,
And His hand is still stretched out.

¹⁸^(MV)For wickedness burns like a fire;
It consumes briars and thorns;
It also sets the thickets of the forest aflame
And they roll upward in a column of smoke.
¹⁹By the ^(MW)wrath of the Lord of armies the ^(MX)land is burned,
And the ^(MY)people are like fuel for the fire;
No ^(MZ)one spares his brother.
²⁰^[dz]They devour what is on the right hand but are still ^(NA)hungry,
And ^[ea]they eat what is on the left hand, but they are not satisfied;
Each of them eats the ^(NB)flesh of his own arm.
²¹Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
^(NC)And together they are against Judah.
^(ND)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.

Assyria Is God’s Instrument

10 Woe to those who ^(NE)enact unjust statutes
And to those who constantly record ^[eb]harmful decisions,
²So as ^(NF)to ^[ec]deprive the needy of justice
And rob the poor among My people of their rights,
So ^(NG)that widows may be their spoil
And that they may plunder the ^[ed]orphans.
³Now ^(NH)what will you do in the ^(NI)day of punishment,
And in the devastation which will come ^(NJ)from afar?
^(NK)To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your wealth?
⁴Nothing remains but to crouch ^[ee]among the ^(NL)captives
Or fall ^[ef]among those ^(NM)killed.
^(NN)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.

⁵Woe to ^(NO)Assyria, the ^(NP)rod of My anger
And the staff in whose hands is ^(NQ)My indignation,
⁶I send it against a ^(NR)godless nation
And commission it against the ^(NS)people of My fury
To capture spoils and ^(NT)to seize plunder,
And to ^[eg]trample them down like ^(NU)mud in the streets.
⁷Yet it ^(NV)does not so intend,
Nor does ^[eh]it plan so in its heart,
But rather it is ^[ei]its purpose to destroy
And to eliminate ^[ej]many nations.
⁸For it says, “Are not my officers ^[ek]all kings?
⁹Is not ^(NW)Calno like ^(NX)Carchemish,
Or ^(NY)Hamath like Arpad,
Or ^(NZ)Samaria like ^(OA)Damascus?
¹⁰As my hand has reached to the ^(OB)kingdoms of the idols,
Whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
¹¹Shall I not do the same to Jerusalem and her images
Just as I have done to Samaria and ^(OC)her idols?”

¹²So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His ^(OD)work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will ^[el]punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and ^(OE)the arrogant pride of his eyes.” ¹³For ^(OF)he has said,

“By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this,
Because I have understanding;
And I ^(OG)removed the boundaries of the peoples
And plundered their treasures,
And like a powerful man I brought down ^[em]their inhabitants,
¹⁴And my hand reached to the riches of the peoples like a ^(OH)nest,
And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth;
And there was not one that flapped its wing, opened its beak, or chirped.”

¹⁵Is the ^(OI)axe to ^(OJ)boast itself over the one who chops with it?
Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it?
That would be like ^(OK)a ^[en]club wielding those who lift it,
Or like ^(OL)a rod lifting the one who is not wood.
¹⁶Therefore the Lord, the ^[eo]God of armies, will send a ^(OM)wasting disease among his ^(ON)stout warriors;
And under his ^(OO)glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.
¹⁷And the ^(OP)Light of Israel will become a fire and ^[ep]Israel’s ^(OQ)Holy One a flame,
And it will ^(OR)burn and devour ^[eq]his thorns and his briars in a single day.
¹⁸And He will ^(OS)destroy the glory of his forest and of his fruitful garden, both soul and body,
And it will be as when a sick person wastes away.
¹⁹And the ^(OT)rest of the trees of his forest will be so small in number
That a child could write them down.

A Remnant Will Return

²⁰Now on that day the ^(OU)remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob ^(OV)who have escaped, will no longer rely on the one who struck them, but will truly ^(OW)rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

²¹A ^(OX)remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the ^(OY)mighty God.
²²For ^(OZ)though your people, Israel, may be like the sand of the sea,
Only a remnant within them will return;
A ^(PA)destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.

²³For a complete destruction, one that is determined, ^(PB)the Lord ^[er]God of armies will execute in the midst of the whole land.

²⁴Therefore this is what the Lord ^[es]God of armies says: “My people, you who dwell in ^(PC)Zion, ^(PD)do not fear the Assyrian ^[et]who ^(PE)strikes you with the rod, and lifts up his staff against you the way Egypt did. ²⁵For in a very ^(PF)little while ^(PG)My indignation against you will be ended and My anger will be directed toward their destruction.” ²⁶The Lord of armies will ^(PH)wield a whip against him like the defeat of ^(PI)Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His ^(PJ)staff will be over the sea, and He will lift it up ^(PK)the way He did in Egypt. ²⁷So it will be on that day, that ^[eu]his ^(PL)burden will be removed from your shoulders, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because ^(PM)of fatness.

²⁸He has come against Aiath,
He has passed through ^(PN)Migron;
At ^(PO)Michmash he deposited his ^(PP)baggage.
²⁹They have gone through ^(PQ)the pass, saying,
“^(PR)Geba will be our encampment for the night.”
^(PS)Ramah is terrified, and ^(PT)Gibeah of Saul has fled.
³⁰Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of ^(PU)Gallim!
Pay attention, Laishah and ^[ev]wretched ^(PV)Anathoth!
³¹Madmenah has fled.
The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.
³²Yet today he will halt at ^(PW)Nob;
He ^(PX)shakes his fist at the mountain of the ^[ew]^(PY)daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

³³Behold, the Lord, the ^[ex]God of armies, will lop off the branches with terrifying power;
Those also who are ^(PZ)tall in stature will be cut down,
And those who are lofty will be brought low.
³⁴He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe,
And ^(QA)Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.