Isaiah 8

English Standard Version

The Coming Assyrian Invasion

8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet ^(A)and write on it in common characters,^[a] ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’^[b] ²And ^(B)I will get reliable witnesses, ^(C)Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”

³And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, ^(D)“Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; ⁴^(E)for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the ^(F)wealth of ^(G)Damascus and the spoil of ^(H)Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

⁵The Lord spoke to me again: ⁶“Because this people has refused the waters of ^(I)Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over ^(J)Rezin and the son of Remaliah, ⁷therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them ^(K)the waters of ^(L)the River,^[c] mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it ^(M)will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, ⁸and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, ^(N)reaching even to the neck, and its ^(O)outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, ^(P)O Immanuel.”

⁹Be broken,^[d] you peoples, and ^(Q)be shattered;^[e]
    give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
    strap on your armor and be shattered.
¹⁰Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
    speak a word, ^(R)but it will not stand,
    for God ^(S)is with us.^[f]

Fear God, Wait for the Lord

¹¹For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and ^(T)warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: ¹²“Do not call ^(U)conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and ^(V)do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. ¹³But the Lord of hosts, ^(W)him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. ¹⁴And he will become a ^(X)sanctuary and ^(Y)a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁵And many ^(Z)shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

¹⁶Bind up ^(AA)the testimony; ^(AB)seal the teaching^[g] among my disciples. ¹⁷I will ^(AC)wait for the Lord, who is ^(AD)hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. ¹⁸^(AE)Behold, I and ^(AF)the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. ¹⁹And when they say to you, “Inquire of the ^(AG)mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of ^(AH)the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰^(AI)To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no ^(AJ)dawn. ²¹They will pass through the land,^[h] greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against^[i] their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. ²²^(AK)And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into ^(AL)thick darkness.