Isaiah 8

New American Standard Bible

Damascus and Samaria Fall

8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet and ^(A)write on it ^[a]in ordinary letters: ^[b]^(B)Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ²And ^[c]I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, ^(C)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 ^[d]^(D)Maher-shalal-hash-baz; ⁴for ^(E)before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of ^(F)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 ^(G)rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
And rejoice in ^(H)Rezin and the son of Remaliah;
⁷Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the ^(I)strong and abundant waters of the ^(J)Euphrates River,
That is, the ^(K)king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will ^(L)rise over all its channels and go over all its banks.
⁸Then ^(M)it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through,
It will ^(N)reach as far as the neck;
And the spread of its wings will ^[e]fill the expanse of ^[f]your land, ^(O)Immanuel.

A Believing Remnant

⁹“^(P)Be broken, you peoples, and be ^[g]^(Q)shattered;
And listen, all remote places of the earth.
^[h]Get ready, yet be ^[i]shattered;
^[j]Get ready, yet be ^[k]shattered.
¹⁰^(R)Devise a plan, but it will fail;
State a ^[l]proposal, but ^(S)it will not stand,
For ^[m]^(T)God is with us.”

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

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

¹⁶^(AE)Bind up the testimony, ^(AF)seal the ^[q]Law among ^(AG)my disciples. ¹⁷And I will ^(AH)wait for the Lord ^(AI)who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will wait eagerly for Him. ¹⁸^(AJ)Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for ^(AK)signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of armies, who ^(AL)dwells on Mount Zion.

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