¹⁴ Therefore the ^(A)Lord himself will give you a sign. ^(B)Behold, the ^(C)virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name ^(D)Immanuel.^{[a] 15} He shall eat ^(E)curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. ^16 (F)For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be ^(G)deserted.

^17 (A)The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that ^(B)Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

¹⁸ In that day the Lord will ^(C)whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹ And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and ^(D)in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.^[a]

²⁰ In that day ^(E)the Lord will ^(F)shave with a razor that is ^(G)hired beyond ^(H)the River^[b]—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.

^21 (I)In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, ²² and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat ^(J)curds and honey.

²³ In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels^[c] of silver, will become ^(K)briers and thorns. ^24 (L)With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. ^25 (M)And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear ^(N)of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

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] 2} And ^(B)I will get reliable witnesses, ^(C)Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”

³ And 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.”

⁵ The 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, ⁷ therefore, 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, ⁸ and 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.”

Fear God, Wait for the Lord

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

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