Isaiah 8

Yahweh said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it with a stylus of a man, ‘For Maher-shalal-hash-baz,’

and call reliable witnesses to testify; Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”

And I went into the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, “Call his name ‘Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’

For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”

Yahweh spoke to me again, saying,

“Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son,

so now, behold, the Lord will bring upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels and go over all its banks.

It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through; it will reach even to the neck, and the stretching out of its wings will fill the width of your land, O Immanuel.

Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle and be shattered! Dress for battle and be shattered!

Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word and it will not stand, because God is with us.”

For Yahweh spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

“Do not say, ‘A conspiracy!’ concerning everything about which these people say, ‘A conspiracy!’ And do not fear what they fear, nor be terrorized.

It is Yahweh of Armies alone who you all must regard as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread.

And he can be a refuge or he can be a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, and a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared and be captured.”

Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Yahweh of Armies who dwells on Mount Zion.

When they tell you, “Consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light of dawn in them.

And they will pass through it, very distressed and hungry, and when they are hungry they will become enraged and curse their king and their God, and they will turn their faces upward.

And they look to the earth and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.