Isaiah 8–9

8And Jehovah said unto me, Take thee a great tablet, and write upon it with the pen of a man, For Maher-shalal-hash-baz; ²and I will take unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. ³And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said Jehovah unto me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ⁴For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and, My mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be carried away before the king of Assyria.

⁵And Jehovah spake unto me yet again, saying, ⁶Forasmuch as this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son; ⁷now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the River, strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his glory: and it shall come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks; ⁸and it shall sweep onward into Judah; it shall overflow and pass through; it shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.

⁹Make an uproar, O ye peoples, and be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces. ¹⁰Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us. ¹¹For Jehovah spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, ¹²Say ye not, A conspiracy, concerning all whereof this people shall say, A conspiracy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be in dread thereof. ¹³Jehovah of hosts, him shall ye sanctify; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. ¹⁴And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁵And many shall stumble thereon, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

¹⁶Bind thou up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. ¹⁷And I will wait for Jehovah, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. ¹⁸Behold, I and the children whom Jehovah hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Jehovah of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Zion.

¹⁹And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards, that chirp and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead? ²⁰To the law and to the testimony! if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them. ²¹And they shall pass through it, sore distressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass that, when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse by their king and by their God, and turn their faces upward: ²²and they shall look unto the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and into thick darkness they shall be driven away.

9But there shall be no gloom to her that was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time hath he made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. ²The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. ³Thou hast multiplied the nation, thou hast increased their joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. ⁴For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, thou hast broken as in the day of Midian. ⁵For all the armor of the armed man in the tumult, and the garments rolled in blood, shall be for burning, for fuel of fire. ⁶For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.

⁸The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. ⁹And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in pride and in stoutness of heart, ¹⁰The bricks are fallen, but we will build with hewn stone; the sycomores are cut down, but we will put cedars in their place. ¹¹Therefore Jehovah will set up on high against him the adversaries of Rezin, and will stir up his enemies, ¹²the Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

¹³Yet the people have not turned unto him that smote them, neither have they sought Jehovah of hosts. ¹⁴Therefore Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm-branch and rush, in one day. ¹⁵The elder and the honorable man, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. ¹⁶For they that lead this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed. ¹⁷Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for every one is profane and an evil-doer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

¹⁸For wickedness burneth as the fire; it devoureth the briers and thorns; yea, it kindleth in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke. ¹⁹Through the wrath of Jehovah of hosts is the land burnt up; and the people are as the fuel of fire: no man spareth his brother. ²⁰And one shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: ²¹Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.