18 Here I am with the children the Lord has given mew to be signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Armies who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 When they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,”x shouldn’t a people inquire of their God?J Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?y 20 Go to God’s instruction and testimony!z If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.

21 They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22 They will look toward the earthaa and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.