The Coming Assyrian Invasion

8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet wand write on it in common characters,1 ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’2 2 And xI will get reliable witnesses, yUriah 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, z“Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 afor before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the awealth of bDamascus and the spoil of bSamaria 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 cShiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over dRezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them ethe waters of fthe River,3 mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it gwill 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, hreaching even to the neck, and its ioutspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, jO Immanuel.”

9  Be broken,4 you peoples, and kbe shattered;5

give ear, all you far countries;

strap on your armor and be shattered;

strap on your armor and be shattered.

10  Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;

speak a word, lbut it will not stand,

for God mis with us.6

Fear God, Wait for the Lord

11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and nwarned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call oconspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and pdo not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, qhim you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a rsanctuary and sa 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 tshall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

16 Bind up uthe testimony; vseal the teaching7 among my disciples. 17 I will wwait for the Lord, who is xhiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 yBehold, I and zthe 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 amediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of bthe dead on behalf of the living? 20 cTo the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no ddawn. 21 They will pass through the land,8 greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against9 their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 eAnd they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into fthick darkness.

For to Us a Child Is Born

9 1 But there will be no ggloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he hbrought into contempt the land of iZebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he jhas made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.2

2  3 iThe people kwho walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of ldeep darkness,

on them has light shone.

3  mYou have multiplied the nation;

you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

as with njoy at the harvest,

as they oare glad pwhen they divide the spoil.

4  qFor the yoke of his burden,

rand the staff for his shoulder,

the rod of his oppressor,

you have broken as son the day of Midian.

5  tFor every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult

and every garment rolled in blood

will be burned as fuel for the fire.

6  uFor to us a child is born,

to us va son is given;

wand the government shall be xupon4 his shoulder,

and his name shall be called5

Wonderful yCounselor, zMighty God,

aEverlasting bFather, Prince of cPeace.

7  Of the increase of his government and of peace

dthere will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

ewith justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

fThe zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression

8  The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,

and it will fall on Israel;

9  and all the people will know,

gEphraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,

who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:

10  “The bricks have fallen,

but we will build with dressed stones;

the sycamores have been cut down,

but we will put cedars in their place.”

11  But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,

and stirs up his enemies.

12  hThe Syrians on the east and ithe Philistines on the west

devour Israel with open mouth.

jFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

13  The people kdid not turn to him who struck them,

nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.

14  So the Lord cut off from Israel lhead and tail,

palm branch and reed in one day—

15  mthe elder and honored man is the head,

and nthe prophet who teaches lies is the tail;

16  for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,

and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.

17  Therefore the Lord does not orejoice over their young men,

and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;

for everyone is pgodless and an evildoer,

and every mouth speaks qfolly.6

jFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

18  For wickedness burns like ra fire;

it consumes briers and thorns;

it kindles the thickets of the forest,

and they roll upward in a column of smoke.

19  Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts

the land is scorched,

and sthe people are like fuel for the fire;

tno one spares another.

20  uThey slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,

and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;

veach devours the flesh of his own arm,

21  Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;

together they are wagainst Judah.

xFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

10 Woe to those who ydecree iniquitous decrees,

and the writers who zkeep writing oppression,

2  to turn aside the needy from justice

and ato rob the poor of my people of their right,

that widows may be their spoil,

and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

3  What will you do on bthe day of punishment,

in the ruin that will come cfrom afar?

To whom will you flee for help,

and where will you leave your wealth?

4  Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners

or fall among the slain.

dFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

Judgment on Arrogant Assyria

5  Woe to Assyria, ethe rod of my anger;

the staff in their hands is my fury!

6  Against a fgodless nation I send him,

and against the people of my wrath I command him,

to take gspoil and seize plunder,

and to htread them down like the mire of the streets.

7  But he idoes not so intend,

and his heart does not so think;

but it is in his heart to destroy,

and to cut off nations not a few;

8  for he says:

j“Are not my commanders all kings?

9  kIs not lCalno like mCarchemish?

Is not nHamath like oArpad?

pIs not qSamaria like Damascus?

10  As my hand has reached to rthe kingdoms of the idols,

whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

11  shall I not do to Jerusalem and sher idols

tas I have done to Samaria and her images?”

12 uWhen the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, vhe1 will punish the speech2 of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. 13 wFor he says:

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,

and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;

I remove the boundaries of peoples,

and plunder their treasures;

like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.

14  My hand has found like a nest

the wealth of the peoples;

and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,

so I have gathered all the earth;

and there was none that moved a wing

or opened the mouth or chirped.”

15  Shall xthe axe boast over him who hews with it,

or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?

As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,

or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!

16  Therefore the Lord God of hosts

will send wasting sickness among his ystout warriors,

and under his glory za burning will be kindled,

like the burning of fire.

17  aThe light of Israel will become a fire,

and bhis Holy One a flame,

and cit will burn and devour

his thorns and briers din one day.

18  The glory of ehis forest and of his ffruitful land

the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,

and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.

19  The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few

that a child can write them down.

The Remnant of Israel Will Return

20 gIn that day hthe remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more ilean on him who struck them, but jwill lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, kto the mighty God. 22 lFor though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, monly a remnant of them will return. nDestruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. 23 For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.

24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people, owho dwell in Zion, pbe not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as qthe Egyptians did. 25 For rin a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. 26 And sthe Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck tMidian uat the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it vas he did in Egypt. 27 And in that day whis burden will depart from your shoulder, and