Isaiah 8–9

The Coming Assyrian Invasion

8Then 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.”

³And 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; ^4afor 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.”

⁵The 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, ⁷therefore, 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, ⁸and 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.”

⁹Be 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.

¹⁰Take 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

¹¹For 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. ¹³But the Lord of hosts, ^qhim you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. ¹⁴And 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. ¹⁵And many ^tshall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

¹⁶Bind up ^uthe testimony; ^vseal the teaching⁷ among my disciples. ¹⁷I will ^wwait for the Lord, who is ^xhiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. ^18yBehold, 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. ¹⁹And 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? ^20cTo the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no ^ddawn. ²¹They 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. ^22eAnd 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

9¹ 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

^{23 i}The people ^kwho walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of ^ldeep darkness,

on them has light shone.

^3mYou 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.

^4qFor 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.

^5tFor every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult

and every garment rolled in blood

will be burned as fuel for the fire.

^6uFor 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.

⁷Of 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

⁸The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,

and it will fall on Israel;

⁹and 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.”

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

and stirs up his enemies.

^12hThe 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.

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

nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.

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

palm branch and reed in one day—

^15mthe elder and honored man is the head,

and ⁿthe prophet who teaches lies is the tail;

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

and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.

¹⁷Therefore 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.

¹⁸For 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.

¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts

the land is scorched,

and ^sthe people are like fuel for the fire;

^tno one spares another.

^20uThey 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,

²¹Manasseh 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.