Isaiah 8–9

8Moreover the Lord said unto me, Take thee a great ^aroll, and ^bwrite in it with ^ca man’s pen concerning ^†Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ²And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, ^dUriah the priest, and ^eZechariah the son of Jeberechiah. ³And I ^†went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the Lord to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ^4fFor before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, ^||fthe riches of ^gDamascus and the spoil of ^hSamaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.

⁵The Lord spake also unto me again, saying,

⁶Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of ⁱShiloah that go softly,

And rejoice in ^kRezin and Remaliah’s son;

⁷Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them

^lThe waters of ^llthe river, strong and many,

Even ^mthe king of Assyria, and all his glory:

And he shall come up over all his channels,

And go over all his banks:

⁸And he shall pass through Judah;

He shall ^nooverflow and ^ogo over,

He shall reach even ⁿto the neck;

And ^†qthe stretching out of ^rhis wings shall fill ^sthe breadth of thy land, O ^tImmanuel.

^9uAssociate yourselves, O ye people, ^||and ^vye shall be broken in pieces;

And give ear, all ye of far countries:

Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces;

Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.

^10wTake counsel together, and it shall ^xcome to nought;

Speak the word, and ^yit shall not stand:

For ^tzGod is with us.

¹¹For the Lord spake thus to me ^†with a strong hand,

And instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,

¹²Say ye not, ^aA confederacy,

To all them to whom this people shall say, ^aA confederacy;

^bNeither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.

^13cSanctify the Lord of hosts himself;

And ^dlet him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

¹⁴And ^ehe shall be for a sanctuary;

But for ^fa stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel,

^gFor a gin and ^gfor a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁵And many among them shall stumble, and ^hfall, and be broken,

And be snared, and be taken.

¹⁶Bind up the testimony, ⁱseal the law among my ^kdisciples.

¹⁷And I will ^lwait upon the Lord,

That ^mhideth his face from the house of Jacob,

And I will ⁿlook for him.

^18oBehold, I and ^pthe children whom the Lord hath given me

Are ^qfor signs and ^qfor ^rwonders in Israel

From the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.

¹⁹And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto ^sthem that have familiar spirits,

And unto ^swizards ^tthat peep, and ^uthat mutter:

^vShould not a people seek unto their God?

For the living to ^wthe dead?

^20xTo the law and to the testimony:

^yIf they speak not according to this word,

^zIt is because there is ^†no light in them.

²¹And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and ^ahungry:

And it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves,

And ^bcurse their king and their God, and look upward.

²²And ^cthey shall look unto the earth;

And behold ^dtrouble and darkness, ^edimness of ^danguish;

And they shall be driven to darkness.

9Nevertheless ^athe dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation,

When at the ^bfirst ^che lightly afflicted ^dthe land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

And ^eafterward ^fdid more grievously afflict her ^dby the way of the sea,

^gBeyond Jordan, ^hin Galilee ^||of ⁱthe nations.

²The ^djpeople ^kthat walked in darkness have seen a great light:

They that dwell in the land of ^lthe shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

^3llThou hast multiplied the nation, and ^||not increased the joy:

They joy before thee according to the ^mjoy in harvest,

And ⁿas men rejoice when ^othey divide the spoil.

^4||For thou hast broken ^pthe yoke of his burden, and ^qthe staff of his shoulder,

^qThe rod of his oppressor, as in ^rthe day of ^sMidian.

^5||For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise,

And garments rolled in blood;

^t||But this shall be with burning and ^†fuel of fire.

^6uFor unto us a child is born, unto us ^va son is given:

And ^wthe government shall be ^xupon his shoulder:

And his name shall be called ^yWonderful, ^zCounseller, ^aThe mighty God,

^bThe everlasting ^cFather, ^dThe Prince of Peace.

⁷Of the increase of his government and peace ^ethere shall be no end,

^eUpon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom,

To order it, and to establish it ^fwith judgment and with justice

From henceforth even for ever.

^gThe zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

⁸The Lord sent a word into Jacob,

And it hath lighted upon Israel.

⁹And all the people shall ^hknow,

Even ⁱEphraim and the inhabitant of ^kSamaria,

That say in the pride and stoutness of heart,

¹⁰The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones:

^lThe sycomores are cut down, but we will ^mchange them into cedars.

¹¹Therefore the Lord shall ⁿset up the adversaries of ^oRezin against him,

And ^†join his enemies together;

^12pThe Syrians before, and ^qthe Philistines behind;

And they shall devour Israel ^†with open mouth.

^rFor all this his anger is not turned away,

But his hand is stretched out still.

¹³For ^sthe people turneth not unto him that smiteth them,

Neither do they seek the Lord of hosts.

¹⁴Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel ^thead and tail,

^tuBranch and ^tvrush, ^xin one day.

¹⁵The ancient and ^yhonourable, he is the head;

And ^zthe prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.

¹⁶For ^||athe leaders of this people ^zcause them to err;

And ^||athey that are led of them are ^†adestroyed.

¹⁷Therefore ^bthe Lord shall have no joy in their young men,

Neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows:

For every one is ^can hypocrite and an evildoer,

And every mouth speaketh ^||ccfolly.

^dFor all this his anger is not turned away,

But his hand is stretched out still.

¹⁸For wickedness ^eburneth as the fire:

It shall devour ^fthe briers and thorns,

And shall kindle in ^gthe thickets of the forest,

And they shall mount up like ^hthe lifting up of smoke.

¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened,

And the people shall be as the ^†fuel of the fire:

ⁱNo man shall spare his brother.

²⁰And he shall ^†snatch on the right hand, and be hungry;

And ^khe shall eat on the left hand, and ^kthey shall not be satisfied:

^lThey shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:

^21mManasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh:

And ⁿthey together shall be against Judah.

^dFor all this his anger is not turned away,

But his hand is stretched out still.