Isaiah 8:11–9:1

11 This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me,n warning me not to followo the way of this people:

12 “Do not call conspiracyp

everything this people calls a conspiracy;

do not fear what they fear,q

and do not dread it.r

13 The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,s

he is the one you are to fear,t

he is the one you are to dread.u

14 He will be a holy place;v

for both Israel and Judah he will be

a stonew that causes people to stumblex

and a rock that makes them fall.y

And for the people of Jerusalem he will be

a trap and a snare.z

15 Many of them will stumble;a

they will fall and be broken,

they will be snared and captured.”

16 Bind up this testimony of warningb

and sealc up God’s instruction among my disciples.

17 I will waitd for the Lord,

who is hidinge his face from the descendants of Jacob.

I will put my trust in him.f

18 Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me.g We are signsh and symbolsi in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.j

The Darkness Turns to Light

19 When someone tells you to consultk mediums and spiritists,l who whisper and mutter,m should not a people inquiren of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 Consult God’s instructiono and the testimony of warning.p If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no lightq of dawn. 21 Distressed and hungry,r they will roam through the land;s when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curset their king and their God. 22 Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom,u and they will be thrust into utter darkness.v

9 a Nevertheless, there will be no more gloomw for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,x but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—