Isaiah 8–9

Assyria Will Invade the Land

8Moreover the Lord said to me, “Take a large scroll, and ^awrite on it with a man’s pen concerning ¹Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. ²And I will take for Myself faithful witnesses to record, ^bUriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”

³Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz; ^4cfor before the child ²shall have knowledge to cry ‘My father’ and ‘My mother,’ ^dthe riches of Damascus and the ³spoil of Samaria will be taken away before the king of Assyria.”

⁵The Lord also spoke to me again, saying:

⁶“Inasmuch as these people refused

The waters of ^eShiloah that flow softly,

And rejoice ^fin Rezin and in Remaliah’s son;

⁷Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them

The waters of ⁴the River, strong and mighty—

The king of Assyria and all his glory;

He will ⁵go up over all his channels

And go over all his banks.

⁸He will pass through Judah,

He will overflow and pass over,

^gHe will reach up to the neck;

And the stretching out of his wings

Will ⁶fill the breadth of Your land, O ^hImmanuel. ⁷

⁹“Be ⁱshattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces!

Give ear, all you from far countries.

Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces;

Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces.

^10jTake counsel together, but it will come to nothing;

Speak the word, ^kbut it will not stand,

^lFor ⁸God is with us.”

Fear God, Heed His Word

¹¹For the Lord spoke thus to me with ⁹a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying:

¹²“Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’

Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy,

Nor be afraid of their ¹threats, nor be ²troubled.

¹³The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow;

Let Him be your fear,

And let Him be your dread.

^14mHe will be as a ³sanctuary,

But ⁿa stone of stumbling and a rock of ⁴offense

To both the houses of Israel,

As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁵And many among them shall ^ostumble;

They shall fall and be broken,

Be snared and ⁵taken.”

¹⁶Bind up the testimony,

Seal the law among my disciples.

¹⁷And I will wait on the Lord,

Who ^phides His face from the house of Jacob;

And I ^qwill hope in Him.

^18rHere am I and the children whom the Lord has given me!

We ^sare for signs and wonders in Israel

From the Lord of hosts,

Who dwells in Mount Zion.

¹⁹And when they say to you, ^t“Seek those who are mediums and wizards, ^uwho whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they ^vseek the dead on behalf of the living? ^20wTo the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because ^xthere ⁶is no light in them.

²¹They will pass through it hard-pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and ^ycurse ⁷their king and their God, and look upward. ²²Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness.

The Government of the Promised Son

9Nevertheless ^athe gloom will not be upon her who is distressed,

As when at ^bfirst He lightly esteemed

The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

And ^cafterward more heavily oppressed her,

By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,

In Galilee of the Gentiles.

^2dThe people who walked in darkness

Have seen a great light;

Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,

Upon them a light has shined.

³You have multiplied the nation

And ¹increased its joy;

They rejoice before You

According to the joy of harvest,

As men rejoice ^ewhen they divide the spoil.

⁴For You have broken the yoke of his burden

And the staff of his shoulder,

The rod of his oppressor,

As in the day of ^fMidian.

⁵For every warrior’s ²sandal from the noisy battle,

And garments rolled in blood,

^gWill be used for burning and fuel ³of fire.

^6hFor unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a ⁱSon is given;

And ^jthe government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

^kWonderful, Counselor, ^lMighty God,

Everlasting Father, ^mPrince of Peace.

⁷Of the increase of His government and peace

ⁿThere will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The ^ozeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

The Punishment of Samaria

⁸The Lord sent a word against ^pJacob,

And it has fallen on Israel.

⁹All the people will know—

Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria—

Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:

¹⁰“The bricks have fallen down,

But we will rebuild with hewn stones;

The sycamores are cut down,

But we will replace them with cedars.”

¹¹Therefore the Lord shall set up

The adversaries of Rezin against him,

And spur his enemies on,

¹²The Syrians before and the Philistines behind;

And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth.

For all this His anger is not turned away,

But His hand is ⁴stretched out still.

¹³For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them,

Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts.

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

Palm branch and bulrush ^qin one day.

¹⁵The elder and honorable, he is the head;

The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.

¹⁶For ^rthe leaders of this people cause them to err,

And those who are led by them are destroyed.

¹⁷Therefore the Lord ^swill have no joy in their young men,

Nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows;

For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer,

And every mouth speaks ⁵folly.

^tFor all this His anger is not turned away,

But His hand is stretched out still.

¹⁸For wickedness ^uburns as the fire;

It shall devour the briers and thorns,

And kindle in the thickets of the forest;

They shall mount up like rising smoke.

¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts

^vThe land is burned up,

And the people shall be as fuel for the fire;

^wNo man shall spare his brother.

²⁰And he shall ⁶snatch on the right hand

And be hungry;

He shall devour on the left hand

^xAnd not be satisfied;

^yEvery man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.

²¹Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh;

Together they shall be ^zagainst Judah.

^aFor all this His anger is not turned away,

But His hand is stretched out still.