Isaiah 8–9

Isaiah’s Son a Sign of the Assyrian Invasion

⁸Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz,’^{u* 2}and have it attested^v for me by reliable witnesses, the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.”^{* 3}And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz, ⁴for before the child knows how to call ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”^*

⁵The Lord spoke to me again: ⁶“Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently and melt in fear before^w Rezin and the son of Remaliah,^{* 7}therefore the Lord is bringing up against it the mighty flood waters of the River, the king of Assyria and all his glory; it will rise above all its channels and overflow all its banks; ⁸it will sweep on into Judah as a flood and, pouring over, will reach up to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.^*

⁹Take notice,^x you peoples, and be dismayed;

listen, all you far countries;

gird yourselves and be dismayed!^y

¹⁰Take counsel together, but it shall be brought to naught;

speak a word, but it will not stand,

for God is with us.”^*

¹¹The Lord spoke thus to me while his hand was strong upon me and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying:^{* 12}“Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what it fears or be in dread.^{* 13}But the Lord of hosts, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.^{* 14}He will become a sanctuary, a stone one strikes against; for both houses of Israel he will become a rock one stumbles over, a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.^{* 15}And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”^*

Disciples of Isaiah

¹⁶Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.^{* 17}I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.^{* 18}See, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.^{* 19}Now if people say to you, “Consult the ghosts and the familiar spirits that chirp and mutter; should not a people consult their gods, the dead on behalf of the living,^{* 20}for teaching and for instruction?” surely those who speak like this will have no dawn!^{* 21}They will pass through the land,^z greatly distressed and hungry; when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will curse^a their king and their gods. They will turn their faces upward,^{* 22}or they will look to the earth, but they will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be thrust into thick darkness.^b*

The Righteous Reign of the Coming King

^9cBut there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.^*

^2dThe people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness—

on them light has shined.^*

³You have multiplied exultation;^e

you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

as with joy at the harvest,

as people exult when dividing plunder.^*

⁴For the yoke of their burden

and the bar across their shoulders,

the rod of their oppressor,

you have broken as on the day of Midian.^*

⁵For all the boots of the tramping warriors

and all the garments rolled in blood

shall be burned as fuel for the fire.^*

⁶For a child has been born for us,

a son given to us;

authority rests upon his shoulders,

and he is named

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.^*

⁷Great will be his authority,^f

and there shall be endless peace

for the throne of David and his kingdom.

He will establish and uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time onward and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.^*

Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression

⁸The Lord sent a word against Jacob,

and it fell on Israel,

⁹and all the people knew it—

Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—

but in pride and arrogance of heart they said:^*

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.”

¹¹So the Lord raised adversaries^g against them

and stirred up their enemies,^*

¹²the Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west,

and they devoured Israel with open mouth.

For all this his anger has not turned away;

his hand is stretched out still.^*

¹³The people did not turn to him who struck them

or seek the Lord of hosts.^*

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

palm branch and reed in one day—^*

¹⁵elders and dignitaries are the head,

and prophets who teach lies are the tail,^*

¹⁶for those who led this people led them astray,

and those who were led by them were left in confusion.^*

¹⁷That is why the Lord did not have pity on^h their young people

or compassion on their orphans and widows,

for everyone was godless and an evildoer,

and every mouth spoke folly.

For all this his anger has not turned away;

his hand is stretched out still.^*

¹⁸For wickedness burned like a fire,

consuming briers and thorns;

it kindled the thickets of the forest,

and they swirled upward in a column of smoke.^*

¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts

the land was burned,

and the people became like fuel for the fire;

no one spared another.^*

²⁰They gorged on the right but still were hungry,

and they devoured on the left but were not satisfied;

they devoured the flesh of their own kindred;^i*

²¹Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,

and together they were against Judah.

For all this his anger has not turned away;

his hand is stretched out still.^*