Isaiah 8
8
The Coming Assyrian Invasion
1Then the Lord said to me, “Make a large signboard and clearly write this name on it: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.#8:1 Maher-shalal-hash-baz means “Swift to plunder and quick to carry away.”” 2I asked Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah, both known as honest men, to witness my doing this.
3Then I slept with my wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said, “Call him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 4For before this child is old enough to say ‘Papa’ or ‘Mama,’ the king of Assyria will carry away both the abundance of Damascus and the riches of Samaria.”
5Then the Lord spoke to me again and said, 6“My care for the people of Judah is like the gently flowing waters of Shiloah, but they have rejected it. They are rejoicing over what will happen to#8:6a Or They are rejoicing because of. King Rezin and King Pekah.#8:6b Hebrew and the son of Remaliah. 7Therefore, the Lord will overwhelm them with a mighty flood from the Euphrates River#8:7 Hebrew the river.—the king of Assyria and all his glory. This flood will overflow all its channels 8and sweep into Judah until it is chin deep. It will spread its wings, submerging your land from one end to the other, O Immanuel.
9“Huddle together, you nations, and be terrified.
Listen, all you distant lands.
Prepare for battle, but you will be crushed!
Yes, prepare for battle, but you will be crushed!
10Call your councils of war, but they will be worthless.
Develop your strategies, but they will not succeed.
For God is with us!#8:10 Hebrew Immanuel!”
A Call to Trust the Lord
11The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said,
12“Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do,
and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.
13Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.
He is the one you should fear.
He is the one who should make you tremble.
14He will keep you safe.
But to Israel and Judah
he will be a stone that makes people stumble,
a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem
he will be a trap and a snare.
15Many will stumble and fall,
never to rise again.
They will be snared and captured.”
16Preserve the teaching of God;
entrust his instructions to those who follow me.
17I will wait for the Lord,
who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob.
I will put my hope in him.
18I and the children the Lord has given me serve as signs and warnings to Israel from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies who dwells in his Temple on Mount Zion.
19Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?
20Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. 21They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven 22and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.
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Isaiah 8: NLT
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Isaiah 8
8
Damascus and Samaria Fall
1Then the Lord said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet [for public display] and write on it in ordinary characters: Belonging to #I.e. swift is the plunder, speedy is the prey.Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 2And I will get faithful witnesses to attest [to this prophecy] for me, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” 3So I approached [my wife] the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz [to remind the people of the prophecy]; 4for before the boy knows how to say, ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus (Aram’s capital) and the spoil of Samaria (Israel’s capital) #Samaria was overthrown by Assyria in 722 b.c., ten years after the downfall of Damascus, fulfilling this prophecy.will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”
5Again the Lord spoke to me, saying,
6“Because these people (Judah) have refused the gently flowing waters of #The perennial spring outside Jerusalem that flowed to the Pool of Siloam, Jerusalem’s water supply. The spring was a symbol of God’s protection and sustaining power.Shiloah
And rejoice in Rezin [the king of Aram] and Remaliah’s son [Pekah the king of Israel],
7Now therefore, listen carefully, the Lord is about to bring on them the waters of the [Euphrates] River, strong and abundant—
The king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will rise over all its channels and canals and go far beyond its banks.
8Then it will #This prophecy was literally fulfilled, and although Aram and Israel were conquered and led into captivity, the kingdom of Judah was spared and continued for over 130 years.sweep on into Judah; it will overflow and pass through [the hills],
Reaching even to the neck [of which Jerusalem is the head],
And its outstretched wings (the armies of Assyria) will fill the width of Your land, O Immanuel.
A Believing Remnant
9“Be broken [in pieces], O peoples, and be shattered!
Listen, all you [our enemies from the] far countries.
Prepare yourselves [for war], and be shattered;
Prepare yourselves [for war], and be shattered.
10Take counsel together [against Judah], but it will come to nothing;
Speak the word, but it will not stand,
For God is with us (Immanuel).”
11For in this way the Lord spoke to me with His strong hand [upon me] and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people [behaving as they do], saying,
12“You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,
And you are not to fear what they fear nor be in dread of it.
13It is the Lord of hosts whom you are to regard as holy and awesome.
He shall be your [source of] fear,
He shall be your [source of] dread [not man].
14Then He shall be a sanctuary [a sacred, indestructible shelter for those who fear and trust Him];
But to both the houses of Israel [both the northern and southern kingdoms—Israel and Judah, He will be] a stone on which to stumble and a rock on which to trip,
A trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15Many [among them] will stumble over them;
Then they will fall and be broken,
They will even be snared and trapped.”
16Bind up the testimony, seal the law and the teaching among my (Isaiah’s) disciples. 17And I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; and I will look eagerly for Him. 18Listen carefully, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are #Isaiah’s own name means “Salvation of the Lord.” His two children’s names were “signs” as well, the one (see note v 1) pointing to the coming military crisis and the other (see note 7:3) to the future restoration.for signs and wonders [that will occur] in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
19When the people [instead of trusting God] say to you, “Consult the mediums [who try to talk to the dead] and the soothsayers who chirp and whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20[Direct those people] to the law and to the testimony! If their teachings are not in accord with this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21They [who consult mediums and soothsayers] will pass through the land deeply distressed and hungry, and when they are hungry, they will become enraged and will curse their king and their God as they look upward. 22Then they will look to the earth, they will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness and overwhelming night.
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