Isaiah 8
8
A Warning and a Hope
1The Lord said, “Isaiah, get something to write on. Then write in big clear letters#8.1 in big clear letters: Or “in letters everyone can understand.” the name, MAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ.#8.1 MAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ: In Hebrew “Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz” means “suddenly attacked, quickly taken.” 2I will tell Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah to serve as witnesses to this.”
3Sometime later, my wife and I had a son, and the Lord said, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 4Because before he can say ‘Mommy’ or ‘Daddy,’ the king of Assyria will attack and take everything of value from Damascus and Samaria.”
5The Lord spoke to me again and said:
6These people have refused the gentle waters of Shiloah#8.6 Shiloah: The canal that brought water from Gihon Spring to Jerusalem. and have gladly gone over to the side of King Rezin and King Pekah. 7Now I will send the king of Assyria against them with his powerful army, which will attack like the mighty Euphrates River overflowing its banks. 8Enemy soldiers will cover Judah like a flood reaching up to your neck.
But God is with us.#8.8 God is with us: Here and in verse 10 this translates the Hebrew word “Immanuel” (see 7.14).
He will spread his wings
and protect our land.#8.8 But … land: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
9All of you foreign nations,
go ahead and prepare for war,
but you will be crushed.
10Get together and make plans,
but you will fail
because God is with us.
11The Lord took hold of me with his powerful hand and said:
I'm warning you! Don't act like these people. 12#1 P 3.14,15. Don't call something a rebellious plot, just because they do, and don't be afraid of something, just because they are. 13I am the one you should fear and respect. I am the holy God, the Lord All-Powerful! 14-15#1 P 2.8. Run to me for protection. I am a rock that will make both Judah and Israel stumble and break their bones. I am a trap that will catch the people of Jerusalem—they will be captured and dragged away.
Isaiah and His Followers
16My message and my teachings are to be sealed and given to my followers. 17#He 2.13. Meanwhile, I patiently trust the Lord, even though he is no longer pleased with Israel. 18#He 2.13. My children and I are warning signs to Israel from the Lord All-Powerful, who lives on Mount Zion.
19Someone may say to you, “Go to the fortunetellers who make soft chirping sounds or ask the spirits of the dead. After all, a nation ought to be able to ask its own gods 20what it should do.”
None of those who talk like that will live to see the light of day! 21They will go around in great pain and will become so hungry that they will angrily curse their king and their gods. And when they try to find help in heaven 22and on earth, they will find only trouble and darkness, terrible trouble and deepest darkness.
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Isaiah 8: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 8
8
Assyrian Invasion Prophesied
1Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary #8:1 Hebrew with a man’s stylus: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.#8:1 Maher-shalal-hash-baz means The spoil speeds, the prey hastens or Swift to plunder, quick to carry away; also in verse 3. 2And I will appoint for Myself trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.”
3And I had relations with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 4For before the boy knows how to cry ‘Father’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”
5And the Lord spoke to me further:
6“Because this people has rejected
the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
and rejoiced in Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,
7the Lord will surely bring against them
the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates #8:7 Hebrew the River—
the king of Assyria and all his pomp.
It will overflow its channels
and overrun its banks.
8It will pour into Judah,
swirling and sweeping over it,
reaching up to the neck;
its spreading streams will cover
your entire land, O Immanuel!#8:8 Immanuel means God with us.
9Huddle together,#8:9 Or Raise the war cry or Be evil or Be broken O peoples, and be shattered;
pay attention, all you distant lands;
prepare for battle, and be shattered;
prepare for battle, and be shattered!
10Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted;
state a proposal, but it will not happen.
For God is with us.#8:10 Hebrew Immanuel; see Matthew 1:23.”
A Call to Fear God
(Ecclesiastes 8:10–13)
11For this is what the Lord has spoken to me with a strong hand, instructing me not to walk in the way of this people:
12“Do not call conspiracy
everything these people regard as conspiracy.
Do not fear what they fear;#8:12 Or Do not fear their threats
do not live in dread.#8:12 LXX do not be shaken; cited in 1 Peter 3:14
13The Lord of Hosts is the One
you shall regard as holy.
Only He should be feared;
only He should be dreaded.
14And He will be a sanctuary—
but to both houses of Israel
a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,#8:14 Cited in Romans 9:33 and 1 Peter 2:8
to the dwellers of Jerusalem
a trap and a snare.
15Many will stumble over these;
they will fall and be broken;
they will be ensnared and captured.”
16Bind up the testimony
and seal the law among my disciples.
17I will wait for the Lord,
who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob.
I will put my trust in Him.#8:17 Or I will eagerly look for Him; cited in Hebrews 2:13
18Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me #8:18 Cited in Hebrews 2:13 as signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord of Hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
Darkness and Light
19When men tell you to consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.
21They will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged; and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God. 22Then they will look to the earth and see only distress and darkness and the gloom of anguish. And they will be driven into utter darkness.
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The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain.