Isaiah 8
8
Isaiah's Son as a Sign to the People
1The LORD said to me, “Take a large piece of writing material and write on it in large letters:#8.1 large letters; or letters that everyone can read. ‘Quick Loot, Fast Plunder’. 2Get two reliable men, the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah, to serve as witnesses.”
3Some time later my wife became pregnant. When our son was born, the LORD said to me, “Name him ‘Quick-Loot-Fast-Plunder’. 4Before the boy is old enough to say ‘Mummy’ and ‘Daddy’, all the wealth of Damascus and all the loot of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”
The Emperor of Assyria is Coming
5The LORD spoke to me again. 6He said, “Because these people have rejected the quiet waters from the brook of Shiloah,#8.6 brook of Shiloah: A stream which flowed from the large spring on the eastern side of Jerusalem. and tremble#8.6 Probable text tremble; Hebrew rejoice. before King Rezin and King Pekah, 7I, the Lord, will bring the emperor of Assyria and all his forces to attack Judah. They will advance like the flood waters of the River Euphrates, overflowing all its banks. 8They will sweep through Judah in a flood, rising shoulder high and covering everything.”
God is with us! His outspread wings protect the land.#8.8 everything.” God… land; or everything. They will spread out over the land. God be with us!”
9Gather together in fear, you nations! Listen, you distant parts of the earth. Get ready to fight, but be afraid! Yes, get ready, but be afraid! 10Make your plans! But they will never succeed. Talk as much as you like! But it is all useless, because God is with us.
The LORD Warns the Prophet
11With his great power the LORD warned me not to follow the path which the people were following. He said, 12#1 Pet 3.14–15“Do not join in the schemes of the people and do not be afraid of the things that they fear. 13Remember that I, the LORD Almighty, am holy; I am the one you must fear. 14#1 Pet 2.8Because of my awesome holiness I am like a stone that people stumble over; I am like a trap that will catch the people of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel and the people of Jerusalem. 15Many will stumble; they will fall and be crushed. They will be caught in a trap.”
Warning against Consulting the Dead
16You, my disciples are to guard and preserve the messages that God has given me. 17#Heb 2.13The LORD has hidden himself from his people, but I trust him and place my hope in him.
18 #
Heb 2.13
Here I am with the children the LORD has given me. The LORD Almighty, whose throne is on Mount Zion, has sent us as living messages to the people of Israel.
19But people will tell you to ask for messages from fortune tellers and mediums, who chirp and mutter. They will say, “After all, people should ask for messages from the spirits and consult the dead on behalf of the living.”
20You are to answer them, “Listen to what the LORD is teaching you! Don't listen to mediums — what they tell you cannot keep trouble away.”#8.20 Verse 20 in Hebrew is unclear.
A Time of Trouble
21The people will wander through the land, discouraged and hungry. In their hunger and their anger they will curse their king and their God. They may look up to the sky 22or stare at the ground, but they will see nothing but trouble and darkness, terrifying darkness into which they are being driven.
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
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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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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