Isaiah 8
8
1Then God told me, “Get a big sheet of paper and write in indelible ink, ‘This belongs to Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Spoil-Speeds-Plunder-Hurries).’”
2-3a I got two honest men, Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah, to witness the document. Then I went home to my wife, the prophetess. She conceived and gave birth to a son.
3b-4 God told me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Before that baby says ‘Daddy’ or ‘Mamma’ the king of Assyria will have plundered the wealth of Damascus and the riches of Samaria.”
* * *
5-8 God spoke to me again, saying:
“Because this people has turned its back
on the gently flowing stream of Shiloah
And gotten all excited over Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,
I’m stepping in and facing them with
the wild floodwaters of the Euphrates,
The king of Assyria and all his fanfare,
a river in flood, bursting its banks,
Pouring into Judah, sweeping everything before it,
water up to your necks,
A huge wingspan of a raging river,
O Immanuel, spreading across your land.”
* * *
9-10But face the facts, all you oppressors, and then wring your hands.
Listen, all of you, far and near.
Prepare for the worst and wring your hands.
Yes, prepare for the worst and wring your hands!
Plan and plot all you want—nothing will come of it.
All your talk is mere talk, empty words,
Because when all is said and done,
the last word is Immanuel—God-With-Us.
A Boulder Blocking Your Way
11-15 God spoke strongly to me, grabbed me with both hands and warned me not to go along with this people. He said:
“Don’t be like this people,
always afraid somebody is plotting against them.
Don’t fear what they fear.
Don’t take on their worries.
If you’re going to worry,
worry about The Holy. Fear God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
The Holy can be either a Hiding Place
or a Boulder blocking your way,
The Rock standing in the willful way
of both houses of Israel,
A barbed-wire Fence preventing trespass
to the citizens of Jerusalem.
Many of them are going to run into that Rock
and get their bones broken,
Get tangled up in that barbed wire
and not get free of it.”
* * *
16-18Gather up the testimony,
preserve the teaching for my followers,
While I wait for God as long as he remains in hiding,
while I wait and hope for him.
I stand my ground and hope,
I and the children God gave me as signs to Israel,
Warning signs and hope signs from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
who makes his home in Mount Zion.
19-22When people tell you, “Try out the fortunetellers.
Consult the spiritualists.
Why not tap into the spirit-world,
get in touch with the dead?”
Tell them, “No, we’re going to study the Scriptures.”
People who try the other ways get nowhere—a dead end!
Frustrated and famished,
they try one thing after another.
When nothing works out they get angry,
cursing first this god and then that one,
Looking this way and that,
up, down, and sideways—and seeing nothing,
A blank wall, an empty hole.
They end up in the dark with nothing.
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Isaiah 8: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Isaiah 8
8
VIII
1And Jehovah said unto me: Take unto thee a large roll; and write upon it, in the style of man, Hasten the spoil, take quickly the prey. 2And I took unto me faithful witnesses; Uriah the priest, and Zachariah the son of Jerebechiah. 3And I approached unto the prophetess; and she conceived and bare a son. And Jehovah said unto me: Call his name Maher-Shalal Hash-Baz. 4For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father and My mother, the riches of Damascus, and the spoil of Samaria, shall be taken away before the face of the king of Assyria.
5Yet again Jehovah spoke unto me, saying:
6Because this people hath rejected
The waters of Shiloah, which flow gently;
And rejoiceth in Rezin, and the son of Remaliah:
7Now, therefore, behold the Lord bringeth up upon them
The waters of the river, strong and mighty;
Even the king of Assyria, and all his glory:
And he shall rise above all their channels,
And go over all their banks.
8And he shall pass through Judah, he shall overflow and go over;
Even to the neck shall he reach:
And the spreading of his wings shall be
Over the full breadth of thy land, O Immanuel!
9Link yourselves together, O ye people, yet shall you be broken in pieces;
And give ear, all ye distant lands:
Gird ye yourselves, yet shall you be broken in pieces;
Gird ye yourselves, yet shall you be broken in pieces.
10Take counsel together, yet it shall be brought to nought;
Speak the word, but it shall not stand;
For God is with us.
11For thus said Jehovah unto me, with a strong hand,
When he warned me against walking in the way of this people, saying:
12Call ye not that a confederacy,
Whatsoever this people shall call a confederacy:
And be ye not afraid of their fear, neither be ye terrified.
13 Jehovah of hosts, Him sanctify;
And let him be your fear, and let him be your terror.
14And he shall be unto you for a sanctuary:
But for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence.
To both the houses of Israel;
For a trap, and for a snare, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15And, against which, many shall stumble,
And shall fall, and be broken; and shall be ensnared, and caught.
16Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
17And I will wait for Jehovah, who hideth his face
From the house of Jacob; and I will look for him.
18Behold, I and the children whom Jehovah hath given me
Are for signs and for wonders in Israel;
From Jehovah of hosts,
Who dwelleth upon mount Zion.
19And when they shall say unto you:
Inquire of the necromancers and the wizards,
Who chirp, and mutter:
Say ye, Should not a people inquire of their God?
Should they inquire of the dead concerning the living?
20To the law and to the testimony:
If they will not speak according to this word,
It is because there is no dawn of day for them.
21And they shall pass through the land sorely beset and hungry:
And it shall come to pass when they shall hunger and fret themselves,
They will curse their king, and their God,
22Whether they shall cast their eyes upward,
Or shall look unto the earth; for, behold trouble and obscurity, palpable darkness;
And a thick night whereinto they shall be driven.
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.