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: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 8
8
Assyria Will Rise to Judah’s Neck
1Then Adonai said to me: “Take yourself a great tablet, and write on it with a man’s stylus: ‘Maher-shalal-hashbaz.’”
2So I took for myself trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the kohen and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.
3Then I went to the prophetess; and she conceived and bore a son. Then Adonai said to me: “Call his name Maher-shalal-hashbaz.
4For before the child will have knowledge to cry ‘my father!’ or ‘my mother!’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
5Then Adonai spoke to me further, saying:
6“Because these people have refused the softly flowing waters of Shiloah, and rejoice with Rezin and Remaliah’s son,
7therefore behold, Adonai is bringing on them the waters of the River— mighty and massive— Assyria’s king with all his glory! It will rise over all its channels and spill over all its banks.
8Then it will sweep through Judah, overflow as it passes through, reaching even to the neck! So the spread of its wings will be the full breadth of your land! Immanuel!
9Make an uproar, O peoples— but you will be broken in pieces. Give ear, all you of far countries. Arm yourselves—yet be shattered! Arm yourselves—yet be shattered!
10Take counsel together, but it will amount to nothing. Speak a word, but it will not stand. For God is with us!
11For thus Adonai spoke to me, with a strong hand, warning me that I should not walk in the way of these people, saying:
12 “Do not say: ‘It’s a conspiracy!’ about everything that these people call a conspiracy. You must not fear or tremble at what they fear.
13Adonai-Tzva’ot, Him will you sanctify, and let Him be your fear, trembling at Him.
14He will be a Sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15Many among them will stumble, fall, and be broken, snared and caught.
16Bind up the testimony, seal the instruction with My disciples.
17I will wait for Adonai, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob, and I will look eagerly for Him.
18Here I am with the children that Adonai has given me as signs and wonders in Israel, from Adonai-Tzva’ot who dwells on Mount Zion.
19When they say to you: “Consult the mediums and necromancers who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people seek their God? Should a people consult the dead on behalf of the living?
20To Torah and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no light.
21They will pass this way that are hard-pressed and hungry, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will become enraged and curse their king and their God. Whether they turn their faces upward
22or look to the earth, behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be driven into darkness.
A Great Light in Galilee
23But there is no gloom to her who was in anguish, as in time past. He treated lightly the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future He will bring glory— by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan— Galilee of the Gentiles.
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