8:1 Then the LORD said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet and write on it ①in ordinary letters: ②Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
▷ ①Lit with the stylus of man ②I.e., swift is the plunder, speedy is the prey
8:2 And ①I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”
▷ ①Another reading is take for me
8:3 So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Name him ①Maher-shalal-hash-baz;
▷ ①I.e., swift is the plunder, speedy is the prey
8:4 for before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
8:5 Again the LORD spoke to me further, saying,
8:6 “Inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
And rejoice in Rezin and the son of Remaliah;
8:7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the strong and abundant waters of the Euphrates River,
That is, the king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks.
8:8 Then it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through,
It will reach as far as the neck;
And the spread of its wings will ①fill the expanse of ②your land, Immanuel.
▷ ①Lit be the fullness of ②Or Your
8:9 “Be broken, you peoples, and be ①shattered;
And listen, all remote places of the earth.
②Get ready, yet be ③shattered;
④Get ready, yet be ⑤shattered.
▷ ①Or dismayed ②Lit Belt up your waist ③Or dismayed ④Lit Belt up your waist ⑤Or dismayed
8:10 Devise a plan, but it will fail;
State a ①proposal, but it will not stand,
For ②God is with us.”
▷ ①Lit word ②Heb Immanu-el
8:11 For so the LORD spoke to me ①with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,
▷ ①Lit according to the strength of hand
8:12 “You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
Regarding everything that this people call a conspiracy,
And you are not to fear ①what they fear or be in dread of it.
▷ ①Lit their fear
8:13 It is the LORD of armies whom you are to regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.
8:14 Then He will become a sanctuary;
But to both houses of Israel, He will be a stone of stumbling and a rock ①of offense,
And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
▷ ①Or to trip on
8:15 Many will stumble over them,
Then they will fall and be broken;
They will be snared and caught.”
8:16 Bind up the testimony, seal the ①Law among my disciples.
▷ ①Or teaching
8:17 And I will wait for the LORD who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will wait eagerly for Him.
8:18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of armies, who dwells on Mount Zion.
8:19 When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should a people not consult their God? Should they consult the dead in behalf of the living?
8:20 To the ①Law and to the testimony! If they do not speak in accordance with this word, it is because they have no dawn.
▷ ①Or teaching
8:21 They will pass through ①the land dejected and hungry, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will become enraged and curse ②their king and their God as they face upward.
▷ ①Lit it ②Or by their king
8:22 Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness.