Isaiah 8
The Coming Assyrian Invasion
1 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet a and write on it in common characters, ▼
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Hebrew with a man’s stylus
‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’
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Maher-shalal-hash-baz means The spoil speeds, the prey hastens
2 And d I will get reliable witnesses, e Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.” 3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, f “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 g for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the h wealth of i Damascus and the spoil of j Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.” 5 The Lord spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of k Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over l Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them m the waters of n the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it o will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, p reaching even to the neck, and its q outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, r O Immanuel.” 9 Be broken,
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Or Be evil
you peoples, and t be shattered;
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Or dismayed
give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
strap on your armor and be shattered.
10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
speak a word v but it will not stand,
for God w is with us. ▼
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The Hebrew for God is with us is Immanuel
Fear God, Wait for the Lord
11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and y warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call z conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and aa do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, ab him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a ac sanctuary and ad a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many ae shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.” 16 Bind up af the testimony; ag seal the teaching ▼
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Or law; also verse 20
among my disciples. 17 I will ai wait for the Lord, who is aj hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 ak Behold, I and al the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the am mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of an the dead on behalf of the living? 20 ao To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no ap dawn. 21 They will pass through the land,
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Hebrew it
greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against
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Or speak contemptuously by
their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 as And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into at thick darkness.
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