Isa 8 | HCSB | STEP | Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large piece of parchment and write on it with an ordinary pen : Maher-shalal-hash-baz .

Isaiah 8

The Coming Assyrian Invasion

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large piece of parchment ^{▼▼Hb obscure} and write on it with an ordinary pen: ^{▼▼Lit with the pen of a man
,} ^c Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ^{▼▼= Speeding to the Plunder, Hurrying to the Spoil} 2 I have appointed ^{▼▼Vg; MT, one DSS ms read I will appoint; one DSS ms, LXX, Syr, Tg read Appoint} trustworthy witnesses – Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.” ^f

3 I was then intimate with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz, 4 for before the boy knows how to call out father or mother, ^g the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off to the king of Assyria.” ^h

5 The Lord spoke to me again:

6 Because these people rejected
the slowly flowing waters of Shiloah
and rejoiced with ^{▼▼Or and rejoiced over} Rezin
and the son of Remaliah, ^j
7 the Lord will certainly bring against them
the mighty rushing waters of the Euphrates River –
the king of Assyria and all his glory.
It will overflow its channels
and spill over all its banks.
8 It will pour into Judah,
flood over it, and sweep through,
reaching up to the neck; ^k
and its spreading streams ^{▼▼Or wings}
will fill your entire land, Immanuel! ^m

9 Band together, peoples, and be broken;
pay attention, all you distant lands;
prepare for war, and be broken;
prepare for war, and be broken.
10 Devise a plan; it will fail. ⁿ
Make a prediction; it will not happen.
For God is with us. ^{▼▼Or For Immanuel
,} ^p

The Lord of Hosts, the Only Refuge

11 For this is what the Lord said to me with great power, to keep ^{▼▼DSS; MT reads instruct} me from going the way of this people: ^r

12 Do not call everything an alliance
these people say is an alliance. ^s
Do not fear what they fear; ^t
do not be terrified.
13 You are to regard only the Lord of ^{▼▼Hosts/hosts: Military forces consisting of God's angels, sometimes including the sun, moon, and stars, and occasionally, Israel}Hosts as holy. ^v
Only He should be ^{▼▼fear(s) God or the Lord/ the fear of the Lord: No single English word conveys every aspect of the word fear in this phrase. The meaning includes worshipful submission, reverential awe, and obedient respect to the covenant-keeping God of Israel.}feared; ^x
only He should be held in awe.
14 He will be a sanctuary; ^y
but for the two houses of Israel,
He will be a stone ^z to stumble over
and a rock to trip over, ^aa
and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 Many will stumble over these; ^ab
they will fall and be broken;
they will be snared and captured.

16 Bind up the ^{▼▼testimony: A reference to either the Mosaic law in general or to a specific section of the law, the Ten Commandments, which were written on stone tablets and placed in the ark of the covenant (also called the ark of the testimony)}testimony. ^ad
Seal up the instruction ^ae among my disciples.
17 I will wait for the Lord, ^af
who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. ^ag
I will wait for Him.

18 Here I am with the children the Lord has given me ^ah to be signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hosts who dwells on Mount ^{▼▼Zion: Originally a term for the fortified section of Jerusalem and then, by extension, used for the temple and the city of Jerusalem both in the present time and in the future}Zion. 19 When they say to you, “Consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,” ^aj shouldn’t a people consult their God? ^{▼▼Or gods} Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? ^al 20 To the law and to the testimony! ^am If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.

21 They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22 They will look toward the earth ^an and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.