Isaiah 8:1-9:7

New American Standard Bible

Damascus and Samaria Fall

8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet and ^(A)write on it ^[a]in ordinary letters: ^[b]^(B)Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ²And ^[c]I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, ^(C)Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” ³So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Name him ^[d]^(D)Maher-shalal-hash-baz; ⁴for ^(E)before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of ^(F)Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

⁵Again the Lord spoke to me further, saying,

⁶“Inasmuch as these people have ^(G)rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
And rejoice in ^(H)Rezin and the son of Remaliah;
⁷Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the ^(I)strong and abundant waters of the ^(J)Euphrates River,
That is, the ^(K)king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will ^(L)rise over all its channels and go over all its banks.
⁸Then ^(M)it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through,
It will ^(N)reach as far as the neck;
And the spread of its wings will ^[e]fill the expanse of ^[f]your land, ^(O)Immanuel.

A Believing Remnant

⁹“^(P)Be broken, you peoples, and be ^[g]^(Q)shattered;
And listen, all remote places of the earth.
^[h]Get ready, yet be ^[i]shattered;
^[j]Get ready, yet be ^[k]shattered.
¹⁰^(R)Devise a plan, but it will fail;
State a ^[l]proposal, but ^(S)it will not stand,
For ^[m]^(T)God is with us.”

¹¹For so the Lord spoke to me ^[n]with ^(U)mighty power and instructed me ^(V)not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

¹²“You are not to say, ‘It is a ^(W)conspiracy!’
Regarding everything that this people call a conspiracy,
And ^(X)you are not to fear ^[o]what they fear or be in dread of it.
¹³It is the ^(Y)Lord of armies ^(Z)whom you are to regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.
¹⁴Then He will become a ^(AA)sanctuary;
But to both houses of Israel, He will be a ^(AB)stone of stumbling and a rock ^[p]of offense,
And a snare and a ^(AC)trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
¹⁵Many ^(AD)will stumble over them,
Then they will fall and be broken;
They will be snared and caught.”

¹⁶^(AE)Bind up the testimony, ^(AF)seal the ^[q]Law among ^(AG)my disciples. ¹⁷And I will ^(AH)wait for the Lord ^(AI)who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will wait eagerly for Him. ¹⁸^(AJ)Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for ^(AK)signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of armies, who ^(AL)dwells on Mount Zion.

¹⁹When they say to you, “^(AM)Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should a people not ^(AN)consult their God? Should they ^(AO)consult the dead in behalf of the living? ²⁰To the ^[r]^(AP)Law and to the testimony! If they do not speak in accordance with this word, it is because ^(AQ)they have no dawn. ²¹They will pass through ^[s]the land ^(AR)dejected and hungry, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will become enraged and curse ^[t]their king and their God as they face upward. ²²Then they will ^(AS)look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be ^(AT)driven away into darkness.

Birth and Reign of the Prince of Peace

9 ^[u]But there will be no more ^(AU)gloom for her who was in anguish. In earlier times He ^(AV)treated the ^(AW)land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He will make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the ^[v]Gentiles.

²^[w]^(AX)The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.
³^(AY)You will multiply the nation,
You ^(AZ)will ^[x]increase ^[y]their joy;
They will rejoice in Your presence
As with the joy ^[z]of harvest,
As people ^(BA)rejoice when they divide the spoils.
⁴For ^(BB)You will break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,
The rod of their ^(BC)oppressor, as ^[aa]at the battle of ^(BD)Midian.
⁵For every boot of the marching warrior in the roar of battle,
And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
⁶For a ^(BE)Child will be born to us, a ^(BF)Son will be given to us;
And the ^(BG)government will ^[ab]rest ^(BH)on His shoulders;
And His name will be called ^(BI)Wonderful Counselor, ^(BJ)Mighty God,
Eternal ^(BK)Father, Prince of ^(BL)Peace.
⁷There will be ^(BM)no end to the increase of His government or of peace
On the ^(BN)throne of David and over ^[ac]his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with ^(BO)justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
^(BP)The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this.

Footnotes

Isaiah 8:1 Lit with the stylus of man
Isaiah 8:1 I.e., swift is the plunder, speedy is the prey
Isaiah 8:2 Another reading is take for me
Isaiah 8:3 I.e., swift is the plunder, speedy is the prey
Isaiah 8:8 Lit be the fullness of
Isaiah 8:8 Or Your
Isaiah 8:9 Or dismayed
Isaiah 8:9 Lit Belt up your waist
Isaiah 8:9 Or dismayed
Isaiah 8:9 Lit Belt up your waist
Isaiah 8:9 Or dismayed
Isaiah 8:10 Lit word
Isaiah 8:10 Heb Immanu-el
Isaiah 8:11 Lit according to the strength of hand
Isaiah 8:12 Lit their fear
Isaiah 8:14 Or to trip on
Isaiah 8:16 Or teaching
Isaiah 8:20 Or teaching
Isaiah 8:21 Lit it
Isaiah 8:21 Or by their king
Isaiah 9:1 Ch 8:23 in Heb
Isaiah 9:1 Or nations
Isaiah 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Heb
Isaiah 9:3 Another reading is not increase
Isaiah 9:3 Lit the
Isaiah 9:3 Lit in
Isaiah 9:4 Lit in the day of Midian
Isaiah 9:6 Lit be
Isaiah 9:7 I.e., David’s

James 2

New American Standard Bible

The Sin of Partiality

2 ^(A)My brothers and sisters, ^(B)do not hold your faith in our ^(C)glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of ^(D)personal favoritism. ²For if a man comes into your ^[a]assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in ^(E)bright clothes, and a poor man in ^(F)dirty clothes also comes in, ³and you ^[b]pay special attention to the one who is wearing the ^(G)bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” ⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges ^(H)with evil ^[c]motives? ⁵Listen, ^(I)my beloved brothers and sisters: did ^(J)God not choose the poor ^[d]of this world to be ^(K)rich in faith and ^(L)heirs of the kingdom which He ^(M)promised to those who love Him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and ^[e]personally ^(N)drag you into ^[f]court? ⁷^(O)Do they not blaspheme the good name ^[g]by which you have been called?

⁸If, however, you ^(P)are fulfilling the ^[h]royal law according to the Scripture, “^(Q)You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹But if you ^(R)show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as violators. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet ^(S)stumbles in one point, has become ^(T)guilty of all. ¹¹For He who said, “^(U)Do not commit adultery,” also said, “^(V)Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a violator of the Law. ¹²So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged by ^(W)the law of freedom. ¹³For ^(X)judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy ^[i]triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Works

¹⁴^(Y)What use is it, ^(Z)my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can ^[j]that faith save him? ¹⁵^(AA)If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, ¹⁶and one of you says to them, “^(AB)Go in peace, ^[k]be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? ¹⁷In the same way, ^(AC)faith also, if it has no works, is ^[l]dead, being by itself.

¹⁸^(AD)But someone ^[m]may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your ^(AE)faith without the works, and I will ^(AF)show you my faith ^(AG)by my works.” ¹⁹You believe that ^[n]^(AH)God is one. ^(AI)You do well; ^(AJ)the demons also believe, and shudder. ²⁰But are you willing to acknowledge, ^(AK)you foolish person, that ^(AL)faith without works is useless? ²¹^(AM)Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that ^(AN)faith was working with his works, and ^[o]as a result of the ^(AO)works, faith was ^[p]perfected; ²³and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “^(AP)And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a ^(AQ)friend of God. ²⁴You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵In the same way, was ^(AR)Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also ^(AS)when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also ^(AT)faith without works is dead.