Isaiah 8-10

English Standard Version

The Coming Assyrian Invasion

8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet ^(A)and write on it in common characters,^[a] ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’^[b] ²And ^(B)I will get reliable witnesses, ^(C)Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”

³And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, ^(D)“Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; ⁴^(E)for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the ^(F)wealth of ^(G)Damascus and the spoil of ^(H)Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

⁵The Lord spoke to me again: ⁶“Because this people has refused the waters of ^(I)Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over ^(J)Rezin and the son of Remaliah, ⁷therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them ^(K)the waters of ^(L)the River,^[c] mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it ^(M)will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, ⁸and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, ^(N)reaching even to the neck, and its ^(O)outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, ^(P)O Immanuel.”

⁹Be broken,^[d] you peoples, and ^(Q)be shattered;^[e]
    give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
    strap on your armor and be shattered.
¹⁰Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
    speak a word, ^(R)but it will not stand,
    for God ^(S)is with us.^[f]

Fear God, Wait for the Lord

¹¹For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and ^(T)warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: ¹²“Do not call ^(U)conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and ^(V)do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. ¹³But the Lord of hosts, ^(W)him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. ¹⁴And he will become a ^(X)sanctuary and ^(Y)a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁵And many ^(Z)shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

¹⁶Bind up ^(AA)the testimony; ^(AB)seal the teaching^[g] among my disciples. ¹⁷I will ^(AC)wait for the Lord, who is ^(AD)hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. ¹⁸^(AE)Behold, I and ^(AF)the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. ¹⁹And when they say to you, “Inquire of the ^(AG)mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of ^(AH)the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰^(AI)To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no ^(AJ)dawn. ²¹They will pass through the land,^[h] greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against^[i] their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. ²²^(AK)And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into ^(AL)thick darkness.

For to Us a Child Is Born

9 ^[j] But there will be no ^(AM)gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he ^(AN)brought into contempt the land of ^(AO)Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he ^(AP)has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.^[k]

²^[l] ^(AQ)The people ^(AR)who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of ^(AS)deep darkness,
    on them has light shone.
³^(AT)You have multiplied the nation;
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with ^(AU)joy at the harvest,
    as they ^(AV)are glad ^(AW)when they divide the spoil.
⁴^(AX)For the yoke of his burden,
    ^(AY)and the staff for his shoulder,
    the rod of his oppressor,
    you have broken as ^(AZ)on the day of Midian.
⁵^(BA)For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
    and every garment rolled in blood
    will be burned as fuel for the fire.
⁶^(BB)For to us a child is born,
    to us ^(BC)a son is given;
^(BD)and the government shall be ^(BE)upon^[m] his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called^[n]
Wonderful ^(BF)Counselor, ^(BG)Mighty God,
    ^(BH)Everlasting ^(BI)Father, Prince of ^(BJ)Peace.
⁷Of the increase of his government and of peace
    ^(BK)there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
^(BL)with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
^(BM)The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression

⁸The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
    and it will fall on Israel;
⁹and all the people will know,
    ^(BN)Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
    who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:
¹⁰“The bricks have fallen,
    but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
    but we will put cedars in their place.”
¹¹But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,
    and stirs up his enemies.
¹²^(BO)The Syrians on the east and ^(BP)the Philistines on the west
    devour Israel with open mouth.
^(BQ)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

¹³The people ^(BR)did not turn to him who struck them,
    nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.
¹⁴So the Lord cut off from Israel ^(BS)head and tail,
    palm branch and reed in one day—
¹⁵^(BT)the elder and honored man is the head,
    and ^(BU)the prophet who teaches lies is the tail;
¹⁶for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,
    and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.
¹⁷Therefore the Lord does not ^(BV)rejoice over their young men,
    and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;
for everyone is ^(BW)godless and an evildoer,
    and every mouth speaks ^(BX)folly.^[o]
^(BY)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

¹⁸For wickedness burns like ^(BZ)a fire;
    it consumes briers and thorns;
it kindles the thickets of the forest,
    and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
    the land is scorched,
and ^(CA)the people are like fuel for the fire;
    ^(CB)no one spares another.
²⁰^(CC)They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,
    and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;
^(CD)each devours the flesh of his own arm,
²¹Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;
    together they are ^(CE)against Judah.
^(CF)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

10 Woe to those who ^(CG)decree iniquitous decrees,
    and the writers who ^(CH)keep writing oppression,
²to turn aside the needy from justice
    and ^(CI)to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be their spoil,
    and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
³What will you do on ^(CJ)the day of punishment,
    in the ruin that will come ^(CK)from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
    and where will you leave your wealth?
⁴Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners
    or fall among the slain.
^(CL)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

Judgment on Arrogant Assyria

⁵Woe to Assyria, ^(CM)the rod of my anger;
    the staff in their hands is my fury!
⁶Against a ^(CN)godless nation I send him,
    and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take ^(CO)spoil and seize plunder,
    and to ^(CP)tread them down like the mire of the streets.
⁷But he ^(CQ)does not so intend,
    and his heart does not so think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
    and to cut off nations not a few;
⁸for he says:
^(CR)“Are not my commanders all kings?
⁹^(CS)Is not ^(CT)Calno like ^(CU)Carchemish?
    Is not ^(CV)Hamath like ^(CW)Arpad?
    ^(CX)Is not ^(CY)Samaria like Damascus?
¹⁰As my hand has reached to ^(CZ)the kingdoms of the idols,
    whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
¹¹shall I not do to Jerusalem and ^(DA)her idols
    ^(DB)as I have done to Samaria and her images?”

¹²^(DC)When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, ^(DD)he^[p] will punish the speech^[q] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. ¹³^(DE)For he says:

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
    and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
    and plunder their treasures;
    like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
¹⁴My hand has found like a nest
    the wealth of the peoples;
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
    so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing
    or opened the mouth or chirped.”

¹⁵Shall ^(DF)the axe boast over him who hews with it,
    or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
    or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
¹⁶Therefore the Lord God of hosts
    will send wasting sickness among his ^(DG)stout warriors,
and under his glory ^(DH)a burning will be kindled,
    like the burning of fire.
¹⁷^(DI)The light of Israel will become a fire,
    and ^(DJ)his Holy One a flame,
and ^(DK)it will burn and devour
    his thorns and briers ^(DL)in one day.
¹⁸The glory of ^(DM)his forest and of his ^(DN)fruitful land
    the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
    and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
¹⁹The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
    that a child can write them down.

The Remnant of Israel Will Return

²⁰^(DO)In that day ^(DP)the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more ^(DQ)lean on him who struck them, but ^(DR)will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ²¹A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, ^(DS)to the mighty God. ²²^(DT)For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, ^(DU)only a remnant of them will return. ^(DV)Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. ²³For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.

²⁴Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people, ^(DW)who dwell in Zion, ^(DX)be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as ^(DY)the Egyptians did. ²⁵For ^(DZ)in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. ²⁶And ^(EA)the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck ^(EB)Midian ^(EC)at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it ^(ED)as he did in Egypt. ²⁷And in that day ^(EE)his burden will depart from your shoulder, and ^(EF)his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”^[r]

²⁸He has come to Aiath;
he has passed through ^(EG)Migron;
    at Michmash he stores ^(EH)his baggage;
²⁹they have crossed over ^(EI)the pass;
    at ^(EJ)Geba they lodge for the night;
^(EK)Ramah trembles;
    ^(EL)Gibeah of Saul has fled.
³⁰Cry aloud, O daughter of ^(EM)Gallim!
    Give attention, O Laishah!
    O poor ^(EN)Anathoth!
³¹Madmenah is in flight;
    the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
³²This very day he will halt at ^(EO)Nob;
    he will shake his fist
    at the mount of ^(EP)the daughter of Zion,
    the hill of Jerusalem.

³³Behold, the Lord God of hosts
    ^(EQ)will lop ^(ER)the boughs with terrifying power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
    and the lofty will be brought low.
³⁴He will cut down ^(ES)the thickets of the forest with an axe,
    and ^(ET)Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.

Footnotes

Isaiah 8:1 Hebrew with a man's stylus
Isaiah 8:1 Maher-shalal-hash-baz means The spoil speeds, the prey hastens
Isaiah 8:7 That is, the Euphrates
Isaiah 8:9 Or Be evil
Isaiah 8:9 Or dismayed
Isaiah 8:10 The Hebrew for God is with us is Immanuel
Isaiah 8:16 Or law; also verse 20
Isaiah 8:21 Hebrew it
Isaiah 8:21 Or speak contemptuously by
Isaiah 9:1 Ch 8:23 in Hebrew
Isaiah 9:1 Or of the Gentiles
Isaiah 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Hebrew
Isaiah 9:6 Or is upon
Isaiah 9:6 Or is called
Isaiah 9:17 Or speaks disgraceful things
Isaiah 10:12 Hebrew I
Isaiah 10:12 Hebrew fruit
Isaiah 10:27 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

Hebrews 8

English Standard Version

Jesus, High Priest of a Better Covenant

8 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, ^(A)one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ²a minister in the holy places, in ^(B)the true tent^[a] that the Lord ^(C)set up, not man. ³For ^(D)every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus ^(E)it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. ⁴Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. ⁵They serve ^(F)a copy and ^(G)shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, ^(H)“See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” ⁶But as it is, Christ^[b] has obtained a ministry that is ^(I)as much more excellent than the old as ^(J)the covenant ^(K)he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. ⁷^(L)For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

⁸For he finds fault with them when he says:^[c]

^(M)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
    and with the house of Judah,
⁹not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
    on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
    and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
¹⁰^(N)For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
    after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
    and ^(O)write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
¹¹And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
    and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall ^(P)all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
¹²For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
    ^(Q)and I will remember their sins no more.”