Isaiah 8:16-22

Good News Translation

Warning against Consulting the Dead

¹⁶ You, my disciples, are to guard and preserve the messages that God has given me. ^17 (A)The Lord has hidden himself from his people, but I trust him and place my hope in him.

^18 (B)Here I am with the children the Lord has given me. The Lord Almighty, whose throne is on Mount Zion, has sent us as living messages to the people of Israel.

¹⁹ But people will tell you to ask for messages from fortunetellers and mediums, who chirp and mutter. They will say, “After all, people should ask for messages from the spirits and consult the dead on behalf of the living.”

²⁰ You are to answer them, “Listen to what the Lord is teaching you! Don't listen to mediums—what they tell you cannot keep trouble away.”^[a]

A Time of Trouble

²¹ The people will wander through the land, discouraged and hungry. In their hunger and their anger they will curse their king and their God. They may look up to the sky ²² or stare at the ground, but they will see nothing but trouble and darkness, terrifying darkness into which they are being driven.