Isaiah 8
Christian Standard Bible
The Coming Assyrian Invasion
8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large piece of parchment[a] and write on it with an ordinary pen:[b](A) Maher-shalal-hash-baz.[c] 2 I have appointed[d] trustworthy witnesses—the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.”(B)
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 ‘Father,’ or ‘Mother,’(C) the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off to the king of Assyria.”(D)
5 The Lord spoke to me again:
6 Because these people rejected
the slowly flowing water of Shiloah
and rejoiced with[e] Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,(E)
7 the Lord will certainly bring against them
the mighty rushing water 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;(F)
and its flooded banks[f]
will fill your entire land, Immanuel!(G)
9 Band together,[g] 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.(H)
Make a prediction; it will not happen.
For God is with us.[h](I)
The Lord of Armies, the Only Refuge
11 For this is what the Lord said to me with great power, to keep[i] me from going the way of this people:(J)
12 Do not call everything a conspiracy
that these people say is a conspiracy.(K)
Do not fear what they fear;(L)
do not be terrified.
13 You are to regard only the Lord of Armies as holy.(M)
Only he should be feared;(N)
only he should be held in awe.
14 He will be a sanctuary;(O)
but for the two houses of Israel,
he will be a stone(P) to stumble over
and a rock to trip over,(Q)
and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 Many will stumble over these;(R)
they will fall and be broken;
they will be snared and captured.
16 Bind up the testimony.(S)
Seal up the instruction(T) among my disciples.
17 I will wait for the Lord,(U)
who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob.(V)
I will wait for him.
18 Here I am with the children the Lord has given me(W) to be signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Armies who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 When they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,”(X) shouldn’t a people inquire of their God?[j] Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?(Y) 20 Go to God’s instruction and testimony!(Z) 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(AA) and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.
Footnotes
- 8:1 Hb obscure
- 8:1 Lit with the pen of a man
- 8:1 = Speeding to the Plunder, Hurrying to the Spoil
- 8:2 Vg; MT, one DSS ms read I will appoint; one DSS ms, LXX, Syr, Tg read Appoint
- 8:6 Or and rejoiced over
- 8:8 Lit its outspread wings
- 8:9 Or Raise the war cry, or Be shattered
- 8:10 Hb Immanuel
- 8:11 DSS; MT reads instruct
- 8:19 Or gods
Isaiah 8
New Living Translation
The Coming Assyrian Invasion
8 Then the Lord said to me, “Make a large signboard and clearly write this name on it: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.[a]” 2 I asked Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah, both known as honest men, to witness my doing this.
3 Then I slept with my wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said, “Call him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 4 For before this child is old enough to say ‘Papa’ or ‘Mama,’ the king of Assyria will carry away both the abundance of Damascus and the riches of Samaria.”
5 Then the Lord spoke to me again and said, 6 “My care for the people of Judah is like the gently flowing waters of Shiloah, but they have rejected it. They are rejoicing over what will happen to[b] King Rezin and King Pekah.[c] 7 Therefore, the Lord will overwhelm them with a mighty flood from the Euphrates River[d]—the king of Assyria and all his glory. This flood will overflow all its channels 8 and sweep into Judah until it is chin deep. It will spread its wings, submerging your land from one end to the other, O Immanuel.
9 “Huddle together, you nations, and be terrified.
Listen, all you distant lands.
Prepare for battle, but you will be crushed!
Yes, prepare for battle, but you will be crushed!
10 Call your councils of war, but they will be worthless.
Develop your strategies, but they will not succeed.
For God is with us![e]”
A Call to Trust the Lord
11 The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said,
12 “Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do,
and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.
13 Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.
He is the one you should fear.
He is the one who should make you tremble.
14 He will keep you safe.
But to Israel and Judah
he will be a stone that makes people stumble,
a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem
he will be a trap and a snare.
15 Many will stumble and fall,
never to rise again.
They will be snared and captured.”
16 Preserve the teaching of God;
entrust his instructions to those who follow me.
17 I will wait for the Lord,
who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob.
I will put my hope in him.
18 I and the children the Lord has given me serve as signs and warnings to Israel from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies who dwells in his Temple on Mount Zion.
19 Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?
20 Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. 21 They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven 22 and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
