Isaiah 8
New King James Version
Assyria Will Invade the Land
8 Moreover the Lord said to me, “Take a large scroll, and (A)write on it with a man’s pen concerning [a]Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 2 And I will take for Myself faithful witnesses to record, (B)Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”
3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz; 4 (C)for before the child [b]shall have knowledge to cry ‘My father’ and ‘My mother,’ (D)the riches of Damascus and the [c]spoil of Samaria will be taken away before the king of Assyria.”
5 The Lord also spoke to me again, saying:
6 “Inasmuch as these people refused
The waters of (E)Shiloah that flow softly,
And rejoice (F)in Rezin and in Remaliah’s son;
7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them
The waters of [d]the River, strong and mighty—
The king of Assyria and all his glory;
He will [e]go up over all his channels
And go over all his banks.
8 He will pass through Judah,
He will overflow and pass over,
(G)He will reach up to the neck;
And the stretching out of his wings
Will [f]fill the breadth of Your land, O (H)Immanuel.[g]
9 “Be(I) shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces!
Give ear, all you from far countries.
Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces;
Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces.
10 (J)Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
Speak the word, (K)but it will not stand,
(L)For [h]God is with us.”
Fear God, Heed His Word
11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with [i]a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying:
12 “Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’
Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy,
Nor be afraid of their [j]threats, nor be [k]troubled.
13 The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow;
Let Him be your fear,
And let Him be your dread.
14 (M)He will be as a [l]sanctuary,
But (N)a stone of stumbling and a rock of [m]offense
To both the houses of Israel,
As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 And many among them shall (O)stumble;
They shall fall and be broken,
Be snared and [n]taken.”
16 Bind up the testimony,
Seal the law among my disciples.
17 And I will wait on the Lord,
Who (P)hides His face from the house of Jacob;
And I (Q)will hope in Him.
18 (R)Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me!
We (S)are for signs and wonders in Israel
From the Lord of hosts,
Who dwells in Mount Zion.
19 And when they say to you, (T)“Seek those who are mediums and wizards, (U)who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they (V)seek the dead on behalf of the living? 20 (W)To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because (X)there[o] is no light in them.
21 They will pass through it hard-pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and (Y)curse [p]their king and their God, and look upward. 22 Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 8:1 Lit. Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty
- Isaiah 8:4 knows how
- Isaiah 8:4 plunder
- Isaiah 8:7 The Euphrates
- Isaiah 8:7 Overflow
- Isaiah 8:8 Lit. be the fullness of
- Isaiah 8:8 Lit. God-With-Us
- Isaiah 8:10 Heb. Immanuel
- Isaiah 8:11 Mighty power
- Isaiah 8:12 Lit. fear or terror
- Isaiah 8:12 Lit. in dread
- Isaiah 8:14 holy abode
- Isaiah 8:14 stumbling over
- Isaiah 8:15 captured
- Isaiah 8:20 Or they have no dawn
- Isaiah 8:21 Or by their king and by their God
Isaiah 8
Amplified Bible
Damascus and Samaria Fall
8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet [for public display] and write on it in ordinary characters: Belonging to [a]Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 2 And I will get faithful witnesses to attest [to this prophecy] for me, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” 3 So I approached [my wife] the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz [to remind the people of the prophecy]; 4 for before the boy knows how to say, ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus (Aram’s capital) and the spoil of Samaria (Israel’s capital) [b]will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”
5 Again the Lord spoke to me, saying,
6
“Because these people (Judah) have refused the gently flowing waters of [c]Shiloah
And rejoice in Rezin [the king of Aram] and Remaliah’s son [Pekah the king of Israel],
7
Now therefore, listen carefully, the Lord is about to bring on them the waters of the [Euphrates] River, strong and abundant—
The king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will rise over all its channels and canals and go far beyond its banks.(A)
8
“Then it will [d]sweep on into Judah; it will overflow and pass through [the hills],
Reaching even to the neck [of which Jerusalem is the head],
And its outstretched wings (the armies of Assyria) will fill the width of Your land, O Immanuel.(B)
A Believing Remnant
9
“Be broken [in pieces], O peoples, and be shattered!
Listen, all you [our enemies from the] far countries.
Prepare yourselves [for war], and be shattered;
Prepare yourselves [for war], and be shattered.
10
“Take counsel together [against Judah], but it will come to nothing;
Speak the word, but it will not stand,
For God is with us (Immanuel).”
11 For in this way the Lord spoke to me with His strong hand [upon me] and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people [behaving as they do], saying,
12
“You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,
And you are not to fear what they fear nor be in dread of it.
13
“It is the Lord of hosts whom you are to regard as holy and awesome.
He shall be your [source of] fear,
He shall be your [source of] dread [not man].
14
“Then He shall be a sanctuary [a sacred, indestructible shelter for those who fear and trust Him];
But to both the houses of Israel [both the northern and southern kingdoms—Israel and Judah, He will be] a stone on which to stumble and a rock on which to trip,
A trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.(C)
15
“Many [among them] will stumble over them;
Then they will fall and be broken,
They will even be snared and trapped.”
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law and the teaching among my (Isaiah’s) disciples. 17 And I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; and I will look eagerly for Him. 18 Listen carefully, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are [e]for signs and wonders [that will occur] in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
19 When the people [instead of trusting God] say to you, “Consult the mediums [who try to talk to the dead] and the soothsayers who chirp and whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 [Direct those people] to the law and to the testimony! If their teachings are not in accord with this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They [who consult mediums and soothsayers] will pass through the land deeply distressed and hungry, and when they are hungry, they will become enraged and will curse their king and their God as they look upward. 22 Then they will look to the earth, they will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness and overwhelming night.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 8:1 I.e. swift is the plunder, speedy is the prey.
- Isaiah 8:4 Samaria was overthrown by Assyria in 722 b.c., ten years after the downfall of Damascus, fulfilling this prophecy.
- Isaiah 8:6 The perennial spring outside Jerusalem that flowed to the Pool of Siloam, Jerusalem’s water supply. The spring was a symbol of God’s protection and sustaining power.
- Isaiah 8:8 This prophecy was literally fulfilled, and although Aram and Israel were conquered and led into captivity, the kingdom of Judah was spared and continued for over 130 years.
- Isaiah 8:18 Isaiah’s own name means “Salvation of the Lord.” His two children’s names were “signs” as well, the one (see note v 1) pointing to the coming military crisis and the other (see note 7:3) to the future restoration.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.
