Isaiah 8-9
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. 2 And [c]I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, (C)Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” 3 So 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; 4 for (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.”
5 Again 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;
7 Now 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.
8 Then (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.”
11 For 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.
13 It 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.
14 Then 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.
15 Many (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. 17 And 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.
19 When 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? 20 To 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. 21 They 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. 22 Then 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.
4 For (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.
5 For every boot of the marching warrior in the roar of battle,
And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
6 For 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.
7 There 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.
God’s Anger with Israel’s Arrogance
8 The Lord sends a [ad]message against Jacob,
And it falls on Israel.
9 And all the people know it,
That is, (BQ)Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
Asserting in pride and in (BR)arrogance of heart:
10 “The bricks have fallen down,
But we will (BS)rebuild with smooth stones;
The sycamores have been cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”
11 Therefore the Lord raises superior adversaries against them from (BT)Rezin
And provokes their enemies,
12 The Arameans from the east and the (BU)Philistines from the west;
And they (BV)devour Israel with [ae]gaping jaws.
(BW)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away,
And His hand is still stretched out.
13 Yet the people (BX)do not turn back to Him who struck them,
Nor do they (BY)seek the Lord of armies.
14 So the Lord cuts off (BZ)head and tail from Israel,
Both palm branch and bulrush (CA)in a single day.
15 The head is (CB)the elder and esteemed man,
And the prophet who teaches (CC)falsehood is the tail.
16 (CD)For those who guide this people are leading them astray;
And those who are guided by them are [af]confused.
17 Therefore the Lord does (CE)not rejoice over their young men,
(CF)Nor does He have compassion on their [ag]orphans or their widows;
For every one of them is (CG)godless and an (CH)evildoer,
And every (CI)mouth is speaking foolishness.
(CJ)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away,
And His hand is still stretched out.
18 (CK)For wickedness burns like a fire;
It consumes briars and thorns;
It also sets the thickets of the forest aflame
And they roll upward in a column of smoke.
19 By the (CL)wrath of the Lord of armies the (CM)land is burned,
And the (CN)people are like fuel for the fire;
No (CO)one spares his brother.
20 [ah]They devour what is on the right hand but are still (CP)hungry,
And [ai]they eat what is on the left hand, but they are not satisfied;
Each of them eats the (CQ)flesh of his own arm.
21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
(CR)And together they are against Judah.
(CS)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.
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
- Isaiah 9:8 Lit word
- Isaiah 9:12 Lit the whole mouth
- Isaiah 9:16 Or swallowed up
- Isaiah 9:17 Or fatherless
- Isaiah 9:20 Lit And he slices
- Isaiah 9:20 Lit he eats
Isaiah 8-9
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.
Hope in the Messiah
9 [f]Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory.
2 [g]The people who walk in darkness
will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,[h]
a light will shine.
3 You will enlarge the nation of Israel,
and its people will rejoice.
They will rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest
and like warriors dividing the plunder.
4 For you will break the yoke of their slavery
and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders.
You will break the oppressor’s rod,
just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.
5 The boots of the warrior
and the uniforms bloodstained by war
will all be burned.
They will be fuel for the fire.
6 For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor,[i] Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 His government and its peace
will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will make this happen!
The Lord’s Anger against Israel
8 The Lord has spoken out against Jacob;
his judgment has fallen upon Israel.
9 And the people of Israel[j] and Samaria,
who spoke with such pride and arrogance,
will soon know it.
10 They said, “We will replace the broken bricks of our ruins with finished stone,
and replant the felled sycamore-fig trees with cedars.”
11 But the Lord will bring Rezin’s enemies against Israel
and stir up all their foes.
12 The Syrians[k] from the east and the Philistines from the west
will bare their fangs and devour Israel.
But even then the Lord’s anger will not be satisfied.
His fist is still poised to strike.
13 For after all this punishment, the people will still not repent.
They will not seek the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
14 Therefore, in a single day the Lord will destroy both the head and the tail,
the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.
15 The leaders of Israel are the head,
and the lying prophets are the tail.
16 For the leaders of the people have misled them.
They have led them down the path of destruction.
17 That is why the Lord takes no pleasure in the young men
and shows no mercy even to the widows and orphans.
For they are all wicked hypocrites,
and they all speak foolishness.
But even then the Lord’s anger will not be satisfied.
His fist is still poised to strike.
18 This wickedness is like a brushfire.
It burns not only briers and thorns
but also sets the forests ablaze.
Its burning sends up clouds of smoke.
19 The land will be blackened
by the fury of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
The people will be fuel for the fire,
and no one will spare even his own brother.
20 They will attack their neighbor on the right
but will still be hungry.
They will devour their neighbor on the left
but will not be satisfied.
In the end they will even eat their own children.[l]
21 Manasseh will feed on Ephraim,
Ephraim will feed on Manasseh,
and both will devour Judah.
But even then the Lord’s anger will not be satisfied.
His fist is still poised to strike.
Footnotes
- 8:1 Maher-shalal-hash-baz means “Swift to plunder and quick to carry away.”
- 8:6a Or They are rejoicing because of.
- 8:6b Hebrew and the son of Remaliah.
- 8:7 Hebrew the river.
- 8:10 Hebrew Immanuel!
- 9:1 Verse 9:1 is numbered 8:23 in Hebrew text.
- 9:2a Verses 9:2-21 are numbered 9:1-20 in Hebrew text.
- 9:2b Greek version reads a land where death casts its shadow. Compare Matt 4:16.
- 9:6 Or Wonderful, Counselor.
- 9:9 Hebrew of Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel.
- 9:12 Hebrew Arameans.
- 9:20 Or eat their own arms.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. 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.
