Isaiah 8-9
New American Standard Bible 1995
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)Swift is the booty, speedy is the prey. 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 spoil 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 [e](J)Euphrates,
Even the (K)king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will (L)rise up 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 even to the neck;
And the spread of its wings will [f]fill the breadth of [g]your land, O (O)Immanuel.
A Believing Remnant
9 “(P)Be broken, O peoples, and be [h](Q)shattered;
And give ear, all remote places of the earth.
Gird yourselves, yet be [i]shattered;
Gird yourselves, yet be [j]shattered.
10 “(R)Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted;
State a [k]proposal, but (S)it will not stand,
For [l](T)God is with us.”
11 For thus the Lord spoke to me [m]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!’
In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,
And (X)you are not to fear [n]what they fear or be in dread of it.
13 “It is the (Y)Lord of hosts (Z)whom you should regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.
14 “Then He shall become a (AA)sanctuary;
But to both the houses of Israel, a (AB)stone to strike and a rock to stumble over,
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 even be snared and caught.”
16 (AE)Bind up the testimony, (AF)seal the [o]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 even look 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 hosts, who (AL)dwells on Mount Zion.
19 When they say to you, “(AM)Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people (AN)consult their God? Should they (AO)consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the [p](AP)law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because (AQ)they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through [q]the land (AR)hard-pressed and famished, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will be enraged and curse [r]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 [s]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 shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the [t]Gentiles.
2 [u](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 shall multiply the nation,
You (AZ)shall [v]increase [w]their gladness;
They will be glad in Your presence
As with the gladness [x]of harvest,
As [y](BA)men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4 For (BB)You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,
The rod of their (BC)oppressor, as [z]at the battle of (BD)Midian.
5 For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult,
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 [aa]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 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 hosts will accomplish this.
God’s Anger with Israel’s Arrogance
8 The Lord sends a [ab]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 against them adversaries from (BT)Rezin
And spurs their enemies on,
12 The Arameans on the east and the (BU)Philistines on the west;
And they (BV)devour Israel with [ac]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 hosts.
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 honorable 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 [ad]brought to confusion.
17 Therefore the Lord does (CE)not take pleasure in their young men,
(CF)Nor does He have pity on their [ae]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 even sets the thickets of the forest aflame
And they roll upward in a column of smoke.
19 By the (CL)fury of the Lord of hosts the (CM)land is burned up,
And the (CN)people are like fuel for the fire;
No (CO)man spares his brother.
20 [af]They slice off what is on the right hand but still are (CP)hungry,
And [ag]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 Heb Maher-shalal-hash-baz
- Isaiah 8:2 Another reading is take for me
- Isaiah 8:3 I.e. swift is the booty, speedy is the prey
- Isaiah 8:7 Lit River
- Isaiah 8:8 Lit be the fullness of
- Isaiah 8:8 Or Your
- Isaiah 8:9 Or dismayed
- Isaiah 8:9 Or dismayed
- Isaiah 8:9 Or dismayed
- Isaiah 8:10 Lit word
- Isaiah 8:10 Heb Immanu-el
- Isaiah 8:11 Lit with strength of the hand
- Isaiah 8:12 Lit their fear
- 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 9:3 Lit they
- Isaiah 9:4 Lit in the day of Midian
- Isaiah 9:6 Lit be
- 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 he slices
- Isaiah 9:20 Lit he eats
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
