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.

A Call to Trust the Lord

¹¹ The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said,

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.

Christ Is Our High Priest

8 Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. ² There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle,^[a] the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.

³ And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too. ⁴ If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law. ⁵ They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.”^[b]

⁶ But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.

⁷ If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. ⁸ But when God found fault with the people, he said:

¹³ When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.