Isaiah 8-13

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. ²And ^[c]I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, ^(C)Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” ³So 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; ⁴for ^(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.”

⁵Again 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;
⁷Now 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.
⁸Then ^(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.”

¹¹For 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.
¹³It 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.
¹⁴Then 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.
¹⁵Many ^(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. ¹⁷And 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.

¹⁹When 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? ²⁰To 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. ²¹They 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. ²²Then 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.
⁴For ^(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.
⁵For every boot of the marching warrior in the roar of battle,
And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
⁶For 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.
⁷There 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

⁸The Lord sends a ^[ad]message against Jacob,
And it falls on Israel.
⁹And 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.”
¹¹Therefore the Lord raises superior adversaries against them from ^(BT)Rezin
And provokes their enemies,
¹²The 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.

¹³Yet the people ^(BX)do not turn back to Him who struck them,
Nor do they ^(BY)seek the Lord of armies.
¹⁴So the Lord cuts off ^(BZ)head and tail from Israel,
Both palm branch and bulrush ^(CA)in a single day.
¹⁵The 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.
¹⁷Therefore 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.
¹⁹By 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.
²¹Manasseh 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.

Assyria Is God’s Instrument

10 Woe to those who ^(CT)enact unjust statutes
And to those who constantly record ^[aj]harmful decisions,
²So as ^(CU)to ^[ak]deprive the needy of justice
And rob the poor among My people of their rights,
So ^(CV)that widows may be their spoil
And that they may plunder the ^[al]orphans.
³Now ^(CW)what will you do in the ^(CX)day of punishment,
And in the devastation which will come ^(CY)from afar?
^(CZ)To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your wealth?
⁴Nothing remains but to crouch ^[am]among the ^(DA)captives
Or fall ^[an]among those ^(DB)killed.
^(DC)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.

⁵Woe to ^(DD)Assyria, the ^(DE)rod of My anger
And the staff in whose hands is ^(DF)My indignation,
⁶I send it against a ^(DG)godless nation
And commission it against the ^(DH)people of My fury
To capture spoils and ^(DI)to seize plunder,
And to ^[ao]trample them down like ^(DJ)mud in the streets.
⁷Yet it ^(DK)does not so intend,
Nor does ^[ap]it plan so in its heart,
But rather it is ^[aq]its purpose to destroy
And to eliminate ^[ar]many nations.
⁸For it says, “Are not my officers ^[as]all kings?
⁹Is not ^(DL)Calno like ^(DM)Carchemish,
Or ^(DN)Hamath like Arpad,
Or ^(DO)Samaria like ^(DP)Damascus?
¹⁰As my hand has reached to the ^(DQ)kingdoms of the idols,
Whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
¹¹Shall I not do the same to Jerusalem and her images
Just as I have done to Samaria and ^(DR)her idols?”

¹²So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His ^(DS)work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will ^[at]punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and ^(DT)the arrogant pride of his eyes.” ¹³For ^(DU)he has said,

“By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this,
Because I have understanding;
And I ^(DV)removed the boundaries of the peoples
And plundered their treasures,
And like a powerful man I brought down ^[au]their inhabitants,
¹⁴And my hand reached to the riches of the peoples like a ^(DW)nest,
And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth;
And there was not one that flapped its wing, opened its beak, or chirped.”

¹⁵Is the ^(DX)axe to ^(DY)boast itself over the one who chops with it?
Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it?
That would be like ^(DZ)a ^[av]club wielding those who lift it,
Or like ^(EA)a rod lifting the one who is not wood.
¹⁶Therefore the Lord, the ^[aw]God of armies, will send a ^(EB)wasting disease among his ^(EC)stout warriors;
And under his ^(ED)glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.
¹⁷And the ^(EE)Light of Israel will become a fire and ^[ax]Israel’s ^(EF)Holy One a flame,
And it will ^(EG)burn and devour ^[ay]his thorns and his briars in a single day.
¹⁸And He will ^(EH)destroy the glory of his forest and of his fruitful garden, both soul and body,
And it will be as when a sick person wastes away.
¹⁹And the ^(EI)rest of the trees of his forest will be so small in number
That a child could write them down.

A Remnant Will Return

²⁰Now on that day the ^(EJ)remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob ^(EK)who have escaped, will no longer rely on the one who struck them, but will truly ^(EL)rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

²¹A ^(EM)remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the ^(EN)mighty God.
²²For ^(EO)though your people, Israel, may be like the sand of the sea,
Only a remnant within them will return;
A ^(EP)destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.

²³For a complete destruction, one that is determined, ^(EQ)the Lord ^[az]God of armies will execute in the midst of the whole land.

²⁴Therefore this is what the Lord ^[ba]God of armies says: “My people, you who dwell in ^(ER)Zion, ^(ES)do not fear the Assyrian ^[bb]who ^(ET)strikes you with the rod, and lifts up his staff against you the way Egypt did. ²⁵For in a very ^(EU)little while ^(EV)My indignation against you will be ended and My anger will be directed toward their destruction.” ²⁶The Lord of armies will ^(EW)wield a whip against him like the defeat of ^(EX)Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His ^(EY)staff will be over the sea, and He will lift it up ^(EZ)the way He did in Egypt. ²⁷So it will be on that day, that ^[bc]his ^(FA)burden will be removed from your shoulders, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because ^(FB)of fatness.

²⁸He has come against Aiath,
He has passed through ^(FC)Migron;
At ^(FD)Michmash he deposited his ^(FE)baggage.
²⁹They have gone through ^(FF)the pass, saying,
“^(FG)Geba will be our encampment for the night.”
^(FH)Ramah is terrified, and ^(FI)Gibeah of Saul has fled.
³⁰Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of ^(FJ)Gallim!
Pay attention, Laishah and ^[bd]wretched ^(FK)Anathoth!
³¹Madmenah has fled.
The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.
³²Yet today he will halt at ^(FL)Nob;
He ^(FM)shakes his fist at the mountain of the ^[be]^(FN)daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

³³Behold, the Lord, the ^[bf]God of armies, will lop off the branches with terrifying power;
Those also who are ^(FO)tall in stature will be cut down,
And those who are lofty will be brought low.
³⁴He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe,
And ^(FP)Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.

Righteous Reign of the Branch

11 Then a ^(FQ)shoot will spring from the ^(FR)stem of Jesse,
And a ^(FS)Branch from ^(FT)his roots will bear fruit.
²The ^(FU)Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him,
The spirit of ^(FV)wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and ^(FW)strength,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
³And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,
And He will not judge by what His eyes ^(FX)see,
Nor make decisions by what His ears hear;
⁴But with ^(FY)righteousness He will judge the ^(FZ)poor,
And decide with fairness for the ^(GA)humble of the earth;
And He will strike the earth with the ^(GB)rod of His mouth,
And with the ^(GC)breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.
⁵Also ^(GD)righteousness will be the belt around His hips,
And ^(GE)faithfulness the belt around His waist.

⁶And the ^(GF)wolf will dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
And the calf and the young lion ^[bg]and the fattened steer will be together;
And a little boy will lead them.
⁷Also the cow and the bear will graze,
Their young will lie down together,
And the ^(GG)lion will eat straw like the ox.
⁸The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra,
And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.
⁹They will ^(GH)not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the ^(GI)earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰Then on that day
The ^(GJ)nations will resort to the ^(GK)root of Jesse,
Who will stand as a ^(GL)signal flag for the peoples;
And His ^(GM)resting place will be ^[bh]glorious.

The Restored Remnant

¹¹Then it will happen on that day that the Lord
Will again recover with His hand the second time
The ^(GN)remnant of His people who will remain,
From ^(GO)Assyria, ^(GP)Egypt, Pathros, Cush, ^(GQ)Elam, Shinar, Hamath,
And from the ^[bi]^(GR)islands of the sea.
¹²And He will lift up a ^(GS)flag for the nations
And ^(GT)assemble the banished ones of Israel,
And will gather the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.
¹³Then the ^(GU)jealousy of Ephraim will depart,
And those who harass Judah will be eliminated;
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
And Judah will not harass Ephraim.
¹⁴They will ^(GV)swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the ^(GW)west;
Together they will ^(GX)plunder the ^[bj]people of the east;
^[bk]They will possess ^(GY)Edom and ^(GZ)Moab,
And the sons of Ammon will be ^[bl]subject to them.
¹⁵And the Lord will ^[bm]^(HA)utterly destroy
The tongue of the ^[bn]Sea of Egypt;
And He will ^(HB)wave His hand over the ^(HC)Euphrates River
With His scorching wind;
And He will strike it into seven streams
And make people walk over in dry sandals.
¹⁶And there will be a ^(HD)highway from Assyria
For the ^(HE)remnant of His people who will be left,
Just as there was for Israel
On ^(HF)the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt.

Thanksgiving Expressed

12 Then you will say on that day,
“^(HG)I will give thanks to You, Lord;
For although ^(HH)You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away,
And You comfort me.
²Behold, ^(HI)God is my salvation,
I will ^(HJ)trust and not be afraid;
For ^(HK)the Lord God is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation.”
³Therefore you will joyously ^(HL)draw water
From the ^(HM)springs of salvation.
⁴And on that day you will ^(HN)say,
“^(HO)Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name.
^(HP)Make known His deeds among the peoples;
^[bo]Make them remember that His name is exalted.”
⁵^(HQ)Praise the Lord in song, for He has done ^[bp]glorious things;
Let this be known throughout the earth.
⁶^(HR)Rejoice and shout for joy, you inhabitant of Zion,
For ^(HS)great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Prophecies about Babylon

13 The ^(HT)pronouncement concerning ^(HU)Babylon which ^(HV)Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:

²^(HW)Lift up a flag on the ^[bq]^(HX)bare hill,
Raise your voice to them,
^(HY)Wave the hand that they may ^(HZ)enter the doors of the nobles.
³I have commanded My consecrated ones,
I have also called for My ^(IA)warriors
Who boast in My eminence,
To execute My anger.
⁴A ^(IB)sound of a roar on the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
Of nations gathered together!
The Lord of armies is mustering the army for battle.
⁵They are coming from a distant country,
From the ^[br]^(IC)farthest horizons,
The Lord and the weapons of His ^(ID)indignation,
To ^(IE)destroy the whole land.

Judgment on the Day of the Lord

⁶Wail, for the ^(IF)day of the Lord is near!
It will come as ^(IG)destruction from ^[bs]the Almighty.
⁷Therefore ^(IH)all hands will fall limp,
And every human ^(II)heart will melt.
⁸They will be ^(IJ)terrified,
Pains and anguish will take hold of them;
They will ^(IK)writhe like a woman in labor,
They will look at one another in astonishment,
Their faces aflame.
⁹Behold, ^(IL)the day of the Lord is coming,
Cruel, with fury and burning anger,
To make the land a desolation;
And He will exterminate its sinners from it.
¹⁰For the ^(IM)stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash their light;
The ^(IN)sun will be dark when it rises
And the moon will not shed its light.
¹¹So I will ^(IO)punish the world for its evil
And the ^(IP)wicked for their wrongdoing;
I will also put an end to the ^(IQ)audacity of the proud
And humiliate the ^(IR)arrogance of the ^[bt]^(IS)tyrants.
¹²I will make mortal man ^(IT)scarcer than pure gold
And mankind than the ^(IU)gold of Ophir.
¹³Therefore I will make the ^(IV)heavens tremble,
And ^(IW)the earth will be shaken from its place
At the fury of the Lord of armies
In ^(IX)the day of His burning anger.
¹⁴And it will be that, like a hunted gazelle,
Or like ^(IY)sheep with no one to gather them,
Each of them will turn to his own people,
And each of them will flee to his own land.
¹⁵Anyone who is found will be ^(IZ)thrust through,
And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
¹⁶Their ^(JA)little ones also will be dashed to pieces
Before their eyes;
Their houses will be plundered
And their wives raped.

Babylon Will Fall to the Medes

¹⁷Behold, I am going to ^(JB)stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not value silver or ^(JC)take pleasure in gold.
¹⁸And their bows will ^[bu]mow down the ^(JD)young men,
They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,
Nor will their ^(JE)eye pity ^[bv]children.
¹⁹And ^(JF)Babylon, the ^(JG)beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God ^(JH)overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
²⁰It will ^(JI)never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation;
Nor will the ^(JJ)Arab pitch his tent there,
Nor will shepherds allow their flocks to lie down there.
²¹But ^(JK)desert creatures will lie down there,
And their houses will be full of ^[bw]owls;
Ostriches also will live there, and ^[bx]shaggy goats will frolic there.
²²^[by]Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers
And jackals in their luxurious ^(JL)palaces.
Her fateful time also ^[bz]will soon come,
And her days will not be prolonged.