Isaiah 8-9

English Standard Version

The Coming Assyrian Invasion

8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet ^(A)and write on it in common characters,^[a] ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’^[b] ²And ^(B)I will get reliable witnesses, ^(C)Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”

³And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, ^(D)“Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; ⁴^(E)for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the ^(F)wealth of ^(G)Damascus and the spoil of ^(H)Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

⁵The Lord spoke to me again: ⁶“Because this people has refused the waters of ^(I)Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over ^(J)Rezin and the son of Remaliah, ⁷therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them ^(K)the waters of ^(L)the River,^[c] mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it ^(M)will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, ⁸and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, ^(N)reaching even to the neck, and its ^(O)outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, ^(P)O Immanuel.”

⁹Be broken,^[d] you peoples, and ^(Q)be shattered;^[e]
    give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
    strap on your armor and be shattered.
¹⁰Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
    speak a word, ^(R)but it will not stand,
    for God ^(S)is with us.^[f]

Fear God, Wait for the Lord

¹¹For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and ^(T)warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: ¹²“Do not call ^(U)conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and ^(V)do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. ¹³But the Lord of hosts, ^(W)him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. ¹⁴And he will become a ^(X)sanctuary and ^(Y)a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁵And many ^(Z)shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

¹⁶Bind up ^(AA)the testimony; ^(AB)seal the teaching^[g] among my disciples. ¹⁷I will ^(AC)wait for the Lord, who is ^(AD)hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. ¹⁸^(AE)Behold, I and ^(AF)the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. ¹⁹And when they say to you, “Inquire of the ^(AG)mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of ^(AH)the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰^(AI)To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no ^(AJ)dawn. ²¹They will pass through the land,^[h] greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against^[i] their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. ²²^(AK)And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into ^(AL)thick darkness.

For to Us a Child Is Born

9 ^[j] But there will be no ^(AM)gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he ^(AN)brought into contempt the land of ^(AO)Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he ^(AP)has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.^[k]

²^[l] ^(AQ)The people ^(AR)who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of ^(AS)deep darkness,
    on them has light shone.
³^(AT)You have multiplied the nation;
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with ^(AU)joy at the harvest,
    as they ^(AV)are glad ^(AW)when they divide the spoil.
⁴^(AX)For the yoke of his burden,
    ^(AY)and the staff for his shoulder,
    the rod of his oppressor,
    you have broken as ^(AZ)on the day of Midian.
⁵^(BA)For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
    and every garment rolled in blood
    will be burned as fuel for the fire.
⁶^(BB)For to us a child is born,
    to us ^(BC)a son is given;
^(BD)and the government shall be ^(BE)upon^[m] his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called^[n]
Wonderful ^(BF)Counselor, ^(BG)Mighty God,
    ^(BH)Everlasting ^(BI)Father, Prince of ^(BJ)Peace.
⁷Of the increase of his government and of peace
    ^(BK)there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
^(BL)with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
^(BM)The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression

⁸The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
    and it will fall on Israel;
⁹and all the people will know,
    ^(BN)Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
    who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:
¹⁰“The bricks have fallen,
    but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
    but we will put cedars in their place.”
¹¹But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,
    and stirs up his enemies.
¹²^(BO)The Syrians on the east and ^(BP)the Philistines on the west
    devour Israel with open mouth.
^(BQ)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

¹³The people ^(BR)did not turn to him who struck them,
    nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.
¹⁴So the Lord cut off from Israel ^(BS)head and tail,
    palm branch and reed in one day—
¹⁵^(BT)the elder and honored man is the head,
    and ^(BU)the prophet who teaches lies is the tail;
¹⁶for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,
    and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.
¹⁷Therefore the Lord does not ^(BV)rejoice over their young men,
    and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;
for everyone is ^(BW)godless and an evildoer,
    and every mouth speaks ^(BX)folly.^[o]
^(BY)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

¹⁸For wickedness burns like ^(BZ)a fire;
    it consumes briers and thorns;
it kindles the thickets of the forest,
    and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
    the land is scorched,
and ^(CA)the people are like fuel for the fire;
    ^(CB)no one spares another.
²⁰^(CC)They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,
    and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;
^(CD)each devours the flesh of his own arm,
²¹Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;
    together they are ^(CE)against Judah.
^(CF)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.