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Isaiah and His Sons Are a Sign
8 The Lord said to me, “Get a large tablet and write on it with a man’s stylus: For Maher Shalal Hash Baz.”
2 I also swore in faithful witnesses: Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.[a]
3 I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher Shalal Hash Baz.[b] 4 For before the child knows how to say ‘My father’ and ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”
5 Then the Lord spoke to me again and said:
6 Because these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah, and they rejoice in Rezin and in Remaliah’s son, 7 therefore, the Lord is now about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the River,[c] that is, the king of Assyria in all his glory. It will overflow all its channels, and it will flood all its banks. 8 It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through the land. It will rise up all the way to the neck, and its wingspan will reach across the width of your land, Immanuel.
9 Be broken to pieces, you peoples.
Be shattered![d]
Listen, all of you from faraway countries.
Dress for battle, and be shattered!
Dress for battle, and be shattered!
10 Get together, make your plans,
but they will not succeed.
Speak the word, but it will not stand,
for God is with us.[e]
11 Listen! This is how the Lord spoke to me with a strong hand upon me. He instructed me not to walk in the way of this people. He said:
12 Do not say “A conspiracy!” about everything that this people calls a conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear.[f] Do not be terrified. 13 The Lord of Armies is the one you are to respect as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread. 14 He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone they stumble over and a rock they fall over, and he will be a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 Many will stumble over it. They will fall and be broken. They will be snared and captured.
16 Roll up the scroll of testimony. Seal the law among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the Lord, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will wait hopefully for him. 18 Look, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and warnings to Israel from the Lord of Armies, who dwells in Mount Zion.
19 When they tell you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists, who whisper and mutter,” shouldn’t a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If people do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them. 21 They will pass through the land, distressed and starving, but when this takes place and they are starving, they will be frustrated, and they will curse their king and their God. They will turn their faces upward, 22 and then they will look down to the ground, but I tell you, they will see only distress, darkness, and the gloom that brings anguish. They will be banished into thick darkness.
A Second Description of Immanuel:
The Child Who Is Born to Us
9 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for the land that was in anguish.[g] In former times, he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time[h] he will cause it to be glorious, along the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles.[i]
2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.
For those living in the land of the shadow of death, the light has dawned.
3 You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy.[j]
They rejoice before you like the joy at harvest time,
like the celebration when people divide the plunder.
4 For you have shattered the yoke that burdened them.
You have broken the bar on their shoulders and
the rod of their oppressor,
as you did in the day of Midian.
5 Every boot that marched in battle
and the garments rolled in blood will be burned.
They will be fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born.
To us a son is given.
The authority to rule will rest on his shoulders.
He will be named:
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
7 There will be no limit to his authority
and no end to the peace he brings.
He will rule on David’s throne and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
from now on, into eternity.
The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.
Judgment on Aram and Samaria
8 The Lord sent a word against Jacob,
and it falls upon Israel.
9 All the people will know,
including Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
who say with pride and with an arrogant heart,
10 “The mud bricks have fallen down,
but we will build with cut stone.
The sycamore fig trees have been cut down,
but we will replace them with cedars.”
11 Then the Lord will raise up Rezin’s adversaries against him,
and he will stir up his enemies.
12 Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west
will devour Israel with an open mouth.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.
13 But the people have not returned to the one who struck them,
nor have they sought the Lord of Armies.
14 Therefore, in one day the Lord will cut off from Israel
head and tail, palm branch and reed.
15 The elder and the honored man are the head,
and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail.
16 It is the leaders of this people who lead them astray,
and those who are led by them are destroyed.
17 Therefore, the Lord will not rejoice over their young men,
nor will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows,
because everyone is godless and an evildoer,
and every mouth speaks foolishness.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.
18 Now wickedness burns like a fire.
It devours the briers and thorns.
Look, it flares up in the thickets of the forest,
and it swirls upward in a column of smoke.
19 By the wrath of the Lord of Armies, the land is burned up,
and the people are the fuel for the fire.
No one spares his brother.
20 On the right hand they will gobble down food,
but they will still be hungry.
On the left hand they will keep eating, but they will not be satisfied.
Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm.[k]
21 Manasseh will be against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh,
and together they will be against Judah.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.
Carried Up to Paradise
12 I must go on boasting, although there is nothing to be gained. So I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who, fourteen years ago, was carried up to the third heaven (whether in the body, I do not know, or out of the body, I do not know—God knows). 3 And I know that such a man (whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know—God knows) 4 was carried up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words that a man cannot possibly speak.[a] 5 On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except about my weaknesses. 6 Indeed, if I wanted to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain from doing this, so that no one will think more highly of me than what he sees in me or hears from me.
7 Therefore,[b] to keep me from becoming arrogant due to the extraordinary nature of these revelations, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me, so that I would not become arrogant. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that he would take it away from me. 9 And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, because my power is made perfect[c] in weakness.” Therefore I will be glad to boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may shelter me.
10 That is why I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For whenever I am weak, then am I strong.
Psalm 55
My Friend Betrays Me
Heading
For the choir director. With stringed instruments. A maskil by David.
Opening Plea
1 Turn your ear to my prayer, O God.
Do not hide from my plea for mercy.
2 Pay attention to me and answer me.
The Problem
I am troubled in my thoughts and I groan
3 because of talk from the enemy,
because of oppression from the wicked,
because they dump evil on me,
and in anger they hold a grudge against me.
4 My heart is in anguish within me.
The terrors of death fall on me.
5 Fear and trembling come over me.
Horror covers me.
6 So I say, “I wish I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and find a place to rest.
7 Yes, I would flee far away. Interlude
I would stay in the wilderness.
8 I would hurry to find shelter,
far from the violent wind, far from the storm.”
9 Swallow them up, O Lord.
Confuse their speech,
for I see violence and contention in the city.
10 Day and night they sneak around on its walls.
Evil and trouble are in the city.
11 Destruction lurks within it.
Treachery and deceit never leave its streets.
12 For it is not an enemy who insults me—
I could bear that.
It is not someone who hated me who rises up against me—
I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a man who served with me,
my colleague and my associate,
14 with whom I shared pleasant discussions
as we walked with the excited crowd at God’s house.
Plea for Judgment
15 Let deadly destruction come on them.
Let them go down to the grave alive,
because evil is at home in their hearts.
Confidence in Judgment
16 As for me, I call to God,
and the Lord saves me.
17 Evening, morning, and noon I cry out and I sigh,
and he hears my voice.
18 In peace he redeems my life from the assault against me,
even when many are against me.
19 God will hear, and he will punish them— Interlude
yes, he is seated on his throne from eternity!
—because they never change, and they do not fear God.
The Traitor’s Treachery
20 The traitor reaches out his hand against those at peace with him.
He breaks his agreement.[a]
21 His flattery is as smooth as butter,
yet war is in his heart.
His words are more soothing than oil,
yet they are drawn daggers.
God’s Solution
22 Place your burden on the Lord,
and he will support you.
He will never allow the righteous to fall.
23 But you, O God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction.
Bloody and deceitful men will not live half their days.
But as for me, I will trust in you.
4 Do not wear yourself out getting rich.
Have the good judgment to know when to stop.
5 Will your eyes get a glimpse of wealth before it is gone?
No, it will sprout wings for itself.
Like an eagle it will fly away into the sky.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.