Isaiah 8:1-16

1Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large piece of parchment and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

2I have appointed trustworthy witnesses — the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.”

3I was then intimate with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz,

4for before the boy knows how to call ‘Father,’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off to the king of Assyria.”

5The Lord spoke to me again:

6Because these people rejected the slowly flowing water of Shiloah and rejoiced with Rezin and the son of Remaliah,

7the Lord will certainly bring against them the mighty rushing water of the Euphrates River — the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will overflow its channels and spill over all its banks.

8It will pour into Judah, flood over it, and sweep through, reaching up to the neck; and its flooded banks will fill your entire land, Immanuel!

9Band together, peoples, and be broken; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for war, and be broken; prepare for war, and be broken.

10Devise a plan; it will fail. Make a prediction; it will not happen. For God is with us.

11For this is what the Lord said to me with great power, to keep me from going the way of this people:

12Do not call everything a conspiracy that these people say is a conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear; do not be terrified.

13You are to regard only the Lord of Armies as holy. Only he should be feared; only he should be held in awe.

14He will be a sanctuary; but for the two houses of Israel, he will be a stone to stumble over and a rock to trip over, and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15Many will stumble over these; they will fall and be broken; they will be snared and captured.

16Bind up the testimony. Seal up the instruction among my disciples.