Isaiah 8:11-20

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

12“Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.

13Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble.

14He will keep you safe. But to Israel and Judah he will be a stone that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.

15Many will stumble and fall, never to rise again. They will be snared and captured.”

16Preserve the teaching of God; entrust his instructions to those who follow me.

17I will wait for the Lord, who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my hope in him.

18I 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.

19Someone 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?

20Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark.