Isaiah 8:9-16

9“Huddle together, you nations, and be terrified. Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, but you will be crushed! Yes, prepare for battle, but you will be crushed!

10Call your councils of war, but they will be worthless. Develop your strategies, but they will not succeed. For God is with us!”

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.