Isaiah 8:9-22

9Make an uproar, O peoples— but you will be broken in pieces. Give ear, all you of far countries. Arm yourselves—yet be shattered! Arm yourselves—yet be shattered!

10Take counsel together, but it will amount to nothing. Speak a word, but it will not stand. For God is with us!

11For thus Adonai spoke to me, with a strong hand, warning me that I should not walk in the way of these people, saying:

12“Do not say: ‘It’s a conspiracy!’ about everything that these people call a conspiracy. You must not fear or tremble at what they fear.

13Adonai-Tzva’ot, Him will you sanctify, and let Him be your fear, trembling at Him.

14He will be a Sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15Many among them will stumble, fall, and be broken, snared and caught.

16Bind up the testimony, seal the instruction with My disciples.

17I will wait for Adonai, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob, and I will look eagerly for Him.

18Here I am with the children that Adonai has given me as signs and wonders in Israel, from Adonai-Tzva’ot who dwells on Mount Zion.

19When they say to you: “Consult the mediums and necromancers who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people seek their God? Should a people consult the dead on behalf of the living?

20To Torah and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no light.

21They will pass this way that are hard-pressed and hungry, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will become enraged and curse their king and their God. Whether they turn their faces upward

22or look to the earth, behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be driven into darkness.