Isaiah 8

1. And the LORD said to me, “Take a great scroll and write on it in ordinary letters with a man’s pen, ‘Make haste to plunder! Hasten to the prey!’

2. And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”

3. And I went to the prophetess. And she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Call his name Mahershalal- Hash-Baz, that is, make haste to plunder

4. For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, ‘My father’ and ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.”

5. The LORD spoke to me again saying,

6. “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son;

7. Now therefore, behold, the LORD brings upon them the waters of the River, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory. And he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks.

8. And he shall sweep through Judah, overflowing as he passes through; he shall reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.

9. Make an uproar, O people, and be shattered in pieces! And give ear, all of you from the far countries of the earth. Gird yourselves and be broken. Gird yourselves and be broken!

10. Take counsel together, and it shall be frustrated. Speak a word, and it shall not stand; for God is with us.”

11. For thus the LORD spoke to me with a strong hand, and warned me against walking in the way of this people, saying,

12. “Do not say, ‘A conspiracy!’ to everything of which this people says, ‘A conspiracy!’ And do not fear their fear, nor be afraid.

13. The LORD of hosts, Him shall you sanctify, and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.

14. And He shall be a sanctuary for you—but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, and for a trap and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15. And many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among My disciples.”

17. And I will wait upon the LORD, Who hides His face from the house of Jacob; and I will trust in Him.

18. Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, Who dwells in Mount Zion.

19. And when they shall say to you, “Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and to wizards who peep and mutter”— but should not a people seek unto their God? Should the dead be sought on behalf of the living?

20. To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.

21. And they shall pass through the land, hard pressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall rave and curse their king and their God, and look upward.

22. And they shall look to the land; and behold, trouble and darkness and gloom of anguish! And they shall be driven away into darkness.