The Coming Assyrian Invasion
Then Yahweh said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet and awrite on it in ordinary letters: bConcerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 2 And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, aUriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” 3 Then I drew near to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, “Call his name aMaher-shalal-hash-baz, 4 for abefore the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of bDamascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
5 Again Yahweh spoke to me further, saying,
6 “Inasmuch as these people have arejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
And rejoice in bRezin and the son of Remaliah;
7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the amighty and abundant waters of the bRiver—
The cking of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will drise up over all its channels and go over all its banks.
8 Then ait will sweep on into Judah; it will overflow and pass through;
It will breach even to the neck;
And the spread of its wings will fill the breadth of Your land, O cImmanuel.
Yahweh, a Sanctuary and a Stumbling Stone
9 “aBe broken, O peoples, and be bshattered;
And give ear, all remote places of the earth.
Gird yourselves, yet be shattered;
Gird yourselves, yet be shattered.
10 aDevise counsel, but it will be thwarted;
Speak a word, but bit will not stand,
For cGod is with us.”
11 For thus Yahweh spoke to me with a astrong hand and disciplined me bnot to walk in the way of this people, saying,
12 “You are not to say, ‘It is a aconspiracy!’
In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy;
And byou are not to fear what they fear, and you shall not tremble.
13 It is aYahweh of hosts bwhom you should regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your cause of trembling.
14 Then He shall become a asanctuary;
But to both the houses of Israel, a bstone to strike and a rock to stumble over,
And a snare and a ctrap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 And many awill stumble over them;
Then they will fall and be broken;
They will even be snared and caught.”
16 aBind up the testimony, bseal the law among cmy disciples. 17 And I will await for Yahweh bwho is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; and I will hope for Him. 18 aBehold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for bsigns and wonders in Israel from Yahweh of hosts, who cdwells on Mount Zion.
Darkness to Light Through the Prince of Peace
19 Now when they say to you, “aInquire of the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people binquire of their God? Should they cinquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the alaw and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because bthey have no dawn. 21 And they will pass through the land ahard-pressed and hungry, and it will be that when they are hungry, they will be angry and curse their king and their God as they face upward. 22 Then they will alook to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be bbanished into thick darkness.