Isaiah 8
1AGAIN the Lord said to me, Take thee a strip of a large new roll and write thereon with a man’s pen, Speed quickly to the plunder of the spoil, for it is at hand.
2And let faithful men, Ourias and Zacharias son of Barachias be witnesses for me [that the Lord thus spoke].
3Now I had approached to the prophetess and she had conceived; and when she brought forth a son, the Lord said to me, Call his name Speed to the spoil—haste to the prey:
4for before this child shall know to pronounce father or mother, the van of the king of Assyria will take the army of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria.
5Again the Lord spoke yet further to me saying,
6Because this people reject the water of Siloam which floweth gently and choose to have Rasin and the son of Romelias to rule over them;
7therefore behold, the Lord will bring upon you the water of the river which is strong and abundant—even the king of Assyria and His glory; and He will rise over all your channels, and overflow all your banks;
8and sweep away from Judea every man who can raise his head, or is capable of executing anything. And the circuit of his camp shall be such as to fill the breadth of thy country, O Emmanuel.
9Know this, O nations, and be struck with consternation. Hearken, ye who are in the remotest parts of the earth; be struck with consternation, ye who have made yourselves strong; for though you should again become strong, with consternation you shall again be stricken;
10and what counsel soever you may take, the Lord will defeat it; and what word soever you may speak shall not take effect among you, because God is with us.
11Thus saith the Lord with the strong hand, to them who refuse to walk in the way of this people saying,
12Perhaps they may demand what is hard—(for whatever this people order is hard):
13Be not ye terrified with the fear of them, nor dismayed; hallow the Lord Himself, and let Him be thy fear:
14for if thou hast put trust in Him, He will be to thee a sanctuary, and you shall not run against a stumbling stone, nor as under a falling rock. But as for the houses of Jacob, they are in a trap, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem are in a pit:
15for this cause many among them shall be weak and fall and be trodden down, and men will safely approach and take them.
16Then shall they be manifest who seal up the law that it may not be learned.
17Then will one say, I will wait for God, Who hath turned away His face from the house of Jacob; and I will trust in Him;
18here am I and the children whom God hath given me.
19Now when there shall be signs and wonders in the house of Israel from the Lord of Hosts, Who dwelleth on Mount Sion; if they should say to you, Apply to the trance-speakers, and to them who cause a voice to proceed from the ground—those vain babblers who speak from the belly. Should not a nation apply to their God? Why consult they the dead concerning the living?
20For He hath given a law for assistance; that they may not speak like such an oracle as this, which is not worth the giving of gifts for it.
21Upon you indeed there shall come a grievous famine; and it shall come to pass that when you are hungry, you will fret and curse the ruler and the customs of your country.
22And they will look up to the heaven above, then down on the earth beneath, and lo distress and darkness! tribulation and anguish and a gloom so as not to see! But he who is in distress for a season shall not be abandoned to despair.