The Coming Assyrian Invasion

¹Moreover the Lord said to me, Take for yourself a large book and write in it with a man’s pen: “Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.”[#Isa 30:8; #8:1 Lit. Swift is the plunder, speedy is the prey ; also in v. 3.]

²I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberekiah.[#2Ki 16:10–11]

³So I went in to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, Call his name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.[#8:3 See v. 1.]

⁴For before the child knows how 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.

⁵The Lord spoke to me again, saying:

⁶Because this people refuses

the gently flowing waters of Shiloah

and rejoices in Rezin

and the son of Remaliah,

⁷now therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing upon them

the strong and plentiful waters of the Euphrates River,

even the king of Assyria and all his glory;

and he shall come up over all his channels

and go over all his banks.

⁸And he shall pass through Judah, he shall overflow and go over,

he shall reach even to the neck,

and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of your land,

O Immanuel.

⁹Be broken, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces.

And give ear, all you from far countries.

Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces;

gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces.

¹⁰Take counsel together, but it shall come to nothing;[#Job 5:12]

speak the word, but it shall not stand

for God is with us.

Fear God

¹¹For the Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying:[#Eze 3:14]

¹²You should not say, “It is a conspiracy,”

concerning all that this people calls a conspiracy,

neither fear their threats

nor be afraid of them.

¹³Sanctify the Lord of Hosts Himself,

and let Him be your fear,

and let Him be your dread.

¹⁴He shall become a sanctuary,[#Eze 11:16]

but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense

to both the houses of Israel,

and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁵Many among them shall stumble

and fall and be broken

and be snared and be taken.

¹⁶Bind up the testimony;[#Da 12:4]

seal the law among My disciples.

¹⁷I will wait on the Lord ,

who hides His face from the house of Jacob,

and I will eagerly look for Him.

¹⁸Behold, 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.[#Lk 2:34; #Ps 9:11]

¹⁹When they say to you, “Seek after the mediums and the wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek after their God? Should they consult the dead for the living?[#Lev 20:6; Isa 19:3]

²⁰To the law and to the testimony; if they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.[#Mic 3:6; 2Pe 1:19]

²¹They shall pass through the land hard-pressed and hungry; when they are hungry, they shall be furious and curse their king and their God as they look upward.[#Isa 9:20]

²²Then they shall look to the earth and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish. And they shall be driven away into darkness.[#Isa 5:30; Jer 13:16]