Isaiah 8

Chapter 8

The Coming Assyrian Invasion

1 Then the LORD said to me, “Make a large signboard and clearly write this name on it: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.t”

2 I asked Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah, both known as honest men, to witness my doing this.
3 Then I slept with my wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said, “Call him Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

4 For before this child is old enough to say ‘Papa’ or ‘Mama,’ the king of Assyria will carry away both the abundance of Damascus and the riches of Samaria.”
5 Then the LORD spoke to me again and said,6 “My care for the people of Judah is like the gently flowing waters of Shiloah, but they have rejected it. They are rejoicing over what will happen tot King Rezin and King Pekah.t7 Therefore, the Lord will overwhelm them with a mighty flood from the Euphrates Rivert—the king of Assyria and all his glory. This flood will overflow all its channels

8 and sweep into Judah until it is chin deep. It will spread its wings, submerging your land from one end to the other, O Immanuel.
9 “Huddle together, you nations, and be terrified.
Listen, all you distant lands.
Prepare for battle, but you will be crushed!
Yes, prepare for battle, but you will be crushed!10 Call your councils of war, but they will be worthless.
Develop your strategies, but they will not succeed.
For God is with us!t”

A Call to Trust the LORD

11 The LORD has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said,
12 “Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do,
and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.13 Make the LORD of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.
He is the one you should fear.
He is the one who should make you tremble.14 He will keep you safe.
But to Israel and Judah
he will be a stone that makes people stumble,
a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem
he will be a trap and a snare.15 Many will stumble and fall,
never to rise again.
They will be snared and captured.”16 Preserve the teaching of God;
entrust his instructions to those who follow me.17 I will wait for the LORD,
who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob.
I will put my hope in him.

18 I and the children the LORD has given me serve as signs and warnings to Israel from the LORD of Heaven’s Armies who dwells in his Temple on Mount Zion.

19 Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?
20 Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark.21 They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven

22 and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.

Isaiah 9

Chapter 9

Hope in the Messiah

1 tNevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory.
2 t The people who walk in darkness
will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,t
a light will shine.3 You will enlarge the nation of Israel,
and its people will rejoice.
They will rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest
and like warriors dividing the plunder.4 For you will break the yoke of their slavery
and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders.
You will break the oppressor’s rod,
just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.5 The boots of the warrior
and the uniforms bloodstained by war
will all be burned.
They will be fuel for the fire.6 For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor,t Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.7 His government and its peace
will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies
will make this happen!

The LORD’s Anger against Israel

8 The Lord has spoken out against Jacob;
his judgment has fallen upon Israel.9 And the people of Israelt and Samaria,
who spoke with such pride and arrogance,
will soon know it.10 They said, “We will replace the broken bricks of our ruins with finished stone,
and replant the felled sycamore-fig trees with cedars.”11 But the LORD will bring Rezin’s enemies against Israel
and stir up all their foes.12 The Syrianst from the east and the Philistines from the west
will bare their fangs and devour Israel.
But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied.
His fist is still poised to strike.13 For after all this punishment, the people will still not repent.
They will not seek the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.14 Therefore, in a single day the LORD will destroy both the head and the tail,
the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.15 The leaders of Israel are the head,
and the lying prophets are the tail.16 For the leaders of the people have misled them.
They have led them down the path of destruction.17 That is why the Lord takes no pleasure in the young men
and shows no mercy even to the widows and orphans.
For they are all wicked hypocrites,
and they all speak foolishness.
But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied.
His fist is still poised to strike.18 This wickedness is like a brushfire.
It burns not only briers and thorns
but also sets the forests ablaze.
Its burning sends up clouds of smoke.19 The land will be blackened
by the fury of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
The people will be fuel for the fire,
and no one will spare even his own brother.20 They will attack their neighbor on the right
but will still be hungry.
They will devour their neighbor on the left
but will not be satisfied.
In the end they will even eat their own children.t21 Manasseh will feed on Ephraim,
Ephraim will feed on Manasseh,
and both will devour Judah.
But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied.
His fist is still poised to strike.

Isaiah 10

Chapter 10

1 What sorrow awaits the unjust judges
and those who issue unfair laws.2 They deprive the poor of justice
and deny the rights of the needy among my people.
They prey on widows
and take advantage of orphans.3 What will you do when I punish you,
when I send disaster upon you from a distant land?
To whom will you turn for help?
Where will your treasures be safe?4 You will stumble along as prisoners
or lie among the dead.
But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied.
His fist is still poised to strike.

Judgment against Assyria

5 “What sorrow awaits Assyria, the rod of my anger.
I use it as a club to express my anger.6 I am sending Assyria against a godless nation,
against a people with whom I am angry.
Assyria will plunder them,
trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.7 But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool;
his mind does not work that way.
His plan is simply to destroy,
to cut down nation after nation.8 He will say,
‘Each of my princes will soon be a king.9 We destroyed Calno just as we did Carchemish.
Hamath fell before us as Arpad did.
And we destroyed Samaria just as we did Damascus.10 Yes, we have finished off many a kingdom
whose gods were greater than those in Jerusalem and Samaria.11 So we will defeat Jerusalem and her gods,
just as we destroyed Samaria with hers.’”12 After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant.

13 He boasts,
“By my own powerful arm I have done this.
With my own shrewd wisdom I planned it.
I have broken down the defenses of nations
and carried off their treasures.
I have knocked down their kings like a bull.14 I have robbed their nests of riches
and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs.
No one can even flap a wing against me
or utter a peep of protest.”15 But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it?
Is the saw greater than the person who saws?
Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it?
Can a wooden cane walk by itself?16 Therefore, the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,
will send a plague among Assyria’s proud troops,
and a flaming fire will consume its glory.17 The LORD, the Light of Israel, will be a fire;
the Holy One will be a flame.
He will devour the thorns and briers with fire,
burning up the enemy in a single night.18 The LORD will consume Assyria’s glory
like a fire consumes a forest in a fruitful land;
it will waste away like sick people in a plague.19 Of all that glorious forest, only a few trees will survive—
so few that a child could count them!

Hope for the LORD’s People

20 In that day the remnant left in Israel,
the survivors in the house of Jacob,
will no longer depend on allies
who seek to destroy them.
But they will faithfully trust the LORD,
the Holy One of Israel.21 A remnant will return;t
yes, the remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God.22 But though the people of Israel are as numerous
as the sand of the seashore,
only a remnant of them will return.
The LORD has rightly decided to destroy his people.23 Yes, the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,
has already decided to destroy the entire land.t24 So this is what the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, says: “O my people in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they oppress you with rod and club as the Egyptians did long ago.25 In a little while my anger against you will end, and then my anger will rise up to destroy them.”

26 The LORD of Heaven’s Armies will lash them with his whip, as he did when Gideon triumphed over the Midianites at the rock of Oreb, or when the LORD’s staff was raised to drown the Egyptian army in the sea.
27 In that day the LORD will end the bondage of his people.
He will break the yoke of slavery
and lift it from their shoulders.t28 Look, the Assyrians are now at Aiath.
They are passing through Migron
and are storing their equipment at Micmash.29 They are crossing the pass
and are camping at Geba.
Fear strikes the town of Ramah.
All the people of Gibeah, the hometown of Saul,
are running for their lives.30 Scream in terror,
you people of Gallim!
Shout out a warning to Laishah.
Oh, poor Anathoth!31 There go the people of Madmenah, all fleeing.
The citizens of Gebim are trying to hide.32 The enemy stops at Nob for the rest of that day.
He shakes his fist at beautiful Mount Zion, the mountain of Jerusalem.33 But look! The Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,
will chop down the mighty tree of Assyria with great power!
He will cut down the proud.
That lofty tree will be brought down.34 He will cut down the forest trees with an ax.
Lebanon will fall to the Mighty One.t