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the Lord said to me, “Take a large scroll, and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 2 I have appointed reliable witnesses for Myself, Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.”
3 Then I went in to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. The Lord said to me, “Call his name, Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz; 4 for before the child knows how to call out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother’, the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”
5 The Lord spoke to me again, saying:
6 “Because the people have rejected
the gently flowing waters of Shiloah,
and rejoices with Rezin
and the son of Remeliah,
7 therefore the Lord is bringing up against them
the mighty rushing waters of the Euphrates River—
the king of Assyria and all his glory.
It will overflow all its channels,
and spill over all its banks.
8 It will pour through Judah,
flood over it, and sweep on through,
reaching up to the neck.
Its outspread wings will cover your entire land,
O Immanuel!
9 “Band together, O you peoples,
and be broken!
Give ear, all you distant lands.
Prepare for battle, but be broken in pieces!
Prepare for battle, but be broken in pieces!
10 Devise your strategy, but it will come to nothing;
propose a plan, but it will not stand,
for God is with us.”
11 The Lord spoke to me with a mighty hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people
He said:
12 “Do not call conspiracy
all that these people call conspiracy,
do not fear what they fear,
or be in dread.
13 But you will regard the Lord of Hosts as holy;
let Him be your fear;
let Him be your dread.
14 He will be a sanctuary,
but for the two houses of Israel,
He will be a stone to stumble over,
and a rock to trip over.
For the people of Jerusalem He will be
a trap and a snare
15 Many among them will stumble;
they will fall and be broken,
they will be snared and captured.”
16 Bind up the testimony;
seal up the instruction among my disciples.
17 I will wait for the Lord,
who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob,
and in Him will I hope.
18 Here I am, and the children whom the Lord has given me!
We are for signs and wonders in Israel
from the Lord of Hosts,
who dwells on Mount Zion.
19 When they say to you,
“Consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who chirp and mutter;”
should not a people consult their God?
Should they consult the dead 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 they have no light of dawn.
21 They will wander through the land, distressed and hungry. When they are starving, they will become enraged, and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God. 22 Then they will look to the earth and see only distress and darkness, and the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into thick darkness.