Online Bible

Damascus and Samaria Fall

Then the LORD said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet for public display and ^awrite on it in ordinary characters: Belonging to ¹^bMaher-shalal-hash-baz. 2 And I will get faithful witnesses to attest to this prophecy for me, ^aUriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” 3 So I approached my wife the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Name him ^aMaher-shalal-hash-baz to remind the people of the prophecy; 4 for ^abefore the boy knows how to say, ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the riches of ^bDamascus (Aram’s capital) and the spoil of Samaria (Israel’s capital) ¹will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”

5 Again the LORD spoke to me, saying,

6 “Because these people (Judah) have ^arefused the gently flowing waters of ¹ShiloahAnd rejoice in ^bRezin the king of Aram and Remaliah’s son Pekah the king of Israel,7 Now therefore, listen carefully, the Lord is about to bring on them the waters of the Euphrates ^aRiver, ^bstrong and abundant—The ^cking of Assyria and all his glory;And it will ^drise over all its channels and canals and go far beyond its banks. Is 7:178 “Then ^ait will ¹sweep on into Judah; it will overflow and pass through the hills,^bReaching even to the neck of which Jerusalem is the head,And its outstretched wings (the armies of Assyria) will fill the width of Your land, O ^cImmanuel. Num 14:9; Ps 46:7

A Believing Remnant

9 “^aBe broken in pieces, O peoples, and ^bbe shattered!Listen, all you our enemies from the far countries.Prepare yourselves for war, and be shattered;Prepare yourselves for war, and be shattered.10 “^aTake counsel together against Judah, but it will come to nothing;Speak the word, but ^bit will not stand,For ^cGod is with us (Immanuel) .”

11 For in this way the LORD spoke to me with His ^astrong hand upon me and instructed me ^bnot to walk in the way of this people behaving as they do, saying,

12 “You are not to say, ‘It is a ^aconspiracy!’In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,^bAnd you are not to fear what they fear nor be in dread of it.13 “It is the ^aLORD of hosts ^bwhom you are to regard as holy and awesome.He shall be your source of fear,He shall be your source of dread not man.14 “Then He shall be a ^asanctuary a sacred, indestructible shelter for those who fear and trust Him;But to both the houses of Israel both the northern and southern kingdoms—Israel and Judah, He will be a ^bstone on which to stumble and a rock on which to trip,A ^ctrap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Is 28:6; Rom 9:33; 1+@Pet 2:6-815 “Many among them ^awill stumble over them;Then they will fall and be broken,They will even be snared and trapped.”

16 ^aBind up the testimony, ^bseal the law and the teaching among ^cmy (Isaiah’s) disciples. 17 And I will ^await for the LORD ^bwho is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; and I will look eagerly for Him. 18 ^aListen carefully, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are ¹^bfor signs and wonders that will occur in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who ^cdwells on Mount Zion.

19 When the people instead of trusting God say to you, “^aConsult the mediums who try to talk to the dead and the soothsayers who chirp and whisper and mutter,” should not a people ^bconsult their God? Should they ^cconsult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 Direct those people to the ^alaw and to the testimony! If their teachings are not in accord with this word, it is because they have ^bno dawn. 21 They who consult mediums and soothsayers will pass through the land ^adeeply distressed and hungry, and when they are hungry, they will become enraged and will curse their king and their God as they look upward. 22 Then they will ^alook to the earth, they will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be ^bdriven away into darkness and overwhelming night.