Isaiah 8

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Yahweh said to me, 'Take a large tablet and on it with an ordinary stylus write, "Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz".	1 The LORD said to me: Take a large cylinder-seal, and inscribe on it in ordinary letters: "Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz."
2 And take reliable witnesses, the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.'	2 And I took reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah, son of Jeberechiah.
3 I then had intercourse with the prophetess, who then conceived and gave birth to a son. Yahweh said tome, 'Cal him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz,	3 Then I went to the prophetess and she conceived and bore a son. The LORD said to me: Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz,
4 for before the child knows how to say "mother" or "father", the wealth of Damascus and the booty of Samaria wil be carried away while the king of Assyria looks on.'	4 for before the child knows how to call his father or mother by name, the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be carried off by the king of Assyria.
5 Yahweh spoke to me again and said,	5 Again the LORD spoke to me:
6 'Since this people has rejected the waters of Shiloah which flow smoothly, and has trembled beforeRazon and the son of Remaliah,	6 Because this people has rejected the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, And melts with fear before the loftiness of Rezin and Remaliah's son,
7 now, against it, the Lord will bring the mighty, swel ing waters of the River (the king of Assyria and al hisglory); the River wil flood up all its channels and overflow al its banks;	7 Therefore the LORD raises against them the waters of the River, great and mighty (the king of Assyria and all his power). It shall rise above all its channels, and overflow all its banks;
8 it wil flow into Judah, flooding everything and passing on; it will reach right up to the neck, and the spreading of its wings wil cover the whole extent of your country, Immanuel!	8 It shall pass into Judah, and flood it all throughout: up to the neck it shall reach; It shall spread its wings the full width of your land, Immanuel!
9 Realise this, peoples, and be afraid, listen, all members of far-off nations! Arm yourselves yet be afraid!Arm yourselves yet be afraid!	9 Know, O peoples, and be appalled! Give ear, all you distant lands! Arm, but be crushed! Arm, but be crushed!
10 Devise plans as you may: they will come to nothing! Make what pronouncements you like; it wil notcome about! For God is with us!'	10 Form a plan, and it shall be thwarted; make a resolve, and it shall not be carried out, for "With us is God!"
11 For this was how Yahweh spoke to me when his hand seized hold of me and he taught me not to fol owthe path of this people, saying,	11 For thus said the LORD to me, taking hold of me and warning me not to walk in the way of this people:
12 'Do not call conspiracy al that this people calls conspiracy; do not dread what they dread, have no fearof that.	12 Call not alliance what this people calls alliance, and fear not, nor stand in awe of what they fear.
13 Yahweh Sabaoth is the one you wil proclaim holy, him you wil dread, him you wil fear.	13 But with the LORD of hosts make your alliance-- for him be your fear and your awe.
14 He will be a sanctuary, a stumbling-stone, a rock to trip up the two Houses of Israel; a snare and a trapfor the inhabitants of Jerusalem,	14 Yet he shall be a snare, an obstacle and a stumbling stone to both the houses of Israel, A trap and a snare to those who dwell in Jerusalem;
15 over which many of them wil stumble, fal and be broken, be ensnared and made captive.	15 And many among them shall stumble and fall, broken, snared, and captured.
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the instruction in the heart of my disciples.'	16 The record is to be folded and the sealed instruction kept among my disciples.
17 My trust is in Yahweh who hides his face from the House of Jacob; I put my hope in him.	17 For I will trust in the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob; yes, I will wait for him.
18 Look, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me shal become signs and portents in Israel onbehalf of Yahweh Sabaoth who dwel s on Mount Zion.	18 Look at me and the children whom the Lord has given me: we are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts who dwells on Mount Zion.
19 And should people say to you, 'Go and consult ghosts and wizards that whisper and mutter' -- a peopleshould certainly consult its gods and the dead on behalf of the living!	19 And when they say to you, "Inquire of mediums and fortune-tellers (who chirp and mutter!); should not a people inquire of their gods, apply to the dead on behalf of the living?"--
20 As regards instruction and testimony, without doubt this is how they wil talk, and hence there wil be nodawn for them.	20 then this document will furnish its instruction. That kind of thing they will surely say.
21 Oppressed and starving he wil wander the country; and, once starving, he wil become frenzied andcurse his king and his God; turning his gaze upward,	21
22 then down to earth, there wil be only anguish, gloom, the confusion of night, swirling darkness.
23 For is not everything dark as night for a country in distress? As the past humbled the land of Zebulunand the land of Naphtali, so the future will glorify the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, the territory of thenations.	23 First he degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the end he has glorified the seaward road, the land West of the Jordan, the District of the Gentiles. Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness; for there is no gloom where but now there was distress.