Isaiah 8

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Yahweh said to me, 'Take a large tablet and on it with an ordinary stylus write, "Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz".	1 And the Lord said to me: “Take up for yourself a large book, and with a man’s pen write in it: ‘Take away the spoils quickly; plunder swiftly.’ ”
2 And take reliable witnesses, the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.'	2 And I summoned to myself faithful witnesses: Uriah, the priest, and Zechariah, the son of Berechiah.
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 And I joined with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said to me: “Call his name: ‘Rush to take away the spoils; Hurry to be plundered.’
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 boy knows how to call to his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be taken away, in the sight of the king of the Assyrians.”
5 Yahweh spoke to me again and said,	5 And the Lord spoke to me further, saying:
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 cast aside the waters of Shiloah, which go forth silently, and has instead chosen Rezin and the son of Remaliah,
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 for this reason, behold, the Lord will lead over them the waters of a river, strong and plentiful: the king of the Assyrians with all his glory. And he will rise up throughout all his streams, and he will overflow all his 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 And he will pass through Judah, inundating it, and he will cross over and arrive, even at its neck. And he will extend his wings, filling the breadth of your land, O 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 O people, gather together, and be conquered! All distant lands, listen! Be strengthened, and be conquered! Gird yourselves, and be conquered!
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 Undertake a plan, and it will be dissipated! Speak a word, and it will not be done! For God is with us.
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 the Lord said this to me, and he has instructed this to me with a strong hand, lest I go forth in the way of this people, saying:
12 'Do not call conspiracy al that this people calls conspiracy; do not dread what they dread, have no fearof that.	12 “You should not say ‘It is conspiracy!’ For all that this people speaks is a conspiracy. And you should be frightened or alarmed with their fear.
13 Yahweh Sabaoth is the one you wil proclaim holy, him you wil dread, him you wil fear.	13 Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself. Let him be your dread, and let him be your fear.
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 And so shall he be a sanctification to you. But he will be a stone of offense and a rock of scandal to the two houses of Israel, and a snare and a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 over which many of them wil stumble, fal and be broken, be ensnared and made captive.	15 And very many of them will stumble and fall, and they will be broken and entangled and seized.
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the instruction in the heart of my disciples.'	16 Bind the testimony, seal the law, 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 And I will wait for the Lord, who has concealed his face from the house of Jacob, and I will stand before 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 Behold: I and my children, whom the Lord has given to me as a sign and a portent, in Israel, from the Lord of hosts, who lives 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 though they say to you, “Seek from seers and diviners,” they who hiss in their incantations, should not the people seek from their God, for the sake of the living, and not from the dead?
20 As regards instruction and testimony, without doubt this is how they wil talk, and hence there wil be nodawn for them.	20 And this is, moreover, for the sake of the law and the testimony. But if they do not speak according to this Word, then he will not have the morning light.
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 And he will pass by it; he will fall and become hungry. And when he is hungry, he will become angry, and he will speak evil against his king and his God, and he will lift himself upward.
22 then down to earth, there wil be only anguish, gloom, the confusion of night, swirling darkness.	22 And he will gaze downward to the earth, and behold: tribulation and darkness, dissolution and distress, and a pursuing gloom. For he will not be able to fly away from its distress.
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.