[1] Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary stylus: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
[2] And I will appoint for Myself trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.”
[3] And I had relations with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
[4] For before the boy knows how to cry ‘Father’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”
[5] And the LORD spoke to me further:
[6] “Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoiced in Rezin and the son of Remaliah,
[7] the Lord will surely bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates — the king of Assyria and all his pomp. It will overflow its channels and overrun its banks.
[8] It will pour into Judah, swirling and sweeping over it, reaching up to the neck; its spreading streams will cover your entire land, O Immanuel!
[9] Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered!
[10] Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”
[11] For this is what the LORD has spoken to me with a strong hand, instructing me not to walk in the way of this people:
[12] “Do not call conspiracy everything these people regard as conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear; do not live in dread.
[13] The LORD of Hosts is the One you shall regard as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be dreaded.
[14] And He will be a sanctuary— but to both houses of Israel a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, to the dwellers of Jerusalem a trap and a snare.
[15] Many will stumble over these; they will fall and be broken; they will be ensnared and captured.”
[16] Bind up the testimony and seal the law among my disciples.
[17] I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in Him.
[18] Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me as signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD of Hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
[19] When men tell you to consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why 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, they have no light of dawn.
[21] They will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, 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 utter darkness.