Study Desk

Then the LORD said to me, "Take for yourself a large tablet and ^(C1)write on it ^(F1)in ordinary letters: ^(F2)(C2)Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

"And ^(F1)I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, ^(C1)Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah."

So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the LORD said to me, "Name him ^(F1)(C1)Maher-shalal-hash-baz;

for ^(C1)before the boy knows how to cry out 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of ^(C2)Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria."

Again the LORD spoke to me further, saying,

"Inasmuch as these people have ^(C1)rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah And rejoice in ^(C2)Rezin and the son of Remaliah;

Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the ^(C1)strong and abundant waters of the ^(C2)Euphrates River, That is, the ^(C3)king of Assyria and all his glory; And it will ^(C4)rise over all its channels and go over all its banks.

-"Then ^(C1)it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through, It will ^(C2)reach as far as the neck; And the spread of its wings will ^(F1)fill the expanse of ^(F2)your land, ^(C3)Immanuel.

"^(C1)Be broken, you peoples, and be ^(F1)(C2)shattered; And listen, all remote places of the earth. ^(F2)Get ready, yet be ^(F1)shattered; ^(F2)Get ready, yet be ^(F1)shattered.

-"^(C1)Devise a plan, but it will fail; State a ^(F1)proposal, but ^(C2)it will not stand, For ^(F2)(C3)God is with us."

For so the LORD spoke to me ^(F1)with ^(C1)mighty power and instructed me ^(C2)not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

"You are not to say, 'It is a ^(C1)conspiracy!' Regarding everything that this people call a conspiracy, And ^(C2)you are not to fear ^(F1)what they fear or be in dread of it.

-"It is the ^(C1)LORD of armies ^(C2)whom you are to regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, And He shall be your dread.

-"Then He will become a ^(C1)sanctuary; But to both houses of Israel, He will be a ^(C2)stone of stumbling and a rock ^(F1)of offense, And a snare and a ^(C3)trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

-"Many ^(C1)will stumble over them, Then they will fall and be broken; They will be snared and caught."

^(C1)Bind up the testimony, ^(C2)seal the ^(F1)Law among ^(C3)my disciples.

And I will ^(C1)wait for the LORD ^(C2)who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will wait eagerly for Him.

^(C1)Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for ^(C2)signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of armies, who ^(C3)dwells on Mount Zion.

When they say to you, "^(C1)Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter," should a people not ^(C2)consult their God? Should they ^(C3)consult the dead in behalf of the living?

To the ^(F1)(C1)Law and to the testimony! If they do not speak in accordance with this word, it is because ^(C2)they have no dawn.

They will pass through ^(F1)the land ^(C1)dejected and hungry, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will become enraged and curse ^(F2)their king and their God as they face upward.

Then they will ^(C1)look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be ^(C2)driven away into darkness.