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Damascus and Samaria Fall

¹ Then the LORD said to me, "Take for yourself a large tablet for public display and ^(C1)write on it in ordinary characters: Belonging to ^(F1)(C2)Maher-shalal-hash-baz.² "And I will get faithful witnesses to attest to this prophecy for me, ^(C1)Uriah 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 ^(C1)Maher-shalal-hash-baz to remind the people of the prophecy;⁴ for ^(C1)before the boy knows how to say, 'My father' or 'My mother,' the riches of ^(C2)Damascus (Aram's capital) and the spoil of Samaria (Israel's capital) ^(F1)will be carried away by the king of Assyria."

⁵ Again the LORD spoke to me, saying,

⁶ "Because these people (Judah) have ^(C1)refused the gently flowing waters of ^(F1)Shiloah
And rejoice in ^(C2)Rezin 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 ^(C1)River, ^(C2)strong and abundant—
The ^(C3)king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will ^(C4)rise over all its channels and canals and go far beyond its banks. ^(VR1)

⁸ "Then ^(C1)it will ^(F1)sweep on into Judah; it will overflow and pass through the hills,
^(C2)Reaching 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 ^(C3)Immanuel. ^(VR1)

A Believing Remnant

⁹ "^(C1)Be broken in pieces, O peoples, and ^(C2)be 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 "^(C1)Take counsel together against Judah, but it will come to nothing;
Speak the word, but ^(C2)it will not stand,
For ^(C3)God is with us (Immanuel)."

¹¹ For in this way the LORD spoke to me with His ^(C1)strong hand upon me and instructed me ^(C2)not to walk in the way of this people behaving as they do, saying,

¹² "You are not to say, 'It is a ^(C1)conspiracy!'
In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,
^(C2)And you are not to fear what they fear nor be in dread of it.

¹³ "It is the ^(C1)LORD of hosts ^(C2)whom 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 ^(C1)sanctuary 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 ^(C2)stone on which to stumble and a rock on which to trip,
A ^(C3)trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ^(VR1)

¹⁵ "Many among them ^(C1)will stumble over them;
Then they will fall and be broken,
They will even be snared and trapped."

^16 (C1)Bind up the testimony, ^(C2)seal the law and the teaching among ^(C3)my (Isaiah's) disciples.¹⁷ And I will ^(C1)wait for the LORD ^(C2)who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; and I will look eagerly for Him.^18 (C1)Listen carefully, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are ^(F1)(C2)for signs and wonders that will occur in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who ^(C3)dwells on Mount Zion.

¹⁹ When the people instead of trusting God say to you, "^(C1)Consult the mediums who try to talk to the dead and the soothsayers who chirp and whisper and mutter," should not a people ^(C2)consult their God? Should they ^(C3)consult the dead on behalf of the living?²⁰ Direct those people to the ^(C1)law and to the testimony! If their teachings are not in accord with this word, it is because they have ^(C2)no dawn.²¹ They who consult mediums and soothsayers will pass through the land ^(C1)deeply 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 ^(C1)look to the earth, they will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be ^(C2)driven away into darkness and overwhelming night.