For Maher Shalal Hash Baz;*1 ’ 2 and I will take for myself
faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of
Jeberechiah.”
3 I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a
son. Then said Yahweh to me, “Call his name ‘Maher Shalal Hash Baz.’ 4 For
before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the
riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the
king of Assyria.”
5 Yahweh spoke to me yet again, saying, 6 “Because this
people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in
Rezin and Remaliah’s son; 7 now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon
them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of
Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go
over all its banks. 8 It will sweep onward into Judah. It will
overflow and pass through; it will reach even to the neck; and the
stretching out of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel.
9 Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen,
all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered!
Dress for battle, and be shattered! 10 Take counsel together, and it
will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand: for God
is with us.” 11 For Yahweh spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and
instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, 12 “Don’t
say, ‘A conspiracy!’ concerning all about which this people say,
‘A conspiracy!’ neither fear their threats, nor be terrorized.
13 Yahweh of Armies is who you must regard as holy. He is the one you must fear.
He is the one you must dread. 14 He will be a sanctuary, but for both
houses of Israel, he will be a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured.” 16 Wrap up
the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples. 17 I will wait for Yahweh,
who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
18 Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and
for wonders in Israel from Yahweh of Armies, who dwells in Mount Zion.
19 When they tell you, “Consult with those who have familiar spirits
and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:” shouldn’t a people consult
with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?
20 Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don’t speak according to
this word, surely there is no morning for them. 21 They will pass through
it, sore distressed and hungry; and it will happen that when they are
hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God.
They will turn their faces upward, 22 and look to the earth, and see
distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into
thick darkness.
1 “Maher Shalal Hash Baz” means
“quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil.”