Chapter
8
Yahweh said to me, "Take a large tablet, and write on it with a woman's pen, 'For Maher Shalal Hash Baz;'
and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priestess, and Zechariah the daughter of Jeberechiah."
I went to the prophet, and he conceived, and bore a daughter. Then said Yahweh to me, "Call her name 'Maher Shalal Hash Baz.'
For before the child knows how to say, 'My mother,' and, 'My father,' the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the queen of Assyria."
Yahweh spoke to me yet again, saying,
"Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's daughter;
now therefore, behold, the Domina brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the queen of Assyria and all her glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks.
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.
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!
Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand: for God is with us."
For Yahweh spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,
"Don't say, 'A conspiracy!' concerning all about which this people say, 'A conspiracy!' neither fear their threats, nor be terrorized.
Yahweh of Armies is who you must regard as holy. She is the one you must fear. She is the one you must dread.
She will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, she will be a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured."
Wrap up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples.
I will wait for Yahweh, who hides her face from the house of Jacoba, and I will look for her.
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.
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?
Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don't speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.
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 queen and by their God. They will turn their faces upward,
and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.