Chapter 8

¹ And the Lord said to me, Take to thyself a volume of a great new ¹book, and write in it with a man's pen concerning the making a rapid plunder of spoils; for it is near at hand. ² And make me witnesses of faithful men, Urias, and Zacharias the son of Barachias. ³ And I went in to the prophetess; and she conceived, and bore a son. And the Lord said to me, Call his name, Spoil quickly, plunder speedily. ⁴ For before the child shall know how to call his father or his mother, one shall take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria before the king of the Assyrians.

⁵ And the Lord spoke to me yet again, saying, ⁶ Because this people chooses not the water of Siloam that goes softly, but wills to have Rassin, and the son of Romelias to be king over you; ⁷ therefore, behold, the Lord brings up upon you the water of the river, strong and abundant, even the king of the Assyrians, and his glory: and he shall come up over every valley of yours, and shall walk over every wall of yours: ⁸ and he shall take away from Juda every man who shall be able to lift up his head, and every one able to accomplish anything; and his camp shall fill the breadth of thy land, O ²God with us.

⁹ Know, ye Gentiles, and be conquered; hearken ye, even to the extremity of the earth: be conquered, after ye strengthened yourselves; for even if ye should again strengthen yourselves, ye shall again be conquered. ¹⁰ And whatsoever counsel ye shall take, the Lord shall bring it to nought; and whatsoever word ye shall speak, it shall not stand among you: for God is with us. ¹¹ Thus saith the Lord, With a strong hand they ³revolt from the course of the way of this people, saying, ¹² Let them not say, It is hard, for whatsoever this people says, is hard: but fear not ye their fear, neither be dismayed. ¹³ Sanctify ye the Lord himself; and ⁴he shall be thy fear. ¹⁴ And if thou shalt trust in him, he shall be to thee for a sanctuary; and ye shall not come against him as against ⁵a stumbling-stone, neither as against the falling of a rock: but the houses of Jacob are in a snare, and the dwellers in Jerusalem in a pit. ¹⁵ Therefore many among them shall be weak, and fall, and be crushed; and they shall draw nigh, and men shall be taken securely. ¹⁶ Then shall those who seal themselves that they may ⁶not learn the law be made manifest.

¹⁷ And one shall say, I will wait for God, who has turned away his face from the house of Jacob, and I will trust in him. ^{18 7}Behold I and the children which God has given me: and they shall be for signs and wonders in the house of Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in mount Sion.

¹⁹ And if they should say to you, Seek ⁸those who have in them a divining spirit, and them that speak out of the earth, them

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that speak vain words, who speak out of their belly: shall not a nation diligently seek to their God? why do they seek to the dead concerning the living? ²⁰ For he has given the law for a help, that they should not speak according to this word, concerning which there are no ⁹gifts to give for it.

²¹ And famine shall come sorely upon you, and it shall come to pass, that when ye shall be hungry, ye shall be grieved, and ye shall speak ill of the prince and your fathers' ordinances: and they shall look up to heaven above, ²² and they shall look on the earth below, and behold severe distress, and darkness, affliction, and ¹⁰anguish, and darkness so that one cannot see; and he that is in anguish shall not be distressed only for a time.