CHAPTER 8

1 And Jehovah said to me: Take thee a large roll, and write in it with an ordinary pen: ¹ Make speed to spoil, hasten to the prey.

2 And I took unto me faithful witnesses, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.

3 And I approached the prophetess, who conceived and bare a son. And Jehovah spake to me:
Call his name,
Make speed to spoil,
Hasten to the prey.

4 Verily before the child shall know
To cry, My father and my mother,
The riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria
Shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.

5 Moreover, Jehovah spoke unto me, saying again:

6 Because this people hath refused
The waters of Shiloah, which flow softly,
And hath rejoiced in Rezin and the son of Remaliah:

7 Therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth upon them
The waters of the river, rapid and strong,
The king of Assyria and all his force;
And he shall come up over all his channels,
And shall pass over all his banks.

8 And, crossing over into Judah,
He shall overflow and pass over;
He shall reach even to the neck;
And the stretching out of his wings shall fill
The breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.

9 Associate yourselves, ye peoples,
And ye shall be broken in pieces;
Give ear, all ye that are from a distant land.
Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces;
Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.

10 Take counsel together, and it shall be disannulled;
Decree a decree, and it shall not stand;
For God is with us. ²

11 For thus did Jehovah speak to me, as if seizing ³ my hand,
And taught me not to go in the way of this people, saying,

12 Say ye not, A confederacy,
In all things in which this people saith, A confederacy;
And fear not their fear,
Nor be ye afraid.

13 Sanctify Jehovah of hosts himself;
And let him be your fear,
And let him be your dread.

14 Then shall he be for a sanctuary;
A stone of stumbling and rock of destruction
To the two houses of Israel;
A net and a snare
To the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall,
And shall be bruised, snared, and taken.

16 Bind up the testimony;
Seal the law among my disciples.

17 Therefore will I wait for Jehovah,
Who hideth his face from the house of Jacob,
And I will look for him.

18 Behold I, and the children whom Jehovah hath given me,
Are for signs and wonders in Israel,
From Jehovah of hosts,
Who dwelleth in Mount Zion.

19 And if they shall say to you,
Inquire at soothsayers and diviners,
Who whisper and mutter;
Should not a people ask counsel of their God?
From the living to the dead?

20 To the law and to the testimony:
If they have not spoken according to this word,
It is because there is no light in them.

21 Then shall they pass through this land distressed and hungry,
And it shall happen that, when they are hungry, they shall fret,
And shall curse their king and their God, looking upward.

22 And when they shall look to the earth,
Lo, trouble and darkness, dimness and distress,
And they shall be driven to gloominess.