1 Then the Lord said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet and write on it in ordinary letters: Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 2 And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” 3 So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 for before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
5 Again the Lord spoke to me further, saying,
6 “Inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
And rejoice in Rezin and the son of Remaliah;
7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the strong and abundant waters of the Euphrates River,
That is, the king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks.
8 Then it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through,
It will reach as far as the neck;
And the spread of its wings will fill the expanse of your land, Immanuel.
9 “Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;
And listen, all remote places of the earth.
Get ready, yet be shattered;
Get ready, yet be shattered.
10 Devise a plan, but it will fail;
State a proposal, but it will not stand,
For God is with us.”
11 For so the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,
12 “You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
Regarding everything that this people call a conspiracy,
And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.
13 It is the Lord of armies whom you are to regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.
14 Then He will become a sanctuary;
But to both houses of Israel, He will be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,
And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 Many will stumble over them,
Then they will fall and be broken;
They will be snared and caught.”
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the Law among my disciples. 17 And I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will wait eagerly for Him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of armies, who dwells on Mount Zion.
19 When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should a people not consult their God? Should they consult the dead in behalf of the living? 20 To the Law and to the testimony! If they do not speak in accordance with this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through the land dejected and hungry, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will become enraged and curse their king and their God as they face upward. 22 Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness.
1 But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He will make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
2 The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.
3 You will multiply the nation,
You will increase their joy;
They will rejoice in Your presence
As with the joy of harvest,
As people rejoice when they divide the spoils.
4 For You will break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,
The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.
5 For every boot of the marching warrior in the roar of battle,
And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
6 For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this.
8 The Lord sends a message against Jacob,
And it falls on Israel.
9 And all the people know it,
That is, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
Asserting in pride and in arrogance of heart:
10 “The bricks have fallen down,
But we will rebuild with smooth stones;
The sycamores have been cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”
11 Therefore the Lord raises superior adversaries against them from Rezin
And provokes their enemies,
12 The Arameans from the east and the Philistines from the west;
And they devour Israel with gaping jaws.
In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away,
And His hand is still stretched out.
13 Yet the people do not turn back to Him who struck them,
Nor do they seek the Lord of armies.
14 So the Lord cuts off head and tail from Israel,
Both palm branch and bulrush in a single day.
15 The head is the elder and esteemed man,
And the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail.
16 For those who guide this people are leading them astray;
And those who are guided by them are confused.
17 Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men,
Nor does He have compassion on their orphans or their widows;
For every one of them is godless and an evildoer,
And every mouth is speaking foolishness.
In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away,
And His hand is still stretched out.
18 For wickedness burns like a fire;
It consumes briars and thorns;
It also sets the thickets of the forest aflame
And they roll upward in a column of smoke.
19 By the wrath of the Lord of armies the land is burned,
And the people are like fuel for the fire;
No one spares his brother.
20 They devour what is on the right hand but are still hungry,
And they eat what is on the left hand, but they are not satisfied;
Each of them eats the flesh of his own arm.
21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
And together they are against Judah.
In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.
1 Boasting is necessary, though it is not beneficial; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ, who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows— 4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. 5 In behalf of such a man I will boast; but in my own behalf I will not boast, except regarding my weaknesses. 6 For if I do wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.
7 Because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in difficulties, in behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
1 Listen to my prayer, God;
And do not hide Yourself from my pleading.
2 Give Your attention to me and answer me;
I am restless in my complaint and severely distracted,
3 Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the pressure of the wicked;
For they bring down trouble upon me
And in anger they hold a grudge against me.
4 My heart is in anguish within me,
And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5 Fear and trembling come upon me,
And horror has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
7 Behold, I would flee far away,
I would spend my nights in the wilderness. Selah
8 I would hurry to my place of refuge
From the stormy wind and heavy gale.”
9 Confuse them, Lord, divide their tongues,
For I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go around her upon her walls,
And evil and harm are in her midst.
11 Destruction is in her midst;
Oppression and deceit do not depart from her streets.
12 For it is not an enemy who taunts me,
Then I could endure it;
Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me,
Then I could hide myself from him.
13 But it is you, a man my equal,
My companion and my confidant;
14 We who had sweet fellowship together,
Walked in the house of God among the commotion.
15 May death come deceitfully upon them;
May they go down alive to Sheol,
For evil is in their dwelling, in their midst.
16 As for me, I shall call upon God,
And the Lord will save me.
17 Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and moan,
And He will hear my voice.
18 He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me,
For they are many who are aggressive toward me.
19 God will hear and humiliate them—
Even the one who sits enthroned from ancient times— Selah
With whom there is no change,
And who do not fear God.
20 He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him;
He has violated his covenant.
21 His speech was smoother than butter,
But his heart was war;
His words were softer than oil,
Yet they were drawn swords.
22 Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you;
He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.
23 But You, God, will bring them down to the pit of destruction;
Men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days.
But I will trust in You.
4 Do not weary yourself to gain wealth;
Stop dwelling on it.
5 When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.
For wealth certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
