Isaiah

¹ Then God told me, "Get a big sheet of paper and write in indelible ink, 'This belongs to Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Spoil-Speeds-Plunder-Hurries).' "

² I got two honest men, Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah, to witness the document.

³ God told me, "Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

⁴ Before that baby says 'Daddy' or 'Mamma' the king of Assyria will have plundered the wealth of Damascus and the riches of Samaria."

⁵ God spoke to me again, saying:

⁶ on the gently flowing stream of Shiloah And gotten all excited over Rezin and the son of Remaliah,

⁷ the wild floodwaters of the Euphrates, The king of Assyria and all his fanfare, a river in flood, bursting its banks,

⁸ water up to your necks, A huge wingspan of a raging river, O Immanuel, spreading across your land."

⁹ Listen, all of you, far and near. Prepare for the worst and wring your hands. Yes, prepare for the worst and wring your hands!

¹⁰ All your talk is mere talk, empty words, Because when all is said and done, the last word is Immanuel—God-With-Us.

¹¹ God spoke strongly to me, grabbed me with both hands and warned me not to go along with this people. He said:

¹² always afraid somebody is plotting against them. Don't fear what they fear. Don't take on their worries.

¹³ worry about The Holy. Fear God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

¹⁴ or a Boulder blocking your way, The Rock standing in the willful way of both houses of Israel, A barbed-wire Fence preventing trespass to the citizens of Jerusalem.

¹⁵ and get their bones broken, Get tangled up in that barbed wire and not get free of it."

¹⁶ preserve the teaching for my followers,

¹⁷ while I wait and hope for him.

¹⁸ I and the children God gave me as signs to Israel, Warning signs and hope signs from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, who makes his home in Mount Zion.

¹⁹ Consult the spiritualists. Why not tap into the spirit-world, get in touch with the dead?"

²⁰ People who try the other ways get nowhere—a dead end!

²¹ they try one thing after another. When nothing works out they get angry, cursing first this god and then that one, Looking this way and that,

²² A blank wall, an empty hole. They end up in the dark with nothing.