3 And I approached unto the prophetess; and she conceived and bare a son. And JEHOVAH said unto me: Call his name Maher-shalal hash-baz:

4

For before the child shall know

To pronounce My father and My mother,

The riches of Damascus shall be borne away,

And the spoil of Samaria, before the king of Assyria.

5 Yet again JEHOVAH spake unto me, saying: Because this people hath rejected

6

8

9

10

11

The waters of Siloah, which flow gently;

And rejoiceth in Retsin, and the son of Remaliah:
Therefore behold the Lord bringeth up upon them
The waters of the river, the strong and the mighty;
Even the king of Assyria, and all his force.
And he shall rise above all their channels,

And shall go over all their banks,

And he shall pass through Judah, overflowing and spreading,

Even to the neck shall he reach:

And the extension of his wings shall be

Over the full breadth of thy land, O Immanuel!

Know ye this, O ye peoples, and be struck with consternation;

And give ear to it, all ye of distant lands!

Gird yourselves, and be dismayed; gird yourselves,
and be dismayed.

Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought;
Speak the word, and it shall not stand!

For God is with us.

For thus said JEHOVAH unto me;

As taking me by the hand, he instructed me,
That I should not walk in the way of this people,
saying!

12 Say ye not, It is holy,

Of every thing of which this people shall say, It is holy! And fear ye not the object of their fear, neither be ye terrified.

13 JEHOVAH, God of Hosts, sanctify ye him;

And let him be your fear, and let him be your dread :

14 And he shall be unto you a sanctuary;

But a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence,
To the two houses of Israel;

A trap, and a snare, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many among them shall stumble,

And shall fall, and be broken; and shall be ensnared, and caught.

16 Bind up the testimony, seal the command, among my disciples.

17

I will therefore wait for JEHOVAH, who hideth his face

From the house of Jacob; yet will I look for him.

18 Behold, I, and the children

19

Whom JEHOVAH hath given unto me;
For signs and for wonders in Israel,
From JEHOVAH God of Hosts,

Who dwelleth in the mountain of Sion.
And when they shall say unto you:

Seek unto the necromancers and the wizards;
To them that speak inwardly, and that mutter:
Should not a people seek unto their God?

Should they seek, instead of the living, unto the dead?

20 Unto the command, and unto the testimony, let them

seek:

If they will not speak according to this word,

17

In which there is no obscurity;

21 Every one of them shall pass through the land distressed
and famished:

And when he shall be famished, and angry with himself,
He shall curse his king and his God,

22 And he shall cast his eyes upwards, and look down to
the earth:

23

And lo! distress and darkness !

Gloom, tribulation, and accumulated darkness!

But there shall not hereafter be darkness in the land which was distressed:

In the former time he debased

The land of Zebulon, and the land of Naphthali;

But in the latter time he hath made it glorious:

Even the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the

nations.

CHAP. 1 The people, that walked in darkness,

IX.

Have seen a great light;

They that dwelled in the land of the shadow of death,
Unto them hath the light shined.

2 Thou hast multiplied the nation, thou hast increased

their joy:

They rejoice before thee, as with the joy of harvest;
As they rejoice, who divide the spoil.

3 For the yoke of his burden, the staff laid on his shoulder,

The rod of his oppressor, hast thou broken, as in the day of Midian.

4 For the greaves of the armed warrior in the conflict, And the garment rolled in much blood,

Shall be for a burning, even fuel for the fire.

5 For unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given;
And the government shall be upon his shoulder:

And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,
The mighty God, the Father of the everlasting age, the
Prince of peace.

6 of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end;

8

Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom;

To fix it, and to establish it

With judgment and with justice, henceforth and for

ever:

The zeal of JEHOVAH God of Hosts will do this.

JEHOVAH hath sent a word against Jacob;

And it hath lighted upon Israel.

Because the people all of them carry themselves haughtily;

Ephraim, and the inhabitant of Samaria;

In pride and arrogance of heart, saying:

9 The bricks are fallen, but we will build with hewn stone; The sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars:

10 Therefore will JEHOVAH excite the princes of Retsin against him;

And raise up his enemies together:

11 The Syrians from the east, and the Philistines from the west;

And they shall devour Israel on every side.

For all this his anger is not turned away;
But his hand is still stretched out.

12

Yet this people have not turned unto him that smote them;

And JEHOVAH God of Hosts they have not sought.

13 Therefore shall JEHOVAH cut off from Israel the head

and the tail;

The branch and the rush, in one day:

14 The aged and the honourable person, he is the head; And the prophet that teacheth falsehood, he is the tail. 15 For the leaders of this people lead them astray;

And they that are led by them shall be devoured. 16 Wherefore JEHOVAH shall not rejoice over their young

17

men;

And on their orphans, and their widows, he shall have
no compassion.

For every one of them is a hypocrite and an evil-doer;
And every mouth speaketh folly.

anger

For all this his
But his hand is still stretched out.

is not turned away;

For wickedness burneth like a fire;

The brier and the bramble it shall consume:

And it shall kindle the thicket of the wood;

And they shall mount up in volumes of rising smoke. 18 Through the wrath of JEHOVAH God of Hosts is the land darkened;

And the people shall be as fuel for the fire:

A man shall not spare his brother.

19 But he shall snatch on the right, and yet be hungry;
And he shall devour on the left, and not be satisfied:
Every man shall devour the flesh of his neighbour.
20 Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manas-
seh;

CHAP. 1

X.

And both of them shall be united against Judah.
For all this his anger is not turned away;
But his hand is still stretched out.

Wo unto them, that decree unrighteous decrees;
Unto the scribes, that prescribe oppression:
2 To turn aside the needy from judgment;
To rob of their right the poor of my people:
That the widows may become their prey;
And that they may plunder the orphans.

3

3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation?
And in the desolation, which shall come from afar?
To whom will ye flee for succour ?

And where will ye deposit your wealth?

4 Without me, they shall bow down under the bounden, And under the slain shall they fall.

5

For all this his anger is not turned away;

But his hand is still stretched out.

Ho! to the Assyrian, the rod of mine anger,

The staff in whose hand is the instrument of mine indignation!

6 Against a dissembling nation will I send him ;

And against a people the object of my wrath will I give him a charge:

To gather the spoil, and to bear away the prey;

And to trample them under foot like the mire of the

streets.

7 But he doth not so purpose;

And his heart doth not so intend:

But to destroy is in his heart;

And to cut off nations not a few.

8 For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? 9 Is not Calno as Carchemish?

Is not Hamath as Arphad?

Is not Samaria as Damascus ?

10 As my hand hath seized the kingdoms of the idols, Whose graven images were superior to those of Samaria and Jerusalem;

11 As I have done unto Samaria and her idols,

12

Shall I not likewise do unto Jerusalem, and her images? But it shall be, when JEHOVAH hath accomplished his whole work

Upon Mount Sion, and upon Jerusalem;

I will punish the effect of the proud heart of the king of
Assyria;

And the triumphant look of his haughty eyes.

13 For he hath said, By the strength of my hand have I done it;

And by my wisdom; for I am endowed with prudence.
I have removed the bounds of the peoples;