8:1 The LORD told me, “Take a large tablet¹ and inscribe these words² on it with an ordinary stylus,³ ‘Maher Shalal Hash Baz.’⁴ 8:2 Then I will summon⁵ as my reliable witnesses Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.” 8:3 I then had sexual relations with the prophetess; she conceived and gave birth to a son. The LORD told me, “Name him Maher Shalal Hash Baz, 8:4 for before the child knows how to cry out, ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”⁶ 8:5 The LORD spoke to me again, saying:

8:6 “These people⁷ have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah⁸ and melt in fear over Rezin and the son of Remaliah.⁹ 8:7 So look, the sovereign master is bringing up against them the turbulent and mighty waters of the Euphrates River¹⁰—the king of Assyria and all his majestic power. It will reach flood level and overflow its banks.¹¹ 8:8 It will spill into Judah, flooding and engulfing, as it reaches the necks of its victims. He will spread his wings out over your entire land,¹² O Immanuel.”¹³ 8:9 You will be broken,¹⁴ O nations; you will be shattered!¹⁵ Pay attention, all you distant lands of the earth! Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered! Get ready for battle and you will be shattered!¹⁶ 8:10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted!
Issue your orders, but they will not be executed!¹⁷ For God is with us!¹⁸

8:11 Indeed this is what the LORD told me. He took hold of me firmly and warned me not to act like these people, saying:¹⁹

8:12 “Do not say, ‘Conspiracy,’ every time these people say the word.²⁰ Don’t be afraid of what scares them; don’t be terrified.
8:13 You must recognize the authority of the LORD who leads armies.²¹
He is the one you must respect;
he is the one you must fear.²²
8:14 He will become a snare,²³
a stone that makes one trip,
and a rock that makes one stumble,
to the two houses of Israel.²⁴
He will become²⁵ a trap and a snare,
to the residents of Jerusalem.
8:15 Many will stumble over the stone and rock,²⁶
and fall and be seriously injured;
and be ensnared and captured.”
8:16 Tie up the scroll as legal evidence,²⁷
seal the official record of God’s instructions and give it to my followers.²⁸
8:17 I will wait patiently for the LORD,
who has rejected the family of Jacob;²⁹
I will wait for him.
8:18 Look, I and the sons whom the LORD has given me,³⁰ are reminders and object lessons³¹ in Israel, sent from the LORD who leads armies,³² who lives on Mount Zion.

8:19¹They will say to you, “Seek oracles at the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, from the magicians who chirp and mutter incantations.² Should people not seek oracles from their gods, by asking the dead about the destiny of the living?”³ 8:20 Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen.⁴ Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened.⁵ 8:21 They will pass through the land⁶ destitute and starving. Their hunger will make them angry, and they will curse their king and their God⁷ as they look upward. 8:22 When one looks out over the land, he sees⁸ distress and darkness, gloom⁹ and anxiety, darkness and people forced from the land.¹⁰