Isaiah 8:1-9:7

Complete Jewish Bible

⁶ “Since this people has rejected
the gently flowing waters from Shilo’ach
and takes joy in Retzin and the son of Remalyah;
⁷ now Adonai will bring upon them
the mighty floodwaters of the [Euphrates] River —
that is, the king of Ashur and his power.
It will rise above all its channels
and overflow all its banks.
⁸ It will sweep through Y’hudah,
flooding everything and passing on.
It will reach even up to the neck,
and its outspread wings
will fill the whole expanse of the land.”

God is with us! ^[a]
9 You may make an uproar, peoples;
but you will be shattered.
Listen, all of you from distant lands:
arm yourselves, but you will be shattered;
yes, arm yourselves,
but you will be shattered;
¹⁰ devise a plan, but it will come to nothing;
say anything you like, but it won’t happen;
because God is with us ^[b].

¹¹ For this is what Adonai said to me, speaking with a strong hand, warning me not to live the way this people does:

¹² “Don’t regard as alliance what this people calls alliance,
and don’t fear what they fear or be awestruck by it;
¹³ but Adonai-Tzva’ot — consecrate him!
Let him be the object of your fear and awe!
¹⁴ He is there to be a sanctuary.
But for both the houses of Isra’el
he will be a stone to stumble over,
a rock obstructing their way;
a trap and a snare
for the inhabitants of Yerushalayim.
¹⁵ Many of them will stumble and fall,
be broken and trapped and captured.

¹⁶ Wrap up this document, and confine its teaching to those I have instructed.”

¹⁷ I will wait for Adonai,
who is hiding his face
from the house of Ya‘akov;
yes, I will look for him.
¹⁸ Meanwhile, I and the children
whom Adonai has given me
will become for Isra’el
signs and wonders
from Adonai-Tzva’ot
living on Mount Tziyon.
¹⁹ So when they tell you to consult
those squeaking, squawking mediums and fortune-tellers;
[you are to answer],
“Shouldn’t a people seek their God?
Must the living ask the dead
²⁰ for teaching and instruction?”
For they will indeed give you
this unenlightened suggestion.

²¹ Distressed and hungry
they will pass through the land;
and because of their hunger they will grow angry
and curse by their king and by their God.
But whether they look up [to God]
²² or [down] at the earth,
they will see only trouble and darkness,
anguished gloom and pervasive darkness.

^23 (9:1) But there will be no more gloom
for those who are now in anguish.
In the past the land of Z’vulun
and the land of Naftali were regarded lightly;
but in the future he will honor the way to the lake,
beyond the Yarden, Galil-of-the-Goyim.
9 ⁽²⁾ The people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
upon those living in the land that lies
in the shadow of death, light has dawned.
^2 (3) You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice in your presence
as if rejoicing at harvest time,
the way men rejoice
when dividing up the spoil.
^3 (4) For the yoke that weighed them down,
the bar across their shoulders,
and their driver’s goad
you have broken as on the day of Midyan[’s defeat].
^4 (5) For all the boots of soldiers marching
and every cloak rolled in blood
is destined for burning,
fuel for the fire.

^5 (6) For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us;
dominion will rest on his shoulders,
and he will be given the name
Pele-Yo‘etz El Gibbor
Avi-‘Ad Sar-Shalom
[Wonder of a Counselor, Mighty God,
Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace],
^6 (7) in order to extend the dominion
and perpetuate the peace
of the throne and kingdom of David,
to secure it and sustain it
through justice and righteousness
henceforth and forever.
The zeal of Adonai-Tzva’ot
will accomplish this.

^7 (8) Adonai sent a word to Ya‘akov,
and it has fallen on Isra’el.