Chapter 8

  And Jehovah said to me, Take thee a great tablet, and write thereon with a man's style, concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz.  

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  And I took unto me to witness, sure witnesses, Urijah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.  

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  And I came near to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son; and Jehovah said unto me, Call his name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz.  

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  For before the lad knoweth to cry, My father! and, My mother! the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.  

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  And Jehovah spoke again to me, saying,  

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  Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah which flow softly, and rejoiceth in Rezin and in the son of Remaliah,  

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  therefore behold, the Lord will bring up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory; and he shall mount up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:  

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  and he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow it and go further, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel!  

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  Rage, ye peoples, and be broken in pieces! And give ear, all ye distant parts of the earth: Gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces!  

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  Settle a plan, and it shall come to nought; speak a word, and it shall not stand: for ùGod is with us.  

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  For Jehovah spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and he instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,  

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  Ye shall not say, Conspiracy, of everything of which this people saith, Conspiracy; and fear ye not their fear, and be not in dread.  

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  Jehovah of hosts, him shall ye sanctify; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.  

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  And he will be for a sanctuary; and for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  

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  And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and snared, and taken.  

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  Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.  

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  And I will wait for Jehovah, who hideth his face from the house of Jacob; and I will look for him.  

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  Behold, I and the children that Jehovah hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel, from Jehovah of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Zion.  

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  And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto the necromancers and unto the soothsayers, who chirp and who mutter, [say,] Shall not a people seek unto their God? [Will they go] for the living unto the dead?  

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  To the law and the testimony! If they speak not according to this word, for them there is no daybreak.  

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  And they shall pass through it, hard pressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass when they are hungry, they will fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and will gaze upward:  

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  and they will look to the earth; and behold, trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they shall be driven into thick darkness.  

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