1The LORD also said to me, "Take a large scroll, and write on it with a man's pen about Mahershalalhashbaz."
2So I took faithful witnesses to make a record: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.
3Then I went to the prophetess, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Then the LORD said to me, "Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz."
4"For before the child knows how to cry, 'My father,' and, 'My mother,' the riches of Damascus and the goods taken from Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria."
5The LORD spoke to me again, saying,
6"Because this people refuses the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoices in Rezin and in Remaliah's son,"
7"now therefore, look, the Lord is bringing up on them the waters of the river, strong and many, that is, the king of Assyria and all his glory. He will rise over all his channels, and go over all his banks."
8"He will sweep through Judah. He will overflow and pass on; he will reach up to the neck. The spreading out of his wings will fill the width of your land, O Immanuel."
9Join together, you peoples, and you will be broken in pieces. Listen, all you from far countries. Get ready for battle, and you will be broken in pieces; get ready for battle, and you will be broken in pieces.
10Make your plans together, and they will come to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand, for God is with us.
11For this is what the LORD said to me with a strong hand upon me. He taught me not to walk in the way of this people. He said,
12"Do not say, 'A confederacy,' about everything this people calls a confederacy. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be afraid."
13"Treat the LORD of hosts himself as holy. Let him be the one you fear; let him be the one you dread."
14"He will be a holy place of safety, but he will be a stone that makes people stumble and a rock that makes them fall, to both the houses of Israel. He will be a trap and a snare to the people living in Jerusalem."
15"Many among them will stumble and fall and be broken, and be caught in the snare and taken."
16Tie up the testimony; seal the law among my disciples.
17I will wait for the LORD, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
18Look, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who lives on mount Zion.
19When they say to you, "Ask those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards who whisper and mutter," should not a people ask their God? Should the living ask the dead?
20To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
21They will pass through the land, hard pressed and hungry. When they are hungry, they will be angry, and will curse their king and their God, and look upward.
22They will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness.