Isaiah 8

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¹Yahweh said to me, “Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man’s pen, ‘For Maher Shalal Hash Baz’; ✦ ²and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” ✦ ³I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, “Call his name ‘Maher Shalal Hash Baz.’ ✦ ⁴For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.” ✦ ⁵Yahweh spoke to me yet again, saying, ✦ ⁶“Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son; ✦ ⁷now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks. ✦ ⁸It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through; it will reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings will fill the width of your land, Immanuel. ✦ ⁹Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered! Dress for battle, and be shattered! ✦ ¹⁰Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand: for God is with us.” ✦ ¹¹For Yahweh spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, ✦ ¹²“Don’t say, ‘A conspiracy!’ concerning all about which this people say, ‘A conspiracy!’ neither fear their threats, nor be terrorized. ✦ ¹³Yahweh of Armies is who you must respect as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread. ✦ ¹⁴He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, he will be a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ✦ ¹⁵Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured.” ✦ ¹⁶Wrap up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples. ✦ ¹⁷I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. ✦ ¹⁸Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Yahweh of Armies, who dwells in Mount Zion. ✦ ¹⁹When they tell you, “Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:” shouldn’t a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? ✦ ²⁰Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them. ✦ ²¹They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry; and it will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God. They will turn their faces upward, ✦ ²²and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

Isa 7 ·16 Isa 8 ·8 Isa 28 ·5 Isa 30 ·4 Isa 29 ·4 2 Kgs 16 ·4 Ps 46 ·4 Rom 9 ·3

Christ at the center

Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).

How Isaiah 8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Seminary

★ Start hereCommentaryThe Book of Isaiah (NICOT)John N. Oswalt · Paid · evangelical
The standard evangelical commentary on Isaiah — thorough and devotionally warm.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 8YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Isaiah 8David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Isaiah 8Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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