1   The Lord said to me, Take a large tablet and write on it in common writing, ^note Maher-shalal-hash-baz; ^note 2   and fetch ^note Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah for me as trustworthy witnesses. 3   Then I lay with the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son; and the Lord said to me, Call him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 4   Before the boy can say Father or Mother, the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria shall be carried off and presented to the king of Assyria.

5   Once again the Lord said to me:

   6   Because this nation has rejected
the waters of Shiloah, which run so softly and gently, ^note
7   therefore the Lord will bring up against it
  the strong, flooding waters of the Euphrates,
  the king of Assyria and all his glory;
  it shall run up all its channels
  and overflow all its banks;
   8   it shall sweep through Judah in a flood,
  pouring over it and rising shoulder-high.

Prophecies during the Syro-Ephraimite war
  The whole expanse of the land shall be filled,
  so wide he spreads his wings; for God is with us. ^note
9   Take note, ^note you nations, and be dismayed.
  Listen, all you distant parts of the earth:
    you may arm yourselves but will be dismayed;
    you may arm yourselves but will be dismayed.
   10   Make your plans, but they will be foiled,
  propose what you please, but it shall not stand;
    for God is with us. ^note

11   These were the words of the Lord to me, for his hand was strong upon me; and he warned me not to follow ^note the ways of this people: 12   You shall not say ‘too hard’ of everything that this people calls hard; you shall neither dread nor fear that which they fear. 13   It is the Lord of Hosts whom you must count ‘hard’; ^note he it is whom you must fear and dread. 14   He shall become your ‘hardship’, ^note a boulder and a rock which the two houses of Israel shall run against and over which they shall stumble, a trap and a snare to those who live in Jerusalem; and many shall stumble over them, 15   many shall fall and be broken, many shall be snared and caught.

     16   Fasten up the message,
seal the oracle with my teaching; ^note
     17   and I will wait for the Lord
  who hides his face from the house of Jacob;
    I will watch for him.
18   See, I and the sons whom the Lord has given me
  are to be signs and portents in Israel,
sent by the Lord of Hosts who dwells on Mount Zion.
     19   But men will say to you,
  ‘Seek guidance of ghosts and familiar spirits
    who squeak and gibber;
  a nation may surely seek guidance of its gods,
  of the dead on behalf of the living,
     20   for an oracle or a message?’
They will surely say some such thing as this;
    but what they say is futile.
21   So despondency and fear will come over them,
  and then, when they are afraid and fearful,
  they will turn against their king and their gods.

Prophecies during the Syro-Ephraimite war
   22   Then, whether they turn their gaze upwards or look down,
    everywhere is distress and darkness inescapable,
    constraint and gloom that cannot be avoided;

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