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1.
The LORD said to me, "Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.
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2.
And I will call in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me."
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3.
Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said to me, "Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.
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4.
Before the boy knows how to say 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria."
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5.
The LORD spoke to me again:
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6.
"Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah,
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7.
therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the River--the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks
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8.
and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, O Immanuel!"
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9.
Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
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10.
Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.
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11.
The LORD spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said:
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12.
"Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.
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13.
The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread,
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14.
and he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.
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15.
Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured."
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16.
Bind up the testimony and seal up the law among my disciples.
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17.
I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in him.
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18.
Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.
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19.
When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?
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20.
To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.
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21.
Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God.
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22.
Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.
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