1 ARST Then Yahweh said to me,“Make a large signboard. And write clearly on it,‘Maher- Shalal- Hash- Baz’ which means‘quickly plunder and steal everything’.” BSB BSB: Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary stylus: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
2 ARST So I requested Uriah the high priest and Jeberekiah’ s son Zechariah, men who were both honest witnesses, to watch me as I was doing that. BSB BSB: And I will appoint for Myself trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.”
3 ARST Then I slept with my wife, who was a prophetess, and she became pregnant and then gave birth to a son. Then Yahweh said to me,“Give him the name Maher- Shalal- Hash- Baz, BSB BSB: And I had relations with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
4 ARST because before he is old enough to say‘papa’ or‘mama’, the king of Assyria will come with his army and take away all the valuable things in Damascus and in Samaria.” BSB BSB: For before the boy knows how to cry ‘Father’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”
5 ARST Yahweh spoke to me again and said,“Tell the people of Judah: BSB BSB: And the LORD spoke to me further:
6 ARST I have taken good care of you people, but you have rejected that, thinking that my help was very small, like the small canal through which water flows from the spring of Gihon into Jerusalem. Instead, you have been happy to request help from King Rezin and King Pekah. BSB BSB: “Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoiced in Rezin and the son of Remaliah,
7 ARST Therefore, I, the Lord, will soon cause the powerful army of the king of Assyria, which will be like a great flood from the Euphrates River, to attack the people of Judah. Their soldiers will be everywhere in your country, like a river that overflows all its banks. BSB BSB: the Lord will surely bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—the king of Assyria and all his pomp. It will overflow its channels and overrun its banks.
9 ARST Listen, all you people in distant countries! You can prepare to attack Judah. You can prepare for battle, and shout your war cries, but your armies will be crushed! BSB BSB: Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered!
10 ARST You can prepare for what you will do to attack Judah, but what you plan to do will be useless! You will not succeed, because God is with us! BSB BSB: Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”
11 ARST Yahweh strongly warned me not to act like the other people in Judah did. He said to me, BSB BSB: For this is what the LORD has spoken to me with a strong hand, instructing me not to walk in the way of this people:
12 ARST “Do not say that everything that people do is conspiring against the government, like other people say, and do not be afraid of the things that other people are afraid of. BSB BSB: “Do not call conspiracy everything these people regard as conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear; do not live in dread.
13 ARST I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, am the one you should consider to be holy. I am the one you should fear, the one you must give an account to. BSB BSB: The LORD of Hosts is the One you shall regard as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be dreaded.
14 ARST Yahweh will protect you. But as for the other people in Israel and Judah, Yahweh will be like a stone that causes people to stumble, like a rock that causes them to fall down. And as for the people of Jerusalem, he will be like a trap or a snare. BSB BSB: And He will be a sanctuary—but to both houses of Israel a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, to the dwellers of Jerusalem a trap and a snare.
15 ARST Many people will stumble and fall down and never get up again. They will experience great troubles; they will be captured by their enemies.” BSB BSB: Many will stumble over these; they will fall and be broken; they will be ensnared and captured.”
16 ARST So I say to you who are my disciples, seal up this scroll on which I have written the messages that God has given to me, and give his instructions to others who have accompanied me. BSB BSB: Bind up the testimony and seal the law among my disciples.
17 ARST I will wait to see what Yahweh will do. He has rejected the descendants of Jacob, but I will confidently expect him to help me. BSB BSB: I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in Him.
18 ARST I and the children that Yahweh has given to me are like signs to warn the people of Israel; we are warnings from Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the one who lives in his temple on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. BSB BSB: Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me as signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD of Hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
20 ARST Pay attention to God’ s instructions and teaching! If people do not say things that agree with what God teaches us, what they say is worthless. It is as though those people are in darkness. BSB BSB: To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.
21 ARST They will wander through the land, worried and hungry. And when they become very hungry, they will become very angry. They will look up toward heaven and curse God and will also curse their king. BSB BSB: They will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged; and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God.
22 ARST They will look around the land and see only trouble and darkness and things that cause them to despair. And then they will be thrown into very black darkness. BSB BSB: Then they will look to the earth and see only distress and darkness and the gloom of anguish. And they will be driven into utter darkness.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.