Isaiah 8

And the Lord said to me: Take for yourself a scroll of a great new volume, and write on it with a man's stylus: "To make plunder of spoils swiftly"; for it is at hand.

And make for me faithful men as witnesses: Ourias and Zacharias the son of Barachias.

And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said to me: Call his name "Quickly Plunder, Swiftly Despoil."

For before the child knows how to call father or mother, one shall take away the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria before the king of the Assyrians.

And the Lord spoke to me yet again:

Because this people does not want the water of Siloam that flows quietly, but wants to have Raasson and the son of Romelias as king over you,

therefore behold, the Lord brings up upon you the water of the river, the strong and abundant water — the king of the Assyrians and his glory; and it shall rise over all your valleys and walk over all your walls.

And it shall take away from Judea any man able to lift up his head, or anyone able to accomplish anything; and his camp shall be such as to fill the breadth of your land. God is with us.

Know, O nations, and be defeated! Give ear, you who are to the ends of the earth! You who are strong, be defeated! For even if you grow strong again, you shall be defeated again.

And whatever counsel you take, the Lord will scatter it; and whatever word you speak shall not stand for you; for the Lord God is with us.

Thus says the Lord: With a strong hand they refuse the walking in the way of this people, saying:

Never say, "It is hard!" for everything this people says is hard. But do not fear what they fear, nor be troubled.

Sanctify the Lord himself, and he shall be your fear.

And if you trust in him, he shall be to you a sanctuary; and you shall not meet him as a stone of stumbling, nor as a rock of falling. But the house of Jacob is in a snare, and those who dwell in Jerusalem are in a pit.

Therefore many among them shall be powerless, and shall fall and be broken; and they shall be pressed close, and men who are in safety shall be taken.

Then those who seal up the law so that it may not be learned shall be made manifest.

And he shall say: I will wait for God, who has turned away his face from the house of Jacob; and I will trust in him.

Behold, I and the children whom God has given me; and they shall be for signs and wonders in the house of Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Sion.

And if they say to you, "Seek those who speak out of the earth, and the ventriloquists who utter empty words, who speak out of the belly" — should not a nation seek its own God? Why do they seek the dead concerning the living?

For he gave the law as a help, that they might say: not according to this word, for which there are no gifts to be given.

And a harsh famine shall come upon you; and it shall be that when you are hungry you shall be grieved, and you shall speak evil of the ruler and of the patachra; and they shall look up to heaven above.

And they shall look down to the earth below; and behold, affliction and distress and darkness, narrow perplexity and darkness, so that one cannot see.

But he who is in distress shall not be perplexed until a set time. Do this first; do it quickly, O country of Zaboulon, land of Nephthalim, way of the sea, and you who remain who dwell by the seacoast, and beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations, the districts of Judea.