1 And the Lord said to me: Take thee a great book, and write in it with a man’s pen. Take sway the spoils with speed, quickly take the prey. 2 And I took unto me faithful witnesses, Urias the priest, and Zacharias the son of Barachias. 3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. And the Lord said to me: Call his name, Hasten to take away the spoils: Make haste to take away the prey. 4 For before the child know to call his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of the Assyrians. 5 And the Lord spoke to me again, saying: 6 Forasmuch as this people hath cast away the waters of Siloe, that go with silence, and hath rather taken Basin, and the son of Romelia: 7 Therefore behold the Lord will bring upon them the waters of the river strong and many, the king of the Assyrians, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and shall overflow all his banks, 8 And shall pass through Juda, overflowing, and going over shall reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel. 9 Gather yourselves together, O ye people, and be overcome, and give ear, all ye lands afar off: strengthen yourselves, and be overcome, gird yourselves, and be overcome. 10 Take counsel together, and it shall be defeated: speak a word, and it shall not be done: because God is with us. 11 For thus saith the Lord to me: As he hath taught me, with a strong arm, that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 Say ye not: A conspiracy: for all that this people speaketh, is a conspiracy: neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. 13 Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself: and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he shall be a sanctification to you. But for a stone or stumbling, and for a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel, for a snare and a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And very many of them shall stumble and fall, and shall be broken in pieces, and shall be snared, and taken. 16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. 17 And I will wait for the Lord, who hath hid his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. 18 Behold I and my children, whom the Lord hath given me for a sign, and for a wonder in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Sion. 19 And when they shall say to you: Seek of pythons, and of diviners, who mutter in their enchantments: should not the people seek of their God, for the living of the dead? 20 To the law rather, and to the testimony. And if they speak not according to this word, they shall not have the morning light. 21 And they shall pass by it, they shall fall, and be hungry: and when they shall be hungry, they will be angry, and curse their king, and their God, and look upwards. 22 And they shall look to the earth, and behold trouble and darkness, weakness and distress, and a mist following them, and they cannot fly away from their distress.
Isaiah · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Isaiah 8 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (22)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Isaiah 30:8; Isaiah 8:3; Job 19:23–24; Habakkuk 2:2–3; Revelation 21:17
- 2 2 Kings 16:10–11; 2 Kings 16:15–16; 2 Kings 18:2; 2 Corinthians 13:1; Ruth 4:10–11
- 3 Hosea 1:3–9; 2 Kings 22:14; Isaiah 7:13–14; Judges 4:4
- 4 Romans 9:11; 2 Kings 17:3; 2 Kings 16:9; Isaiah 10:6–14; 2 Kings 17:5–6
- 5 Isaiah 7:10
- 6 John 9:7; Nehemiah 3:15; Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 2:18; Judges 9:16–20
- 7 Isaiah 17:12–13; Isaiah 7:20; Genesis 6:17; Amos 9:5; Amos 8:8
- 8 Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 30:28; Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 28:14–22; Isaiah 36:1–22
- 9 Isaiah 14:5–6; Proverbs 11:21; Psalm 37:14–15; 1 Kings 20:11; Joel 3:9–14
- 10 Lamentations 3:37; Romans 8:31; Job 5:12; Proverbs 21:30; Psalm 46:11
- 11 Ezekiel 3:14; Proverbs 1:15; Jeremiah 15:19; Jeremiah 20:7; Jeremiah 20:9
- 12 1 Peter 3:14–15; Luke 21:9; Psalm 53:5; Isaiah 51:12–13; Isaiah 30:1
- 13 Luke 12:5; Isaiah 26:3–4; Revelation 15:4; Matthew 10:28; Psalm 76:7
- 14 1 Peter 2:8; Romans 9:32–33; Isaiah 28:16; Luke 2:34; Ezekiel 11:16
- 15 Matthew 21:44; Isaiah 28:13; Luke 20:17–18; Romans 9:32; Matthew 15:14
- 16 Daniel 12:4; Hebrews 3:5; Revelation 19:10; Mark 4:10–11; 1 Corinthians 2:14
- 17 Hebrews 10:36–39; Habakkuk 2:3; Lamentations 3:25–26; Isaiah 25:9; Psalm 33:20
- 18 Hebrews 2:13–14; Luke 2:34; Zechariah 8:3; Isaiah 53:10; Psalm 71:7
- 19 1 Chronicles 10:13; Leviticus 20:6; 2 Chronicles 33:6; Psalm 106:28; Leviticus 19:31
- 20 2 Peter 1:19; 2 Timothy 3:15–17; Acts 17:11; Psalm 119:130; John 5:39
- 21 Proverbs 19:3; Isaiah 9:20; Jeremiah 14:18; 2 Kings 25:3; Jeremiah 52:6
- 22 Isaiah 5:30; Matthew 8:12; Matthew 22:13; Jeremiah 13:16; Proverbs 14:32
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
"For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, Father or mother, He shall receive the power of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria, against the king of the Assyrians;" declaring, in a mysterious manner indeed, but emphatically, that the Lord did fight with a hidden hand against Amalek.
How is it then that the prophet said, "Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz?" Because, when he was born, there was a taking and dividing of spoils, therefore the event that took place in his time is put as his name.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
… beside the waters of comfort, He hath converted my soul:--that Angels also may share your joy, and Christ Himself the great High Priest, having accepted your resolve, may present you all to the Father, saying, Behold, I and the children whom God hath given Me.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
It is very shameful, and not only shameful, but very foolish, to take from things below a guess at things above, and from a fluctuating nature at the things that are unchanging, and as Isaiah says, to seek the Living among the dead. But yet I will try, for your sake, to give you some assistance for your argument, even …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Again, there are those who say, "He is a man, and who shall know him?" and, "I came unto the prophetess, and she bare a son, and His name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God;" and those [of them] who proclaimed Him as Immanuel, [born] of the Virgin, exhibited the union of the Word of God with His own …