UNROLL
The broad Euphrates in spring flood: brown water spread over its banks into fields of palms, a mud-brick village on a rise, the water still rising under a wide pale sky.

Immanuel

Isaiah 8

Ahaz has chosen Assyria, about 734 BC. Are you trusting the quiet stream God gives, or the flood that looks stronger?

22 verses≈ 4 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

Tap any post to go deeper

Where we are

  1. 1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
  2. 6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
  3. 7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of JesseChapter 8
  4. 13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
  5. 24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
  6. 28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
  7. 36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
  8. 40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
  9. 49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restored
  10. 56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

Assyrian Invasion Prophesied

God

Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary stylus: Maher-shalal-hash-baz. And I will appoint for Myself trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.”

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Isaiah

And I had relations with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son.

God
Morning outside a great city gate of dark basalt: a long line of donkeys laden with bundles, bronze vessels and bales walks away north, Assyrian escorts beside them with spears at rest.

The LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 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.”

God
Early morning at the foot of Jerusalem’s ridge: a narrow stone-lined channel of clear water runs quietly along the slope toward a small pool, reeds and garden plots beside it.

And the LORD spoke to me further:

“Because this people has rejected

the gently flowing waters of Shiloah

and rejoiced in Rezin

and the son of Remaliah,

the Lord will surely bring against them

the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—

the king of Assyria and all his pomp.

God
A flood of brown water sweeping down a Judean valley up the terraces, olive trees standing in it to their crowns, a walled hill town on a height above the water.

It will overflow its channels

and overrun its banks.

It will pour into Judah,

swirling and sweeping over it,

reaching up to the neck;

its spreading streams will cover

your entire land, O Immanuel!

0:20

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

God

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!

God

Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”

Question

Quick question

The name is in verse 8, and its meaning closes verse 10.

What does the name Immanuel mean?

A Call to Fear God

God

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:

“Do not call conspiracy

everything these people regard as conspiracy.

Do not fear what they fear;

do not live in dread.

God

The LORD of Hosts is the One

you shall regard as holy.

Only He should be feared;

only He should be dreaded.

Isaiah 8:13

God
Dusk on a stony path below a town wall: a large rough block of limestone juts from the path, a dropped water jar shattered beside it, and a fowler’s cord snare set among the stones nearby.

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.

Many will stumble over these;

they will fall and be broken;

they will be ensnared and captured.”

Isaiah
Isaiah

Bind up the testimony

and seal the law among my disciples.

I will wait for the LORD,

who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob.

I will put my trust in Him.

Isaiah
A Jerusalem lane at morning: a young prophet seen from behind walks with two small boys, one holding his hand and a little one on his shoulder, neighbors in doorways watching.

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.

Darkness and Light

Isaiah

When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

Isaiah
A lone, hungry man seen from behind on a bare stony plain at dusk, staff in hand, looking up at a black overcast sky with no light in it.

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. 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.

Pray

Pray

LORD of Hosts, You alone I will fear. Be my sanctuary when others are afraid. I will wait for You and trust in You.

You’ve experienced

Isaiah 8

0 of 66 chapters read

A verse to carry with you

The LORD of Hosts is the One you shall regard as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be dreaded.

Isaiah 8:13

or swipe left