1. Then the Lord said this to me: go buy a large, new scroll of papyrus, and write on it with the pen of a man about the plundering and looting that will be coming upon them!
2. Then appoint these two trustworthy men who will serve as witnesses on my behalf: choose Uriah the Priest, and Zechariah, son of Berechiah.
3. Well after that, I had sex with the Prophetess, and she got pregnant and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me: call his name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
4. For, before the child learns how to call out to his father and mother, someone will carry the power of Damascus and Samaria’s spoils to Assyria’s king.
5. Then the Lord spoke to me again and said:
6. Because these people have refused to return to Siloam’s waters in peace, but prefer Rezin, son of Remaliah, to serve instead as their king; look! Jehovah will be bringing against them the waters of a great mighty river… the king of Assyria and his glory.
7. For, he will then enter their valleys and walk right up to their walls.
8. Thereafter, he’ll sweep into Judah and overrun it up to its neck. So then, the outspread wings of his camp will fill the whole land of Immanuel!
9. Know this, O nations, and then be nailed shut! Pay attention, all you peoples to the ends of the earth… ready yourselves to be nailed down tight! And if you should ever grow strong after that, once more, you’ll be nailed down tight!
10. Then, no matter whom you ask for solutions; Jehovah will wipe them away. And no matter what you say you’ll accomplish; because Jehovah’s against you, nothing that you do will succeed!
11. For, this is what Jehovah has said: these people have resisted my persuasion about the ways they should go. And they say:
12. What you’ve told us is too hard to do! Yet, whatever they’ve said is too hard to do should not be feared or disturbing.
13. Just treat Jehovah of Armies as holy, and only Him, should they fear.
14. If they’ll yield to Him, He’ll be their Most Holy, and upon no stones will they stumble, nor upon any rocks will they trip! But the house of Jacob is now in the trap of those lying in wait in their valleys.
15. Since many of their people are already weak, they’re about to fall and be broken. Then those armies will come and carry the people away from the land where they’ve lived so securely!
16. Then, it will be easy to see which ones were the chosen and sealed, and which wouldn’t follow the Law.
17. For, one will say: I’ll wait on the God from whom Jacob’s house has now turned its face, and in Him, I will put all my trust.
18. Look, both the children God gave me and I! Then, to the house of Israel, they will serve as the miracles and signs of Jehovah of Armies… the One who dwells on Mount Zion.
19. And if, at that time, they should tell you to seek those who interpret omens that are sent by those who speak from the ground, or to those who speak empty words from their guts… you should ask them this: shouldn’t a nation first ask of its God? Why ask the dead on behalf of the living?
20. For He gave us His Law as our helper. So we shouldn’t be turning to those who can’t help!
21. This is why a great famine is coming to you! So, when you’re hungry and worried, and speak wicked things of your fathers and kings… When you look to the sky up above you.
22. And to the ground underneath you, what you’ll see is darkness, distress, and hard times… a darkness that will last a long time!