Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 82
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IMMERSE
•
PROPHETS
7:23–8:14
and honey. In that day the lush vineyards, now worth 1,000 pieces of
silver, will become patches of briers and thorns. The entire land will
become a vast expanse of briers and thorns, a hunting ground overrun
by wildlife. No one will go to the fertile hillsides where the gardens once
grew, for briers and thorns will cover them. Cattle, sheep, and goats will
graze there.
Then the Lord said to me, “Make a large signboard and clearly write
this name on it: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.” I asked Uriah the priest and
Zechariah son of Jeberekiah, both known as honest men, to witness my
doing this.
Then I slept with my wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a
son. And the Lord said, “Call him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. For before this
child is old enough to say ‘Papa’ or ‘Mama,’ the king of Assyria will carry
away both the abundance of Damascus and the riches of Samaria.”
Then the Lord spoke to me again and said, “My care for the people of
Judah is like the gently flowing waters of Shiloah, but they have rejected it.
They are rejoicing over what will happen to King Rezin and King Pekah.
Therefore, the Lord will overwhelm them with a mighty flood from the
Euphrates River—the king of Assyria and all his glory. This flood will over
flow all its channels and sweep into Judah until it is chin deep. It will spread
its wings, submerging your land from one end to the other, O Immanuel.
“Huddle together, you nations, and be terrified.
Listen, all you distant lands.
Prepare for battle, but you will be crushed!
Yes, prepare for battle, but you will be crushed!
Call your councils of war, but they will be worthless.
Develop your strategies, but they will not succeed.
For God is with us!”
The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else
does. He said,
“Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do,
and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.
Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.
He is the one you should fear.
He is the one who should make you tremble.
He will keep you safe.
But to Israel and Judah
he will be a stone that makes people stumble,
a rock that makes them fall.
