The Coming Assyrian Invasion

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet ^wand write on it in common characters,¹ ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’² 2 And ^xI will get reliable witnesses, ^yUriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”

3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, ^z“Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 ^afor before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the ^awealth of ^bDamascus and the spoil of ^bSamaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

5 The Lord spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of ^cShiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over ^dRezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them ^ethe waters of ^fthe River,³ mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it ^gwill rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, ^hreaching even to the neck, and its ⁱoutspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, ^jO Immanuel.”

Fear God, Wait for the Lord

11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and ⁿwarned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call ^oconspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and ^pdo not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, ^qhim you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a ^rsanctuary and ^sa stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many ^tshall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

16 Bind up ^uthe testimony; ^vseal the teaching⁷ among my disciples. 17 I will ^wwait for the Lord, who is ^xhiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 ^yBehold, I and ^zthe children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the ^amediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of ^bthe dead on behalf of the living? 20 ^cTo the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no ^ddawn. 21 They will pass through the land,⁸ greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against⁹ their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 ^eAnd they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into ^fthick darkness.

For to Us a Child Is Born

1 ¹⁰ But there will be no ^ggloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he ^hbrought into contempt the land of ⁱZebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he ^jhas made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.¹¹

Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression

My Soul Longs for the Courts of the Lord

To the choirmaster: according to ^pThe Gittith.¹ A Psalm of ^qthe Sons of Korah.

Stephen’s Speech

1 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And Stephen said:

^j“Brothers and fathers, hear me. ^kThe God ^lof glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, ^mbefore he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ⁿ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 ^mThen he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And ^oafter his father died, ^pGod removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised ^qto give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, ^rthough he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect—that ^shis offspring would ^tbe sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them ^ufour hundred years. 7 ‘But ^vI will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out ^wand worship me in this place.’ 8 And ^xhe gave him the covenant of circumcision. And ^yso Abraham became the father of Isaac, and ^zcircumcised him on the eighth day, and ^aIsaac became the father of Jacob, and ^bJacob of the twelve patriarchs.

9 “And the patriarchs, ^cjealous of Joseph, ^dsold him into Egypt; but ^eGod was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and ^fgave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, ^gwho made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Now ^hthere came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 ⁱBut when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And ^jon the second visit ^kJoseph made himself known to his brothers, and ^lJoseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 And ^mJoseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, ⁿseventy-five persons in all. 15 And ^oJacob went down into Egypt, and ^phe died, he ^qand our fathers, 16 and ^rthey were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that ^sAbraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

17 “But ^tas the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, ^uthe people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king ^vwho did not know Joseph. 19 ^wHe dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, ^xso that they would not be kept alive. 20 ^yAt this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21 and ^zwhen he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses ^awas instructed in ^ball the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was ^cmighty in his words and deeds.

23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart ^dto visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 ^eAnd on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ^f‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 At this retort ^gMoses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, ^hwhere he became the father of two sons.

30 “Now when forty years had passed, ⁱan angel appeared to him ^jin the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ^k‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, ^l‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 ^mI have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and ⁿhave heard their groaning, and ^oI have come down to deliver them. ^pAnd now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, ^qsaying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer ^rby the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 ^sThis man led them out, performing ^twonders and signs ^uin Egypt and ^vat the Red Sea and ^win the wilderness for ^xforty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you ^ya prophet like me from your brothers.’ 38 This is the one ^zwho was in the congregation in the wilderness with ^athe angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. ^bHe received ^cliving ^doracles to give to us. 39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and ^ein their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ^f‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And ^gthey made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and ^hwere rejoicing in ⁱthe works of their hands. 42 But ^jGod turned away and ^kgave them over to worship ^lthe host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

44 “Our fathers had ^pthe tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses ^qdirected him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn ^rbrought it in with Joshua when they ^sdispossessed the nations ^tthat God drove out before our fathers. So it was ^uuntil the days of David, 46 ^vwho found favor in the sight of God and ^wasked to find a dwelling place for ^xthe God of Jacob.¹ 47 But it was ^ySolomon who built a house for him. 48 ^zYet the Most High does not dwell ^ain houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

51 ^d“You stiff-necked people, ^euncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. ^fAs your fathers did, so do you. 52 ^gWhich of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of ^hthe Righteous One, ⁱwhom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law ^jas delivered by angels and ^kdid not keep it.”

The Stoning of Stephen

54 Now when they heard these things ^lthey were enraged, and they ^mground their teeth at him. 55 But he, ⁿfull of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw ^othe glory of God, and Jesus standing ^pat the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see ^qthe heavens opened, and ^rthe Son of Man standing ^pat the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together² at him. 58 Then ^sthey cast him out of the city and ^tstoned him. And ^uthe witnesses laid down their garments ^vat the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, ^whe called out, “Lord Jesus, ^xreceive my spirit.” 60 And ^yfalling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, ^z“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, ^ahe fell asleep.