1. And the Lord said,
"Take for
yourself a great cuneiform cylinder
and
inscribe upon it in the writing of human beings
that
which was destined*
and that which was to
be taken as booty.
2. "And let the
faithful witnesses testify regarding me,
the
high priest Urriah and Zachariah
the son
of Barachiah.
3. "And the prophetess
shall make an offering,
become pregnant
and give birth to a son,
and his name
shall be called The Hastened Destiny,*
and The Recorder of Booty.*
4.
"Because before the child knows
how
to call to his father and mother,
the
cattle of Damascus
and the spoils of
Samaria
shall be carried off before the
King of Ashur."
5. And the Lord
added, saying to me,
6. "This people
denigrated
the quietly flowing waters of
Shiloah,
and were overjoyed by Rezin
and
the son of Remaliah."
7. That is why
the Lord shall raise upon them
the waters
of the rivers in great volume
and the
power of the King of Ashur,
commensurate
with all his dignity;
he shall climb over
all their ramparts
and he shall walk over
all their walls.
8. And he shall enter
Judea,
uproot* it and move on;
he
shall reach to the upper breast of the land,*
and
the expanse of his wings
shall fill the
breath* of your land -- Emanuel.*
9. The nations were shaken and went to pieces,
all
the distant lands heard about it;
they
were oppressed and broken;
they formed a
council but it was thwarted.*
10. They
spoke of the Manifestation,
but they did
not abide by Emanuel.*
11. This is what
the Lord commanded me,
as he took me by
the hand
and pushed me forward,
so
as I may not walk in the path of this people;
12.
And he said, "Do not call someone brave,
the
way this people call someone brave;*
and
do not fear that which they fear and be shaken.
13.
"To the Almighty Lord give your blessings,
express
your fears
and let your reliance be.
14.
"He is to be hallowed,
yet he
becomes the stone of persecution
and the
stumbling block,*
to both houses of
Israel,
to hide and to hunt the
inhabitants of Jerusalem."
15. And
many shall stumble upon him,
they shall
fall and be shattered,
and they shall be
snared and seized,
16. Therefore, swear
by the testimony
and conclude the Law.
17.
And in my teachings I shall praise the Lord,
who
has turned his face from the House of Jacob,
so
as he may [once again] sanctify them.
18.
Behold, I and the children that the Lord gave me,
as
a sign and wonder for Israel,
before the
Almighty Lord
rested upon the Mountain of
Zion.
19. And when they tell you to ask
the
necromancers and the mediums,
who go into
trance and mumble --
these are not God's
people,
they that ask the dead about the
living.
20. However, for the Law and the
testimony,
that do not conjure* up such
manifestations,
no one shows a token of
appreciation.*
21. And when he passes
through it,
he shall harden it,
and
then he hungers,
and when he hungers he
will be angered,
then he shall redress
the kings and gods [of this world,]
and
then he shall return to above
22. And
gaze upon the earth,
where there will be
persecution and darkness,
consternation
and overwhelming gloom,
because he shall
not punish
those whom he rebukes
like
the times of old.*
*8:1 Lit. Ar. id.: "Laid out," or "planned."
*8:2 Lit. Aramaic: "Msarhiw-sheba."
*8:3 Lit. Aramaic: "Inscriber," or: the recorder of the spoils of war.
*8:8.1 Lit. Ar. id.: "Scrape."
*8:8.2 Lit. Ar. idiomatic expression: "Reach the neck."
*8:8.3 Lit. Ar. id.: "Face."
*8:8.4 Note: This image describes the Manifestation of the Son of God through the symbol of Ashur. (See the pictograph of Ashur.)
*8:9 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "They counseled the council and it was cancelled."
*8:10 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "But it did not stand because of Emanuel." Note: the prophesy regarding Jesus would be fulfilled in the future; however, it was written of in the past tense!
*8:12 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "Do not say brave as this people say brave."
*8:14 Lit. Ar. idiomatic expression: "Sheer rock of stumbling."
*8:19.1 Lit. Ar. id.: "Command."
*8:19.2 Lit. Ar. idiomatic expression: "There is no giving bribe." Or: they don't pay attention to them.
*8:22. Note on racism against the Ashurai. These last verses have been removed from the Western translations and placed in later chapters. In the case of the Catholic Bible, the New American Bible, a few of the verses have been moved to chapter 14; they've been used as an invective against the King of Ashur. More on this subject.
