\v 1 Then Yahweh said to me, "Make a large signboard. And write clearly on it, 'Maher Shalal Hash Baz' which means 'quickly plunder and steal everything'."
\v 2 So I requested Uriah the high priest and Jeberekiah's son Zechariah, men who were both honest witnesses, to watch me as I was doing that.
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\v 3 Then I slept with my wife, who was a prophetess, and she became pregnant and then gave birth to a son. Then Yahweh said to me, "Give him the name Maher Shalal Hash Baz,
\v 4 because before he is old enough to say 'papa' or 'mama', the king of Assyria will come with his army and take away all the valuable things in Damascus and in Samaria."
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\v 5 Yahweh spoke to me again and said, "Tell the people of Judah:
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\v 6 I have taken good care of you people,
\q2 but you have rejected that, thinking that my help was very small,
\v 7 Therefore, I, the Lord, will soon cause the powerful army of the king of Assyria, which will be like a great flood from the Euphrates River, to attack the people of Judah.
\v 16 So I say to you who are my disciples, seal up this scroll
\q2 on which I have written the messages that God has given to me,
\q1 and give his instructions to others who have accompanied me.
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\v 17 I will wait to see what Yahweh will do.
\q1 He has rejected the descendants of Jacob,
\q2 but I will confidently expect him to help me.
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\v 18 I and the children that Yahweh has given to me are like signs to warn the people of Israel;
\q2 we are warnings from Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies,
\q2 the one who lives in his temple on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
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\v 19 Some people may urge you to consult those who talk with the spirits of dead people or with those who say that they receive messages from those spirits. They whisper and mutter about what we should do in the future. But God is the one whom we should ask to guide us! It is ridiculous for people who are alive to request spirits of dead people to tell us what we should do!
\v 20 Pay attention to God's instructions and teaching! If people do not say things that agree with what God teaches us, what they say is worthless. It is as though those people are in darkness.
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\v 21 They will wander through the land, worried and hungry. And when they become very hungry, they will become very angry. They will look up toward heaven and curse God and will also curse their king.
\v 22 They will look around the land and see only trouble and darkness and things that cause them to despair. And then they will be thrown into very black darkness.