Isaiah 8:1–4
Maher-shalal-hash-baz: a name written before witnesses
Isaiah writes "Maher-shalal-hash-baz" ("swift is the spoil, speedy the plunder") on a large tablet before two witnesses, then names his newborn son with it: before the child can say "my father, my mother," Assyria will plunder Damascus and Samaria. The witnesses agree; the Great Isaiah Scroll and 1QIsa-b preserve the verse.
Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
- The oracle as first spoken or written8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
- Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
- 1QIsa-b (1Q8), Qumran Cave 11st century BC – 1st century AD (reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
- Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
Every witness, in order
8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
The oracle as first spoken or written
No original survives. The oldest copies of Isaiah are the Qumran scrolls: the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a, about 125 BC, nearly complete), 1QIsa-b (1Q8) and some twenty other fragmentary manuscripts.
c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)
Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1
How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.
Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 8:1–4. The name Maher-shalal-hash-baz as in the Masoretic Text. Small differences: v. 2 reads as a command ("take reliable witnesses for me"); v. 3 has ha-navi, "the prophet," without the feminine ending of "the prophetess"; v. 4 spells Damascus with an extra r, the later form known from Chronicles. Otherwise the differences are of spelling (fuller use of vowel letters) and small grammatical forms.
1st century BC – 1st century AD (reported)
1QIsa-b (1Q8), Qumran Cave 1
How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.
Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 8:1–4. Preserves parts of v. 1 only, in agreement with the Masoretic Text.
Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592
Latin Vulgate (Clementine)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Et dixit Dominus ad me: Sume tibi librum grandem, et scribe in eo stylo hominis: Velociter spolia detrahe, cito prædare. Et adhibui mihi testes fideles, Uriam sacerdotem, et Zachariam, filium Barachiæ: et accessi ad prophetissam, et concepit, et peperit filium. Et dixit Dominus ad me: Voca nomen ejus: Accelera spolia detrahere; Festina prædari: quia antequam sciat puer vocare patrem suum et matrem suam, auferetur fortitudo Damasci, et spolia Samariæ, coram rege Assyriorum.
Latin numbering: Isaiah 8:1–4. Jerome translated Isaiah from Hebrew (c. AD 400).
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֵלַ֔י קַח־לְךָ֖ גִּלָּי֣וֹן גָּד֑וֹל וּכְתֹ֤ב עָלָיו֙ בְּחֶ֣רֶט אֱנ֔וֹשׁ לְמַהֵ֥ר שָׁלָ֖ל חָ֥שׁ בַּֽז׃ וְאָעִ֣ידָה לִּ֔י עֵדִ֖ים נֶאֱמָנִ֑ים אֵ֚ת אוּרִיָּ֣ה הַכֹּהֵ֔ן וְאֶת־זְכַרְיָ֖הוּ בֶּ֥ן יְבֶרֶכְיָֽהוּ׃ וָאֶקְרַב֙ אֶל־הַנְּבִיאָ֔ה וַתַּ֖הַר וַתֵּ֣לֶד בֵּ֑ן וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֵלַ֔י קְרָ֣א שְׁמ֔וֹ מַהֵ֥ר שָׁלָ֖ל חָ֥שׁ בַּֽז׃ כִּ֗י בְּטֶ֙רֶם֙ יֵדַ֣ע הַנַּ֔עַר קְרֹ֖א אָבִ֣י וְאִמִּ֑י יִשָּׂ֣א ׀ אֶת־חֵ֣יל דַּמֶּ֗שֶׂק וְאֵת֙ שְׁלַ֣ל שֹׁמְר֔וֹן לִפְנֵ֖י מֶ֥לֶךְ אַשּֽׁוּר׃
Take a large tablet and write on it in ordinary letters: Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz (v. 1)
Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 8:1–4.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
Moreover the Lord said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Maher–shalal–hash–baz. And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the Lord to me, Call his name Maher–shalal–hash–baz. For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.
Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872
Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Et le Seigneur me dit: Prends avec toi un grand livre tout neuf, et avec le stylet d’un écrivain écris sur ce livre que l’on ait à recueillir promptement du butin; car voici l’heure. Et assure-toi pour moi de deux témoins fidèles, Urie, et Zacharie, fils de Barachie. Et je m’approchai de la prophétesse, et elle conçut, et elle enfanta un fils, et le Seigneur me dit: Appelle-le de ce nom: Dépouille vite, pille promptement. Car, avant que l’enfant sache dire le nom de son père et de sa mère, il s’emparera des richesses de Damas et des dépouilles de Samarie devant le roi des Assyriens.
Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 8:1–4. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check only); a C check needs Ziegler's Göttingen Isaiah or Rahlfs–Hanhart.
What changed, and why
Classification: stable text; the library's Greek paraphrases the name ("quickly gather spoil"), the Vulgate translates it as two commands.
Uriah the priest (v. 2) is known from 2 Kings 16:10–16. The scene is a legal act: a written, witnessed prediction that can later be checked.
"The prophetess" (v. 3) is Isaiah's wife, called by the title of her husband's office or a prophet herself; the text does not say more.
What the evidence shows
- The witnesses agree on 8:1–4.
- 1QIsa-b preserves part of 8:1. In the transcription.
Sources
Related lessons
- Isaiah 8: Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Plunder →God tells Isaiah to write on a large tablet "Maher-shalal-hash-baz" ("swift is the spoil, speedy the prey") before witnesses; Isaiah's wife, "the prophetess," bears a son of that name; before he can say "my father" and "my mother," Damascus and Samaria will be plundered by Assyria (8:1–4). Because the people refused "the waters of Shiloah that go softly," the River (Assyria) will flood Judah up to the neck: "O Immanuel" (vv. 5–8). Nations may plot, "for God is with us" (vv. 9–10). Do not fear what this people fears; "Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself"; he will be a sanctuary, and a stone of stumbling to both houses of Israel (vv. 11–15). "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples"; Isaiah and his children are signs (vv. 16–18). Do not consult mediums: "To the law and to the testimony"; those who do will see only darkness (vv. 19–22).
- Investigation: Isaiah's Assyria →Isaiah's oracles name kings known from Assyrian inscriptions: Tiglath-pileser III's Syrian wars, Sargon II's capture of Ashdod, Sennacherib's campaign of 701 BC. Assyrian annals, the Lachish reliefs and the Siloam tunnel give independent evidence for some claims and silence for others. This investigation builds the evidence claim by claim, not by naming artifacts.