Isaiah 8:12

12 "Don't be like this people, always afraid somebody is plotting against them. Don't fear what they fear. Don't take on their worries.

Isaiah 8:12 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 8:12

Say ye not, a confederacy
With the king of Assyria, or any other; do not cry it up as a right thing, and express pleasure and satisfaction in it, and encourage others to come into it, and vote for it, and declare an approbation of it; or a "rebellion", as the Targum, that is, against Ahaz; and so deliver up the kingdom of the house of David into the hands of its enemies: to all [them] to whom this people shall say, a confederacy:
who either were for entering into an alliance with the Assyrian monarch, and sending for him to help; or were for joining with their enemies, to the subversion of the present government. Jarchi interprets this of Shebna the Scribe, and his company; who, as he suggests, conspired against Hezekiah, and secretly made an agreement with Sennacherib king of Assyria; but the former sense is best: neither fear their fear, nor be afraid:
let not the same fear possess you as does them, on account of Syria and Israel combining together against Judah; nor be afraid of their two kings, as they were; since there was nothing to fear from them; it being impossible that the kingdom of Judah should fail until Shiloh came, or Immanuel was born of a virgin in it; nor does it become the people of God, and especially his prophets and ministers, to be afraid of men; since the fear of men brings a snare. See ( 1 Peter 3:14 ) .

Isaiah 8:12 In-Context

10 Plan and plot all you want - nothing will come of it. All your talk is mere talk, empty words, Because when all is said and done, the last word is Immanuel - God-With-Us. A Boulder Blocking Your Way

11 God spoke strongly to me, grabbed me with both hands and warned me not to go along with this people. He said:

12 "Don't be like this people, always afraid somebody is plotting against them. Don't fear what they fear. Don't take on their worries.

13 If you're going to worry, worry about The Holy. Fear God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

14 The Holy can be either a Hiding Place or a Boulder blocking your way, The Rock standing in the willful way of both houses of Israel, A barbed-wire Fence preventing trespass to the citizens of Jerusalem.