Isaiah Chapter 8 verse 12 Holy Bible
Say ye not, A conspiracy, concerning all whereof this people shall say, A conspiracy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be in dread `thereof'.
read chapter 8 in ASV
Do not say, It is holy, about everything of which this people says, It is holy; and do not be in fear of what they go in fear of.
read chapter 8 in BBE
Ye shall not say, Conspiracy, of everything of which this people saith, Conspiracy; and fear ye not their fear, and be not in dread.
read chapter 8 in DARBY
Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.
read chapter 8 in KJV
read chapter 8 in WBT
Don't you say, "A conspiracy!" concerning all about which this people shall say, "A conspiracy!" neither fear their fear, nor be in dread [of it].
read chapter 8 in WEB
`Ye do not say, A confederacy, To all to whom this people saith, A confederacy, And its fear ye do not fear, Nor declare fearful.
read chapter 8 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 12. - Say ye not. The transition from the singular to the plural is noticeable. It implies that Isaiah did not stand alone, but had followers - a "little flock," it may be - but still enough to give him the support of sympathy (comp. ver. 16). A confederacy; rather, treason, or conspiracy (see 2 Samuel 15:12; 1 Kings 16:20; 2 Kings 11:12; 2 Kings 12:20; Jeremiah 11:9; Ezekiel 22:25, etc.). The command is, not to call a course of conduct treasonable simply because the people generally so call it. Jeremiah was charged with treason for preaching the hopelessness of offering resistance to Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 20:1; Jeremiah 26:8-11). Those who opposed an Assyrian alliance were probably now taxed with treason. To all them to whom; rather, everything which. Translate the entire clause thus: Call ye not conspiracy everything which this people shall call conspiracy. Neither fear ye their fear. They feared man (Isaiah 7:2). Isaiah and his disciples are commanded to fear no one but God.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(12) Say ye not, A confederacy . . .--The words have been very differently interpreted. (1) The confederacy has been thought to be that between Syria or Ephraim, which had at first filled the people with terror, and then had seemed so powerful that men had been willing to join it (Isaiah 7:2; Isaiah 8:6). (2) Translating the word as conspiracy as in 2Kings 17:4--it was the word used by Athaliah when she cried, "Treason, treason!" (2Chronicles 23:13)--interpreters have seen in it the cry of the Assyrian alliance party against the prophet and his followers, whom they accused of conspiracy against their country, such as was afterwards imputed to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 37:14). (3) Others, following a conjectural amendment of the text, have read, "Ye shall not call everything a holy thing which this people calleth a holy thing," and find in the words a protest against the idolatrous reverence for that which has no real holiness, analogous to the warning against soothsayers or diviners in Isaiah 8:19; or possibly an allusion to such an object of worship as the brazen serpent, which Hezekiah had destroyed by Isaiah's advice (2Kings 18:4). Of these, (2) seems the most in harmony with the sequence of facts and thoughts. . . .
