Isaiah is urged to revere Yahweh

11 Yahweh strongly warned me [MTY] not to act like the other people in Judah did. He said to me,

12 “Do not say that everything that people do is conspiring/rebelling against the government,

like other people say,

and do not ◄be afraid of/worry about► the things that other people are afraid of.

13 I, the Commander of the armies of angels, am the one you should consider to be holy.

And I am the one you should fear,

the one you should revere.

14 I will protect you(sg).

But as for the other people [MTY] in Israel and Judah,

I will be like [MET] a stone that causes people to stumble,

a rock that causes them to fall down.

And as for the people of Jerusalem,

I will be like [MET] a trap or a snare [DOU].

15 Many people will stumble and fall down

and never get up again.

They will experience great troubles;

they will be captured by their enemies.”

16 So, I say to you who are my disciples, seal up this scroll

on which I have written the messages that God has given to me,

and give his instructions to others who have accompanied me.

17 I will wait to see what Yahweh will do.

He has rejected the descendants [MTY] of Jacob,

but I will confidently expect him to help me.

18 I and the children that Yahweh has given to me are like signs to warn the people of Israel;

we are warnings from the Commander of the armies of angels

the one who lives in his temple on Zion Hill in Jerusalem.

19 Some people may urge you(pl) to ◄consult/go and talk with► 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 [RHQ] the one whom we should ask to guide us! It is ridiculous [RHQ] for people who are alive to request spirits of dead people to tell us what we should do! 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. 21 They will wander through the land, worried/discouraged 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. 22 They will look around the land and see only trouble/distress and darkness and things that cause them to despair. And then they will be thrown into the very black darkness of hell.