1 It happened in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of
Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of
Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could
not prevail against it. 2 It was told the house of David, saying, “Syria
is allied with Ephraim.” His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as
the trees of the forest tremble with the wind. 3 Then Yahweh said to
Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end
of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller’s field.
4 Tell him, ‘Be careful, and keep calm. Don’t be afraid, neither let your
heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking firebrands, for the
fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. 5 Because
Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have plotted evil against you,
saying, 6 “Let’s go up against Judah, and tear it apart, and let’s divide
it among ourselves, and set up a king in the midst of it, even the son of
Tabeel.” 7 This is what the Lord Yahweh says: “It shall not stand, neither
shall it happen.” 8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of
Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in
pieces, so that it shall not be a people; 9 and the head of Ephraim is
Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you will not
believe, surely you shall not be established.’”
10 Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign of Yahweh your
God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.”
12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, neither will I tempt Yahweh.”
13 He said, “Listen now, house of David: Is it not enough for you to
try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also?
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin
will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel.*1 15 He shall eat
butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
16 For before the child knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the
land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken. 17 Yahweh will bring on
you, on your people, and on your father’s house, days that have not come,
from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.
18 It will happen in that day that Yahweh will whistle for the fly that is
in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the
land of Assyria. 19 They shall come, and shall all rest in the desolate
valleys, in the clefts of the rocks, on all thorn hedges, and on all
pastures. 20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired in
the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the
hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard. 21 It shall happen
in that day that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep; 22 and
it shall happen, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give
he shall eat butter: for everyone will eat butter and honey that is left in
the midst of the land. 23 It will happen in that day that every place
where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver shekels, shall be for
briers and thorns. 24 People will go there with arrows and with bow,
because all the land will be briers and thorns. 25 All the hills that were
cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and
thorns; but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading
of sheep.”
1 “Immanuel” means “God with us.”
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