Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz

¹In the days of mAhaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, nRezin the king of Syria and nPekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. ²When the house of David was told, o“Syria is in league with1 pEphraim,” the heart of Ahaz2 and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

³And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and qShear-jashub3 your son, at the end of rthe conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. ⁴And say to him, s‘Be careful, tbe quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two usmoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and vthe son of Remaliah. ⁵Because Syria, with Ephraim and vthe son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, ⁶“Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it4 for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” ⁷thus says the Lord God:

w“‘It shall not stand,

and it shall not come to pass.

⁸For the head of Syria is xDamascus,

and the head of Damascus is Rezin.

And within sixty-five years

Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.

⁹And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,

and the head of Samaria is ythe son of Remaliah.

zIf you5 are not firm in faith,

you will not be firm at all.’”

The Sign of Immanuel

¹⁰Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: ¹¹“Ask aa sign of the Lord your6 God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” ¹²But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” ¹³And he7 said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you bweary my God also? ¹⁴Therefore the cLord himself will give you a sign. dBehold, the evirgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name fImmanuel.8 ¹⁵He shall eat gcurds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. ¹⁶hFor before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be ideserted. ¹⁷jThe Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that kEphraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

¹⁸In that day the Lord will lwhistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and min the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.9

²⁰In that day nthe Lord will oshave with a razor that is phired beyond qthe River10—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.

²¹rIn that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, ²²and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat scurds and honey.

²³In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels11 of silver, will become tbriers and thorns. ²⁴uWith bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. ²⁵vAnd as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear tof briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.