Isaiah - Chapter 7

¹ In the reign of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah, Razon king of Aram advanced on Jerusalem with Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, to attack it; but he was unable to attack it.

² The House of David was informed: 'Aram has halted in Ephraimite territory.' At this, his heart and his people's hearts shook like forest trees shaking in the wind.

³ Yahweh then said to Isaiah, 'Go out with your son Shear-Jashub, and meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the road to the Fuller's Field,

⁴ and say to him, "Pay attention and keep calm. Do not be frightened or demoralised by these two smouldering sticks of firewood, by the fierce anger of Razon, Aram and the son of Remaliah,

⁵ or because Aram, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah have been plotting against you and saying:

⁶ Let us mount an attack on Judah, destroy it, force it onto our side and install the son of Tabeel there as king.

⁷ "Lord Yahweh says this: This will not happen, it will never occur,

⁸ for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Razon; another sixty-five years, and Ephraim will cease to be a people.

⁹ The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you will not take your stand on me you will not stand firm." '

¹⁰ Yahweh spoke to Ahaz again and said:

¹¹ Ask Yahweh your God for a sign, either in the depths of Sheol or in the heights above.

¹² But Ahaz said, 'I will not ask. I will not put Yahweh to the test.'

¹³ He then said: Listen now, House of David: are you not satisfied with trying human patience that you should try my God's patience too?

¹⁴ The Lord will give you a sign in any case: It is this: the young woman is with child and will give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel.

¹⁵ On curds and honey will he feed until he knows how to refuse the bad and choose the good.

¹⁶ Before the child knows how to refuse the bad and choose the good, the lands whose two kings are frightening you will be deserted.

¹⁷ Yahweh will bring times for you, your people and your ancestral House, such as have not been seen since Ephraim broke away from Judah (the king of Assyria).

¹⁸ When that day comes, Yahweh will whistle up mosquitoes from the distant streams of Egypt and bees from the land of Assyria,

¹⁹ and they will all come and settle on the streams in the gullies, in the holes in the rocks, on all the thorn-bushes and on all the water-points.

²⁰ That day the Lord will shave, with a razor hired from the other side of the River (with the king of Assyria), the head and the hair of the leg, and take off the beard, too.

²¹ When that day comes, each man will raise one heifer and two sheep,

²² and because of the abundant milk they give (on curds will he feed) all who are left in the country will feed on curds and honey.

²³ When that day comes, wherever there used to be a thousand vines worth a thousand pieces of silver, all will be brambles and thorn-bushes;

²⁴ to be ventured into only with arrows and bow, for the country will be nothing but brambles and thorn-bushes.

²⁵ No more will you venture on any hillside formerly under the hoe for fear of the brambles and thorn-bushes; it will be fit only for pasturing the cattle, a tramping-ground for sheep.

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