Isaiah 7:3–9

3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub,b g to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.h 4 Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calmi and don’t be afraid.j Do not lose heartk because of these two smoldering stubsl of firewood—because of the fierce angerm of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.n 5 Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’so son have plottedp your ruin, saying, 6 “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.” 7 Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says:q

“ ‘It will not take place,

it will not happen,r

8 for the head of Aram is Damascus,s

and the head of Damascus is only Rezin.t

Within sixty-five years

Ephraim will be too shatteredu to be a people.

9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria,v

and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son.

If you do not standw firm in your faith,x

you will not stand at all.’ ”y