Isaiah 7:1–8:22

¹And it came to pass 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, came up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but they were not able to fight against it. ²And it was told the house of David saying, Syria is allied with Ephraim. Then his heart and the heart of his people shook, as the trees of the forest are shaken with the wind. ³And Jehovah said to Isaiah, Go out now to meet Ahaz, thou and thy son Shear-jashub, at the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller’s field; ⁴and thou shalt say unto him, Take heed and be quiet; fear not, and let not thy heart faint before these two ends of smoking firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. ⁵Inasmuch as Syria hath taken evil counsel against thee, Ephraim also and the son of Remaliah, saying, ⁶Let us go up against Judah, and harass it, and make a breach therein for us, and set up a king therein—the son of Tabeal; ⁷thus saith the Lord Jehovah: It shall not stand, nor come to pass; ⁸for the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty-five years shall Ephraim be broken, so as to be no more a people; ⁹and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If ye believe not, surely ye shall not be established.

¹⁰And Jehovah spoke again to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹Ask for thee a sign from Jehovah thy God; ask for it in the deep, or in the height above. ¹²And Ahaz said, I will not ask, and will not tempt Jehovah. ¹³And he said, Hear then, house of David: Is it a small matter for you to weary men, that ye weary also my God? ¹⁴Therefore will the Lord himself give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and shall bring forth a son, and call his name Immanuel. ¹⁵Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good. ¹⁶For before the child knoweth to refuse the evil and to choose the good, the land whose two kings thou fearest shall be forsaken.

¹⁷Jehovah will bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father’s house, days which have not come since the day when Ephraim turned away from Judah—even the king of Assyria. ¹⁸And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will hiss for the fly which is at the extremity of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee which is in the land of Assyria; ¹⁹and they shall come and settle all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and on all thorn-bushes, and on all the pastures. ²⁰In that day will the Lord, with a razor which is hired beyond the river, with the king of Assyria, shave the head and the hair of the feet, yea, the beard also will it take away. ²¹And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep, ²²and it shall come to pass, from the abundance of milk they shall give, that he shall eat butter; for every one that remaineth in the midst of the land shall eat butter and honey. ²³And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver pieces, shall become briars and thorns: ²⁴with arrows and with the bow shall they come thither, for the whole land shall become briars and thorns. ²⁵And all mountains that have been dug up with the hoe—thither will they not come, from fear of briars and thorns; and they shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of small cattle.

Chapter 8

¹And Jehovah said to me, Take thee a great tablet, and write thereon with a man’s style, concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ²And I took unto me to witness, sure witnesses, Urijah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. ³And I came near to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son; and Jehovah said unto me, Call his name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ⁴For before the lad knoweth to cry, My father! and, My mother! the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria. ⁵And Jehovah spoke again to me, saying, ⁶Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah which flow softly, and rejoiceth in Rezin and in the son of Remaliah, ⁷therefore behold, the Lord will bring up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory; and he shall mount up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: ⁸and he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow it and go further, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel!

⁹Rage, ye peoples, and be broken in pieces! And give ear, all ye distant parts of the earth: Gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces! ¹⁰Settle a plan, and it shall come to nought; speak a word, and it shall not stand: for •God is with us. ¹¹For Jehovah spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and he instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, ¹²Ye shall not say, Conspiracy, of everything of which this people saith, Conspiracy; and fear ye not their fear, and be not in dread. ¹³Jehovah of hosts, him shall ye sanctify; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. ¹⁴And he will be for a sanctuary; and for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁵And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

¹⁶Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. ¹⁷And I will wait for Jehovah, who hideth his face from the house of Jacob; and I will look for him. ¹⁸Behold, I and the children that Jehovah hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel, from Jehovah of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Zion. ¹⁹And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto the necromancers and unto the soothsayers, who chirp and who mutter, say, Shall not a people seek unto their God? Will they go for the living unto the dead? ²⁰To the law and the testimony! If they speak not according to this word, for them there is no daybreak. ²¹And they shall pass through it, hard pressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass when they are hungry, they will fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and will gaze upward: ²²and they will look to the earth; and behold, trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they shall be driven into thick darkness.