Isaiah 7–12

Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz

7In 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 with^{1 p}Ephraim,” 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 15}He 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.

The Coming Assyrian Invasion

8Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet ^wand write on it in common characters,¹ ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’^{2 2}And ^xI will get reliable witnesses, ^yUriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”

³And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, ^z“Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; ^4afor before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the ^awealth of ^bDamascus and the spoil of ^bSamaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

⁵The Lord spoke to me again: ⁶“Because this people has refused the waters of ^cShiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over ^dRezin and the son of Remaliah, ⁷therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them ^ethe waters of ^fthe River,³ mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it ^gwill rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, ⁸and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, ^hreaching even to the neck, and its ⁱoutspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, ^jO Immanuel.”

⁹Be broken,⁴ you peoples, and ^kbe shattered;⁵

give ear, all you far countries;

strap on your armor and be shattered;

strap on your armor and be shattered.

¹⁰Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;

speak a word, ^lbut it will not stand,

for God ^mis with us.⁶

Fear God, Wait for the Lord

¹¹For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and ⁿwarned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: ¹²“Do not call ^oconspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and ^pdo not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. ¹³But the Lord of hosts, ^qhim you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. ¹⁴And he will become a ^rsanctuary and ^sa stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁵And many ^tshall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

¹⁶Bind up ^uthe testimony; ^vseal the teaching⁷ among my disciples. ¹⁷I will ^wwait for the Lord, who is ^xhiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. ^18yBehold, I and ^zthe children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. ¹⁹And when they say to you, “Inquire of the ^amediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of ^bthe dead on behalf of the living? ^20cTo the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no ^ddawn. ²¹They will pass through the land,⁸ greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against⁹ their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. ^22eAnd they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into ^fthick darkness.

For to Us a Child Is Born

9¹ But there will be no ^ggloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he ^hbrought into contempt the land of ⁱZebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he ^jhas made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.²

^{23 i}The people ^kwho walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of ^ldeep darkness,

on them has light shone.

^3mYou have multiplied the nation;

you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

as with ⁿjoy at the harvest,

as they ^oare glad ^pwhen they divide the spoil.

^4qFor the yoke of his burden,

^rand the staff for his shoulder,

the rod of his oppressor,

you have broken as ^son the day of Midian.

^5tFor every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult

and every garment rolled in blood

will be burned as fuel for the fire.

^6uFor to us a child is born,

to us ^va son is given;

^wand the government shall be ^xupon⁴ his shoulder,

and his name shall be called⁵

Wonderful ^yCounselor, ^zMighty God,

^aEverlasting ^bFather, Prince of ^cPeace.

⁷Of the increase of his government and of peace

^dthere will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

^ewith justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

^fThe zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression

⁸The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,

and it will fall on Israel;

⁹and all the people will know,

^gEphraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,

who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:

¹⁰“The bricks have fallen,

but we will build with dressed stones;

the sycamores have been cut down,

but we will put cedars in their place.”

¹¹But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,

and stirs up his enemies.

^12hThe Syrians on the east and ⁱthe Philistines on the west

devour Israel with open mouth.

^jFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

¹³The people ^kdid not turn to him who struck them,

nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.

¹⁴So the Lord cut off from Israel ^lhead and tail,

palm branch and reed in one day—

^15mthe elder and honored man is the head,

and ⁿthe prophet who teaches lies is the tail;

¹⁶for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,

and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.

¹⁷Therefore the Lord does not ^orejoice over their young men,

and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;

for everyone is ^pgodless and an evildoer,

and every mouth speaks ^qfolly.⁶

^jFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

¹⁸For wickedness burns like ^ra fire;

it consumes briers and thorns;

it kindles the thickets of the forest,

and they roll upward in a column of smoke.

¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts

the land is scorched,

and ^sthe people are like fuel for the fire;

^tno one spares another.

^20uThey slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,

and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;

^veach devours the flesh of his own arm,

²¹Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;

together they are ^wagainst Judah.

^xFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

10Woe to those who ^ydecree iniquitous decrees,

and the writers who ^zkeep writing oppression,

²to turn aside the needy from justice

and ^ato rob the poor of my people of their right,

that widows may be their spoil,

and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

³What will you do on ^bthe day of punishment,

in the ruin that will come ^cfrom afar?

To whom will you flee for help,

and where will…