7^*When King Ahaz, the son of Jotham and grandson of Uzziah, ruled Judah, war broke out. Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, attacked Jerusalem, but were unable to capture it.

²When word reached the king of Judah that the armies of Syria were already in the territory of Israel, he and all his people were so terrified that they trembled like trees shaking in the wind.

³The Lord said to Isaiah, “Take your son Shear Jashub,^j and go to meet King Ahaz. You will find him on the road where the cloth makers work, at the end of the ditch that brings water from the upper pool. ⁴Tell him to keep alert, to stay calm, and not to be frightened or disturbed. The anger of King Rezin and his Syrians and of King Pekah is no more dangerous than the smoke from two smouldering sticks. ⁵Syria, together with Israel and its king, has made a plot. ⁶They intend to invade Judah, terrify the people into joining their side, and then put Tabeel’s son on the throne.

⁷“But I, the Lord, declare that this will never happen. ⁸Why? Because Syria is no stronger than Damascus, its capital city, and Damascus is no stronger than King Rezin. As for Israel, within sixty-five years it will be too shattered to survive as a nation.

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Footnotes

jshear jashub: This name in Hebrew means “A few will come back” (see 10:20–22).

Cross references

*7.1: 2 K 16:5; 2 Ch 28:5, 6