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Isaiah 6:1–8:10

Isaiah’s Commission

6 In the year of the death of Uzziah the king, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and raised throne, and the hem of his robe was filling the temple. Seraphs were standing above him. Each had six wings:a with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

And the one called to the other and said,

“Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh of hosts!

The whole earth is full of his glory.”b

And the pivots of the thresholds shook from the sound of those who called, and the housec was filled with smoke.

And I said, “Woe to me! For I am destroyed!d For I am a man of unclean lips,e and I am living amongf a people of unclean lips,g for my eyes have seen the king, Yahweh of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, and in his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs.

And he touched my mouth, and he said,

“Look! This has touched your lips

and has removed your guilt,

and your sin is annulled.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,

“Whom shall I send?

And who will go for us?”

And I said,

“I am here!

Send me!”

And he said, “Go and say to this people,

‘Keep on listening and do not comprehend!

And keep on looking and do not understand!’

10 Make the heart of this people insensitive,

and make its ears unresponsive,

and shut its eyes

so that it may not look with its eyes

and listen with its ears

and comprehend with its mind

and turn back, and it may be healed for him.”

11 Then I said, “Until when, Lord?”

And he said,

“Until the cities lie wasted without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

and the land is ruined and a waste,

12 and Yahweh sends the people far away,

and the abandonment is great in the midst of the land.

13 And even if only a tenth part remain,h again she will be destroyedi

like a terebinth or like an oak,

which although felled, a tree stump remains in them.

The seed of holiness will be her tree stump.”

The Sign to Ahaz

7 This happened in the days of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah. Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, wenta up to Jerusalem for warfare against it,b but he was not able to fight against it.c When it was reported to the house of David, saying “Aram stands by Ephraim,” his heart and the heart of his people shook like the shaking of the trees of the forest because of the wind.

Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the washer’s field. And you must say to him, ‘Take heed and be quiet! You must not fear, and your heart must not be faint because of these two stumps of smoldering firebrands, because of the fierce anger ofd Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. Because Aram has plotted evil against you with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying, “Let us go up against Judah and let us tear her apart, and let us lay it open and so bring it unto ourselves,e and let us install the son of Tabeel as king in her midst.” Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin, and in sixty-five years from now Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not believe then you will not endure.” ’ ”

10 And Yahweh continued to speak to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask for a sign for yourself from Yahweh God; make it deep as Sheol or make it high as above.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put Yahweh to the test.”

13 Then he said, “Hear, house of David! Is it too little for you to make men weary, that you should also make my God weary? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give youf a sign. Look! the virging is with child and she is about to give birth to a son, and she shall call his name ‘God with us.’ 15 He shall eat curds and honey until he knows to reject the evil and to choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows to reject the evil and to choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be abandoned.h

That Day

17 “Yahweh will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your ancestori days that have not come since the day Ephraim departed from Judah: the king of Assyria.” 18 And this shall happen: On that day, Yahweh will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the stream of Egypt and the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And all of them will come and settle in the rivers of the cliffs and in the clefts of the rocks and on all of the thornbushes and watering places. 20 On that day, the Lord will shave the head and the hair of the feet with a razor of the one hired from beyond the river—with the king of Assyria—and it will even take off the beard. 21 And this shall happen: on that day, a young man will keep a young cow of the herd and two sheep alive. 22 And this shall happen: because of the abundance of milk production, he will eat curds, for every one that is left in the midst of the land will eat curds and honey. 23 And this shall happen on that day: Every place where there are a thousand vinesj for a thousand silver pieces will become briers,k and it will be thornbushes.l 24 One will go there with arrows and bow, for all of the land will be briersm and thornbushes.n 25 And as for all of the hills that they hoed with the hoe, you will not go there, for fear of brierso and thornbushes.p And it will become like pastureland for cattle and overtrodden land for sheep.

Signs of the Assyrian Invasion

8 Then Yahweh said to me, “Take yourself a large tablet and write on it with a common stylus pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. And I will require reliable witnesses as a witness for me: Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.” And I approached the prophetess, and she conceived, and she gave birth to a son. And Yahweh said to me, “Call his name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. For before the boy knows to call ‘my father’ and ‘my mother,’ one will carry away the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria in the presence of the king of Assyria.”

Shiloah Waters and Euphrates Flood

And Yahweh continued to speak to me again, saying,

“Because this people has refused the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore look! The Lord is bringing up the waters of the great and mighty river against them, the king of Assyria and all his glory.

And he will rise above all his channels,

and he will flow over all his banks.

And he will sweep into Judah;

he will overflow and he will flood up to the neck.

He will reach, and he will spread his wings out over your entire land,a God with us.”

Be broken, you peoples, and be dismayed.

And listen, all distant parts of the earth;

gird yourselves and be dismayed;

gird yourselves and be dismayed!

10 Make a plan,b but it will be frustrated!

Speak a word, but it will not stand,

for God is with us!

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