7 thus says the Lord 1God: “aIt shall not stand nor shall it come to pass.

8 “For the head of Aram is aDamascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin (now within another 65 years Ephraim will be shattered, so that it is no longer a people),

9 and the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. aIf you will not believe, you surely shall not 1last.” ’ ”

The Child Immanuel

10 Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying,

11 “Ask a asign for yourself from the Lord your God; 1make it deep as Sheol or high as 2heaven.”

12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!”

13 Then he said, “Listen now, O ahouse of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will btry the patience of cmy God as well?

14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, aa 1virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name 2bImmanuel.

15 “He will eat acurds and honey 1at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good.

16 “aFor before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, bthe land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.

Trials to Come for Judah

17 “The Lord will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have never come since the day that aEphraim separated from Judah, the bking of Assyria.”

18 In that day the Lord will awhistle for the fly that is in the 1bremotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

19 They will all come and settle on the steep 1ravines, on the aledges of the cliffs, bon all the thorn bushes and on all the 2watering places.

20 In that day the Lord will ashave with a brazor, chired from regions beyond dthe 1Euphrates (that is, with the king of Assyria), the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard.

21 Now in that day a man may keep alive a aheifer and a pair of sheep;

22 and because of the abundance of the milk produced he will eat curds, for everyone that is left within the land will eat acurds and honey.

23 And it will come about in that day, athat every place where there used to be a thousand vines, valued at a thousand shekels of silver, will become bbriars and thorns.

24 People will come there with bows and arrows because all the land will be briars and thorns.

25 As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for 1apasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.

Chapter 8

Damascus and Samaria Fall

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet and awrite on it 1in ordinary letters: 2bSwift is the booty, speedy is the prey.

2 “And 1I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, aUriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”

3 So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Name him 1aMaher-shalal-hash-baz;

4 for abefore the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of bDamascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”