Isaiah 7:1–17

Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz

7Now it came to pass in the days of ^aAhaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against ^bit, but could not ¹prevail against it. ²And it was told to the house of David, saying, “Syria’s forces are ²deployed in Ephraim.” So his heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind.

³Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and ³Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field, ⁴and say to him: ⁴‘Take heed, and ⁵be ^cquiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah. ⁵Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying, ⁶“Let us go up against Judah and ⁶trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabel”—⁷thus says the Lord God:

^d“It shall not stand,

Nor shall it come to pass.

^8eFor the head of Syria is Damascus,

And the head of Damascus is Rezin.

Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be ⁷broken,

So that it will not be a people.

⁹The head of Ephraim is Samaria,

And the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son.

^fIf you will not believe,

Surely you shall not be established.” ’ ”

The Immanuel Prophecy

¹⁰Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, ^11g“Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ⁸ask it either in the depth or in the height above.”

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

¹³Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: ^hBehold, the virgin shall conceive and bear ⁱa Son, and shall call His name ^jImmanuel. ⁹¹⁵Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. ^16kFor before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by ^lboth her kings. ^17mThe Lord will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father’s house—days that have not come since the day that ⁿEphraim departed from Judah.”