Isaiah 7:16–25

¹⁶for before the boy knows^m enough to reject the wrong and choose the right,ⁿ the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.^{o 17}The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away^p from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.^q”

Assyria, the Lord’s Instrument

¹⁸In that day^r the Lord will whistle^s for flies from the Nile delta in Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria.^{t 19}They will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the crevices^u in the rocks, on all the thornbushes^v and at all the water holes. ²⁰In that day^w the Lord will use^x a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River^y—the king of Assyria^z—to shave your head and private parts, and to cut off your beard^a also.^{b 21}In that day,^c a person will keep alive a young cow and two goats.^{d 22}And because of the abundance of the milk they give, there will be curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds^e and honey.^{f 23}In that day,^g in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels,^gh there will be only briers and thorns.^{i 24}Hunters will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers^j and thorns. ²⁵As for all the hills^k once cultivated by the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of the briers and thorns;^l they will become places where cattle are turned loose and where sheep run.^m