Isaiah 7–8

¹And it cometh to pass in the days of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, gone up hath Rezin king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, to Jerusalem, to battle against it, and he is not able to fight against it. ²And it is declared to the house of David, saying, ‘Aram hath been led towards Ephraim,’ And his heart and the heart of his people is moved, like the moving of trees of a forest by the presence of wind. ³And Jehovah saith unto Isaiah, ‘Go forth, I pray thee, to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-Jashub thy son, unto the end of the conduit of the upper pool, unto the highway of the fuller’s field, ⁴and thou hast said unto him: ‘Take heed, and be quiet, fear not, And let not thy heart be timid, Because of these two tails of smoking brands, For the fierceness of the anger of Rezin and Aram, And the son of Remaliah. ⁵Because that Aram counselled against thee evil, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying: ⁶We go up into Judah, and we vex it, And we rend it unto ourselves, And we cause a king to reign in its midst—The son of Tabeal. ⁷Thus said the Lord Jehovah: It doth not stand, nor shall it be! ⁸For the head of Aram is Damascus, And the head of Damascus is Rezin, And within sixty and five years Is Ephraim broken from being a people. ⁹And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, And the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If ye do not give credence, Surely ye are not stedfast.’

¹⁰And Jehovah addeth to speak unto Ahaz, saying: ¹¹‘Ask for thee a sign from Jehovah thy God, Make deep the request, or make it high upwards.’ ¹²And Ahaz saith, ‘I do not ask nor try Jehovah.’ ¹³And he saith, ‘Hear, I pray you, O house of David, Is it a little thing for you to weary men, That ye weary also my God? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord Himself giveth to you a sign, Lo, the Virgin is conceiving, And is bringing forth a son, And hath called his name Immanuel, ¹⁵Butter and honey he doth eat, When he knoweth to refuse evil, and to fix on good. ¹⁶For before the youth doth know To refuse evil, and to fix on good, Forsaken is the land thou art vexed with, because of her two kings.

¹⁷Jehovah bringeth on thee, and on thy people, And on the house of thy father, Days that have not come, Even from the day of the turning aside of Ephraim from Judah, By the king of Asshur. ¹⁸And it hath come to pass, in that day, Jehovah doth hiss for a fly that is in the extremity of the brooks of Egypt, And for a bee that is in the land of Asshur. ¹⁹And they have come, and rested all of them in the desolate valleys, And in holes of the rocks, and on all the thorns, And on all the commendable things. ²⁰In that day doth the Lord shave, By a razor that is hired beyond the river, By the king of Asshur, The head, and the hair of the feet, Yea, also the beard it consumeth. ²¹And it hath come to pass, in that day, A man keepeth alive a heifer of the herd, And two of the flock, ²²And it hath come to pass, From the abundance of the yielding of milk he eateth butter, For butter and honey doth every one eat Who is left in the heart of the land. ²³And it hath come to pass, in that day, Every place where there are a thousand vines, At a thousand silverlings, Is for briers and for thorns. ²⁴With arrows and with bow he cometh thither, Because all the land is brier and thorn. ²⁵And all the hills that with a mattock are kept in order, Thither cometh not the fear of brier and thorn, And it hath been for the sending forth of ox, And for the treading of sheep!’

Chapter 8

¹And Jehovah saith unto me, ‘Take to thee a great tablet, and write upon it with a graving tool of man, To haste spoil, enjoy prey.’ ²And I cause faithful witnesses to testify to me, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah. ³And I draw near unto the prophetess, and she conceiveth, and beareth a son; and Jehovah saith unto me, ‘Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz, ⁴for before the youth doth know to cry, My father, and My mother, one taketh away the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria, before the king of Asshur.’ ⁵And Jehovah addeth to speak unto me again, saying: ⁶‘Because that this people hath refused The waters of Shiloah that go softly, And is rejoicing with Rezin and the son of Remaliah, ⁷Therefore, lo, the Lord is bringing up on them, The waters of the river, the mighty and the great, (The king of Asshur, and all his glory,) And it hath gone up over all its streams, And hath gone on over all its banks. ⁸And it hath passed on into Judah, It hath overflown and passed over, Unto the neck it cometh, And the stretching out of its wings Hath been the fulness of the breadth of thy land, O Emmanu-El!

⁹Be friends, O nations, and be broken, And give ear, all ye far off ones of earth, Gird yourselves, and be broken, Gird yourselves, and be broken. ¹⁰Take counsel, and it is broken, Speak a word, and it doth not stand, Because of Emmanu-El!’ ¹¹For thus hath Jehovah spoken unto me with strength of hand, and instructeth me against walking in the way of this people, saying, ¹²‘Ye do not say, A confederacy, To all to whom this people saith, A confederacy, And its fear ye do not fear, Nor declare fearful. ¹³Jehovah of Hosts—Him ye do sanctify, And He is your Fear, and He your Dread, ¹⁴And He hath been for a sanctuary, And for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of falling, To the two houses of Israel, For a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁵And many among them have stumbled and fallen, And been broken, and snared, and captured.

¹⁶Bind up the testimony, Seal the law among My disciples. ¹⁷And I have waited for Jehovah, Who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob, And I have looked for Him. ¹⁸Lo, I, and the children whom Jehovah hath given to me, Are for signs and for wonders in Israel, From Jehovah of Hosts, who is dwelling in Mount Zion. ¹⁹And when they say unto you, ‘Seek unto those having familiar spirits, And unto wizards, who chatter and mutter, Doth not a people seek unto its God?—For the living unto the dead! ²⁰To the law and to the testimony! If not, let them say after this manner, ‘That there is no dawn to it.’ ²¹ —And it hath passed over into it, hardened and hungry, And it hath come to pass, That it is hungry, and hath been wroth, And made light of its king, and of its God, And hath looked upwards. ²²And unto the land it looketh attentively, And lo, adversity and darkness!—Dimness, distress, and thick darkness is driven away, But not the dimness for which she is in distress!

Chapter 9