Isaiah 7-12

New King James Version

Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz^(A)

7 Now it came to pass in the days of ^(B)Ahaz 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 ^(C)it, but could not ^[a]prevail against it. ²And it was told to the house of David, saying, “Syria’s forces are ^[b]deployed 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 ^[c]Shear-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: ^[d]‘Take heed, and ^[e]be ^(D)quiet; 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 ^[f]trouble 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:

^(E)“It shall not stand,
Nor shall it come to pass.
⁸^(F)For the head of Syria is Damascus,
And the head of Damascus is Rezin.
Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be ^[g]broken,
So that it will not be a people.
⁹The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
And the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son.
^(G)If you will not believe,
Surely you shall not be established.” ’ ”

The Immanuel Prophecy

¹⁰Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹^(H)“Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ^[h]ask 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: ^(I)Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear ^(J)a Son, and shall call His name ^(K)Immanuel.^[i] ¹⁵Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. ¹⁶^(L)For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by ^(M)both her kings. ¹⁷^(N)The 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 ^(O)Ephraim departed from Judah.”

¹⁸And it shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord ^(P)will whistle for the fly
That is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt,
And for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
¹⁹They will come, and all of them will rest
In the desolate valleys and in ^(Q)the clefts of the rocks,
And on all thorns and in all pastures.

²⁰In the same day the Lord will shave with a ^(R)hired ^(S)razor,
With those from beyond ^[j]the River, with the king of Assyria,
The head and the hair of the legs,
And will also remove the beard.

²¹It shall be in that day
That a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep;
²²So it shall be, from the abundance of milk they give,
That he will eat curds;
For curds and honey everyone will eat who is left in the land.

²³It shall happen in that day,
That wherever there could be a thousand vines
Worth a thousand shekels of silver,
^(T)It will be for briers and thorns.
²⁴With arrows and bows men will come there,
Because all the land will become briers and thorns.

²⁵And to any hill which could be dug with the hoe,
You will not go there for fear of briers and thorns;
But it will become a range for oxen
And a place for sheep to roam.

Assyria Will Invade the Land

8 Moreover the Lord said to me, “Take a large scroll, and ^(U)write on it with a man’s pen concerning ^[k]Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. ²And I will take for Myself faithful witnesses to record, ^(V)Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”

³Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz; ⁴^(W)for before the child ^[l]shall have knowledge to cry ‘My father’ and ‘My mother,’ ^(X)the riches of Damascus and the ^[m]spoil of Samaria will be taken away before the king of Assyria.”

⁵The Lord also spoke to me again, saying:

⁶“Inasmuch as these people refused
The waters of ^(Y)Shiloah that flow softly,
And rejoice ^(Z)in Rezin and in Remaliah’s son;
⁷Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them
The waters of ^[n]the River, strong and mighty—
The king of Assyria and all his glory;
He will ^[o]go up over all his channels
And go over all his banks.
⁸He will pass through Judah,
He will overflow and pass over,
^(AA)He will reach up to the neck;
And the stretching out of his wings
Will ^[p]fill the breadth of Your land, O ^(AB)Immanuel.^[q]

⁹“Be^(AC) shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces!
Give ear, all you from far countries.
Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces;
Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces.
¹⁰^(AD)Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
Speak the word, ^(AE)but it will not stand,
^(AF)For ^[r]God is with us.”

Fear God, Heed His Word

¹¹For the Lord spoke thus to me with ^[s]a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying:

¹²“Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’
Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy,
Nor be afraid of their ^[t]threats, nor be ^[u]troubled.
¹³The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow;
Let Him be your fear,
And let Him be your dread.
¹⁴^(AG)He will be as a ^[v]sanctuary,
But ^(AH)a stone of stumbling and a rock of ^[w]offense
To both the houses of Israel,
As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
¹⁵And many among them shall ^(AI)stumble;
They shall fall and be broken,
Be snared and ^[x]taken.”

¹⁶Bind up the testimony,
Seal the law among my disciples.
¹⁷And I will wait on the Lord,
Who ^(AJ)hides His face from the house of Jacob;
And I ^(AK)will hope in Him.
¹⁸^(AL)Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me!
We ^(AM)are for signs and wonders in Israel
From the Lord of hosts,
Who dwells in Mount Zion.

¹⁹And when they say to you, ^(AN)“Seek those who are mediums and wizards, ^(AO)who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they ^(AP)seek the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰^(AQ)To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because ^(AR)there^[y] is no light in them.

²¹They will pass through it hard-pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and ^(AS)curse ^[z]their king and their God, and look upward. ²²Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness.

The Government of the Promised Son^(AT)

9 Nevertheless ^(AU)the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed,
As when at ^(AV)first He lightly esteemed
The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
And ^(AW)afterward more heavily oppressed her,
By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
In Galilee of the Gentiles.
²^(AX)The people who walked in darkness
Have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.

³You have multiplied the nation
And ^[aa]increased its joy;
They rejoice before You
According to the joy of harvest,
As men rejoice ^(AY)when they divide the spoil.
⁴For You have broken the yoke of his burden
And the staff of his shoulder,
The rod of his oppressor,
As in the day of ^(AZ)Midian.
⁵For every warrior’s ^[ab]sandal from the noisy battle,
And garments rolled in blood,
^(BA)Will be used for burning and fuel ^[ac]of fire.

⁶^(BB)For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a ^(BC)Son is given;
And ^(BD)the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
^(BE)Wonderful, Counselor, ^(BF)Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, ^(BG)Prince of Peace.
⁷Of the increase of His government and peace
^(BH)There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The ^(BI)zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

The Punishment of Samaria

⁸The Lord sent a word against ^(BJ)Jacob,
And it has fallen on Israel.
⁹All the people will know—
Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria—
Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:
¹⁰“The bricks have fallen down,
But we will rebuild with hewn stones;
The sycamores are cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”
¹¹Therefore the Lord shall set up
The adversaries of Rezin against him,
And spur his enemies on,
¹²The Syrians before and the Philistines behind;
And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth.

For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is ^[ad]stretched out still.

¹³For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them,
Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts.
¹⁴Therefore the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel,
Palm branch and bulrush ^(BK)in one day.
¹⁵The elder and honorable, he is the head;
The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
¹⁶For ^(BL)the leaders of this people cause them to err,
And those who are led by them are destroyed.
¹⁷Therefore the Lord ^(BM)will have no joy in their young men,
Nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows;
For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer,
And every mouth speaks ^[ae]folly.

^(BN)For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.

¹⁸For wickedness ^(BO)burns as the fire;
It shall devour the briers and thorns,
And kindle in the thickets of the forest;
They shall mount up like rising smoke.
¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
^(BP)The land is burned up,
And the people shall be as fuel for the fire;
^(BQ)No man shall spare his brother.
²⁰And he shall ^[af]snatch on the right hand
And be hungry;
He shall devour on the left hand
^(BR)And not be satisfied;
^(BS)Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.
²¹Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh;
Together they shall be ^(BT)against Judah.

^(BU)For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.

Assyria Shall Be Broken

10 “Woe to those who ^(BV)decree unrighteous decrees,
Who write misfortune,
Which they have prescribed
²To rob the needy of justice,
And to take what is right from the poor of My people,
That widows may be their prey,
And that they may rob the fatherless.
³^(BW)What will you do in ^(BX)the day of punishment,
And in the desolation which will come from ^(BY)afar?
To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your glory?
⁴Without Me they shall bow down among the ^(BZ)prisoners,
And they shall fall ^[ag]among the slain.”

^(CA)For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.

Arrogant Assyria Also Judged

⁵“Woe to Assyria, ^(CB)the rod of My anger
And the staff in whose hand is My indignation.
⁶I will send him against ^(CC)an ungodly nation,
And against the people of My wrath
I will ^(CD)give him charge,
To seize the spoil, to take the prey,
And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
⁷^(CE)Yet he does not mean so,
Nor does his heart think so;
But it is in his heart to destroy,
And cut off not a few nations.
⁸^(CF)For he says,
‘Are not my princes altogether kings?
⁹Is not ^(CG)Calno ^(CH)like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria ^(CI)like Damascus?
¹⁰As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols,
Whose carved images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
¹¹As I have done to Samaria and her idols,
Shall I not do also to Jerusalem and her idols?’ ”

¹²Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Lord has ^[ah]performed all His work ^(CJ)on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, ^(CK)“I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks.”

¹³^(CL)For he says:

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
And by my wisdom, for I am prudent;
Also I have removed the boundaries of the people,
And have robbed their treasuries;
So I have put down the inhabitants like a ^[ai]valiant man.
¹⁴^(CM)My hand has found like a nest the riches of the people,
And as one gathers eggs that are left,
I have gathered all the earth;
And there was no one who moved his wing,
Nor opened his mouth with even a peep.”

¹⁵Shall ^(CN)the ax boast itself against him who chops with it?
Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it?
As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up,
Or as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not wood!
¹⁶Therefore the Lord, the ^[aj]Lord of hosts,
Will send leanness among his fat ones;
And under his glory
He will kindle a burning
Like the burning of a fire.
¹⁷So the Light of Israel will be for a fire,
And his Holy One for a flame;
^(CO)It will burn and devour
His thorns and his briers in one day.
¹⁸And it will consume the glory of his forest and of ^(CP)his fruitful field,
Both soul and body;
And they will be as when a sick man wastes away.
¹⁹Then the rest of the trees of his forest
Will be so few in number
That a child may write them.

The Returning Remnant of Israel

²⁰And it shall come to pass in that day
That the remnant of Israel,
And such as have escaped of the house of Jacob,
^(CQ)Will never again depend on him who ^[ak]defeated them,
But will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
²¹The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
To the ^(CR)Mighty God.
²²^(CS)For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea,
^(CT)A remnant of them will return;
The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
²³^(CU)For the Lord God of hosts
Will make a determined end
In the midst of all the land.

²⁴Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O My people, who dwell in Zion, ^(CV)do not be afraid of the Assyrian. He shall strike you with a rod and lift up his staff against you, in the manner of ^(CW)Egypt. ²⁵For yet a very little while ^(CX)and the indignation will cease, as will My anger in their destruction.” ²⁶And the Lord of hosts will ^[al]stir up ^(CY)a scourge for him like the slaughter of ^(CZ)Midian at the rock of Oreb; ^(DA)as His rod was on the sea, so will He lift it up in the manner of Egypt.

²⁷It shall come to pass in that day
That his burden will be taken away from your shoulder,
And his yoke from your neck,
And the yoke will be destroyed because of ^(DB)the anointing oil.

²⁸He has come to Aiath,
He has passed Migron;
At Michmash he has attended to his equipment.
²⁹They have gone ^[am]along ^(DC)the ridge,
They have taken up lodging at Geba.
Ramah is afraid,
^(DD)Gibeah of Saul has fled.
³⁰^[an]Lift up your voice,
O daughter ^(DE)of Gallim!
Cause it to be heard as far as ^(DF)Laish—
^[ao]O poor Anathoth!
³¹^(DG)Madmenah has fled,
The inhabitants of Gebim seek refuge.
³²As yet he will remain ^(DH)at Nob that day;
He will ^(DI)shake his fist at the mount of ^(DJ)the daughter of Zion,
The hill of Jerusalem.

³³Behold, the Lord,
The Lord of hosts,
Will lop off the bough with terror;
^(DK)Those of high stature will be hewn down,
And the haughty will be humbled.
³⁴He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron,
And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.

The Reign of Jesse’s Offspring^(DL)

11 There ^(DM)shall come forth a ^[ap]Rod from the ^[aq]stem of ^(DN)Jesse,
And ^(DO)a Branch shall ^[ar]grow out of his roots.
²^(DP)The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

³His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
⁴But ^(DQ)with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall ^(DR)strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
⁵Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.

⁶“The^(DS) wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
⁷The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
⁸The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
⁹^(DT)They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For ^(DU)the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰“And^(DV) in that day ^(DW)there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a ^(DX)banner to the people;
For the ^(DY)Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”

¹¹It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left,
^(DZ)From Assyria and Egypt,
From Pathros and Cush,
From Elam and Shinar,
From Hamath and the ^[as]islands of the sea.

¹²He will set up a banner for the nations,
And will ^[at]assemble the outcasts of Israel,
And gather together ^(EA)the dispersed of Judah
From the four ^[au]corners of the earth.
¹³Also ^(EB)the envy of Ephraim shall depart,
And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
¹⁴But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west;
Together they shall plunder the ^[av]people of the East;
^(EC)They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab;
And the people of Ammon shall obey them.
¹⁵The Lord ^(ED)will utterly ^[aw]destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt;
With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over ^[ax]the River,
And strike it in the seven streams,
And make men cross over ^[ay]dry-shod.
¹⁶^(EE)There will be a highway for the remnant of His people
Who will be left from Assyria,
^(EF)As it was for Israel
In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt.

A Hymn of Praise

12 And ^(EG)in that day you will say:

“O Lord, I will praise You;
Though You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me.
²Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
^(EH)‘For ^(EI)Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song;
He also has become my salvation.’ ”

³Therefore with joy you will draw ^(EJ)water
From the wells of salvation.

⁴And in that day you will say:

^(EK)“Praise the Lord, call upon His name;
^(EL)Declare His deeds among the peoples,
Make mention that His ^(EM)name is exalted.
⁵^(EN)Sing to the Lord,
For He has done excellent things;
This is known in all the earth.
⁶^(EO)Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion,
For great is ^(EP)the Holy One of Israel in your midst!”

Footnotes

Isaiah 7:1 conquer it
Isaiah 7:2 Lit. settled upon
Isaiah 7:3 Lit. A Remnant Shall Return
Isaiah 7:4 Be careful
Isaiah 7:4 be calm
Isaiah 7:6 cause a sickening dread
Isaiah 7:8 Lit. shattered
Isaiah 7:11 Lit. make the request deep or make it high above
Isaiah 7:14 Lit. God-With-Us
Isaiah 7:20 The Euphrates
Isaiah 8:1 Lit. Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty
Isaiah 8:4 knows how
Isaiah 8:4 plunder
Isaiah 8:7 The Euphrates
Isaiah 8:7 Overflow
Isaiah 8:8 Lit. be the fullness of
Isaiah 8:8 Lit. God-With-Us
Isaiah 8:10 Heb. Immanuel
Isaiah 8:11 Mighty power
Isaiah 8:12 Lit. fear or terror
Isaiah 8:12 Lit. in dread
Isaiah 8:14 holy abode
Isaiah 8:14 stumbling over
Isaiah 8:15 captured
Isaiah 8:20 Or they have no dawn
Isaiah 8:21 Or by their king and by their God
Isaiah 9:3 So with Qr., Tg.; Kt., Vg. not increased joy; LXX Most of the people You brought down in Your joy
Isaiah 9:5 boot
Isaiah 9:5 for the fire
Isaiah 9:12 In judgment
Isaiah 9:17 foolishness
Isaiah 9:20 slice off or tear
Isaiah 10:4 Lit. under
Isaiah 10:12 completed
Isaiah 10:13 mighty
Isaiah 10:16 So with Bg.; MT, DSS YHWH (the Lord)
Isaiah 10:20 Lit. struck
Isaiah 10:26 arouse
Isaiah 10:29 Or over the pass
Isaiah 10:30 Or Cry shrilly
Isaiah 10:30 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX, Syr. Listen to her, O Anathoth
Isaiah 11:1 Shoot
Isaiah 11:1 stock or trunk
Isaiah 11:1 be fruitful
Isaiah 11:11 Or coastlands
Isaiah 11:12 gather
Isaiah 11:12 Lit. wings
Isaiah 11:14 Lit. sons
Isaiah 11:15 So with MT, Vg.; LXX, Syr., Tg. dry up
Isaiah 11:15 The Euphrates
Isaiah 11:15 Lit. in sandals