Isaiah 7
Evangelical Heritage Version
Immanuel Is the Answer to Judah’s Hardness
7 This took place in the days when Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah. Rezin king of Aram,[a] and Pekah son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, marched up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but they could not capture it.
2 The house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim.” The heart of Ahaz trembled, and the heart of his people trembled as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah:
Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear Jashub.[b] Meet him at the end of the water channel from the upper pool, on the road that goes to the launderers[c] field.
4 Tell Ahaz, “Get control of yourself, and remain calm. Do not be afraid. Do not lose your courage because of these two stubs of smoldering torches. Do not be afraid because of the fierce anger of Rezin, Aram, and the son of Remaliah, 5 even though Aram, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you and said, 6 ‘Let’s go up against Judah and tear it apart. Let’s divide it among ourselves and set up a king over it, namely, this son of Tabe’el.’”
7 This is what the Lord God says.
Their plan shall not succeed.
It shall not take place.
8 Yes, the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin,
but within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken into pieces,
so that it will no longer be a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is only Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son.
If you do not stand firm in faith,
you will not stand at all.[d]
10 The Lord spoke to Ahaz again. He said, 11 “Ask for a sign from the Lord your God. Ask for it either in the depths below or in the heights above.”
12 But Ahaz responded, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.”
13 So Isaiah said:
Listen now, you house of David. Is it not enough for you to test the patience of men? Will you test the patience of my God as well? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give a sign for all of you.[e] Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and name him Immanuel.[f] 15 He will eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse evil and choose good, 16 because even before the child knows how to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.
17 The Lord will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house days worse than any since the day that Ephraim broke away from Judah. The Lord will bring the king of Assyria.
18 This is what will take place in that day: The Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the farthest end of Egypt’s rivers and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 They will come and settle in the deep ravines, in the clefts in the rocks, among all the thorn hedges, and in all the pastures.[g]
20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor hired from the regions beyond the River Euphrates, namely, the king of Assyria. This razor will shave their head and the hair on their legs, and it will also scrape away their beard.
21 In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, 22 and because of the abundant milk they give, he will eat curds. So everyone left in the land will eat curds and honey. 23 In that day, in every place where a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels were growing, there will be only briers and thorns. 24 Hunters will go there with a bow and arrow, because all that land will be briers and thorns. 25 You will no longer venture into all the hills that once were cultivated with the hoe, because you will be afraid of the briers and thorns, and the hills will be a pasture for grazing oxen, a land trampled by sheep.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 7:1 Aram is in the territory of the present-day country of Syria.
- Isaiah 7:3 Shear Jashub means a remnant will return.
- Isaiah 7:3 Or wool-cleaners
- Isaiah 7:9 There is a play on the word amen in the verbs stand firm and stand at all.
- Isaiah 7:14 The pronoun you is plural here, so it is translated in a way that makes this apparent.
- Isaiah 7:14 Immanuel means God with us.
- Isaiah 7:19 Or water holes or perhaps another variety of thorn bush. The meaning of this term is uncertain.
Isaiah 7
Lexham English Bible
The Sign to Ahaz
7 This happened in the days of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah. Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went[a] up to Jerusalem for warfare against it,[b] but he was not able to fight against it.[c] 2 When it was reported to the house of David, saying “Aram stands by Ephraim,” his heart and the heart of his people shook like the shaking of the trees of the forest because of the wind.
3 Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the washer’s field. 4 And you must say to him, ‘Take heed and be quiet! You must not fear, and your heart must not be faint because of these two stumps of smoldering firebrands, because of the fierce anger of[d] Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Aram has plotted evil against you with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and let us tear her apart, and let us lay it open and so bring it unto ourselves,[e] and let us install the son of Tabeel as king in her midst.” 7 Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. 8 For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin, and in sixty-five years from now Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. 9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not believe then you will not endure.”’”
10 And Yahweh continued to speak to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask for a sign for yourself from Yahweh God; make it deep as Sheol or make it high as above.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put Yahweh to the test.”
13 Then he said, “Hear, house of David! Is it too little for you to make men weary, that you should also make my God weary? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you[f] a sign. Look! the virgin[g] is with child and she is about to give birth to a son, and she shall call his name ‘God with us.’ 15 He shall eat curds and honey until he knows to reject the evil and to choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows to reject the evil and to choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be abandoned.[h]
That Day
17 “Yahweh will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your ancestor[i] days that have not come since the day Ephraim departed from Judah: the king of Assyria.” 18 And this shall happen: On that day, Yahweh will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the stream of Egypt and the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And all of them will come and settle in the rivers of the cliffs and in the clefts of the rocks and on all of the thornbushes and watering places. 20 On that day, the Lord will shave the head and the hair of the feet with a razor of the one hired from beyond the river—with the king of Assyria—and it will even take off the beard. 21 And this shall happen: on that day, a young man will keep a young cow of the herd and two sheep alive. 22 And this shall happen: because of the abundance of milk production, he will eat curds, for every one that is left in the midst of the land will eat curds and honey. 23 And this shall happen on that day: Every place where there are a thousand vines[j] for a thousand silver pieces will become briers,[k] and it will be thornbushes.[l] 24 One will go there with arrows and bow, for all of the land will be briers[m] and thornbushes.[n] 25 And as for all of the hills that they hoed with the hoe, you will not go there, for fear of briers[o] and thornbushes.[p] And it will become like pastureland for cattle and overtrodden land for sheep.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 7:1 The Hebrew is singular
- Isaiah 7:1 Literally “her”
- Isaiah 7:1 Literally “her”
- Isaiah 7:4 Literally “because of the fierceness of the anger of”
- Isaiah 7:6 Literally “and let us break through her to us”
- Isaiah 7:14 The Hebrew is plural
- Isaiah 7:14 Or “young woman”
- Isaiah 7:16 Literally “the land which you dread will be abandoned because of the face of her two kings”
- Isaiah 7:17 Or “father”
- Isaiah 7:23 Hebrew “vine”
- Isaiah 7:23 Hebrew “brier”
- Isaiah 7:23 Hebrew “thornbush”
- Isaiah 7:24 Hebrew “brier”
- Isaiah 7:24 Hebrew “thornbush”
- Isaiah 7:25 Hebrew “brier”
- Isaiah 7:25 Hebrew “thornbush”
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