Isaiah 7
Modern English Version
Isaiah Reassures King Ahaz
7 And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
2 It was said to the house of David, “Aram is allied with Ephraim.” Then his heart trembled and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood tremble with the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah: Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field, 4 and say to him, Take heed, and be quiet. Do not fear nor be fainthearted because of the two tails of these smoking firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin with Aram and of the son of Remaliah, 5 because Aram, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have taken evil counsel against you, saying, 6 Let us go up against Judah, and trouble it, and let us make a breach there for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeel. 7 Thus says the Lord God:
It shall not stand,
nor shall it come to pass.
8 For the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
Now within sixty-five years
Ephraim shall be broken so that it is not a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you will not believe,
surely you shall not be established.
The Sign of Immanuel
10 Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying: 11 Ask for a sign from the Lord your God. Make it either as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven.
12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, nor will I tempt the Lord.
13 Then 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? 14 Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: The virgin[a] shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.[b] 15 Curds and honey he shall eat at the time that he knows enough to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread shall be forsaken of both her kings. 17 The Lord shall bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon your father’s house, days that have not come from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, even the king of Assyria.”
18 In that day the Lord shall whistle for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 They shall come, and all of them shall rest in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and on all thorns, and on all bushes. 20 In that same day the Lord shall shave with a hired razor, from regions beyond the River,[c] with the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the legs, and it shall also remove the beard. 21 In that day a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep, 22 and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he shall eat curds; for everyone who is left in the land shall eat curds and honey. 23 In that day every place where there were a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels[d] of silver, shall become briers and thorns. 24 With arrows and with bows shall men come there because all the land shall become briers and thorns. 25 On all hills that used to be cultivated with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briers and thorns. But it shall be for pasturing oxen and for sheep to tread.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 7:14 Heb. young woman.
- Isaiah 7:14 Or God with us.
- Isaiah 7:20 Euphrates River.
- Isaiah 7:23 About 25 pounds, or 12 kilograms.
Isaiah 14
Modern English Version
The Restoration of Judah
14 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob,
and will yet choose Israel,
and set them in their own land.
Then the strangers shall be joined with them,
and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.
2 The people shall take them
and bring them to their place,
and the house of Israel shall possess them
in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids;
and they shall take them captive, whose captives they were,
and they shall rule over their oppressors.
The Fall of Babylon’s King
3 In the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear, and from the hard bondage in which you were made to serve, 4 you shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say:
How has the oppressor ceased!
The golden city ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
and the scepter of the rulers;
6 he who struck the people in wrath with unceasing strokes,
he who ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and no one hinders.
7 The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
they break forth into singing.
8 Indeed, the fir trees rejoice at you,
and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
“Since you are laid down,
no tree cutter has come up against us.”
9 Hell from beneath is moved for you
to meet you at your coming;
it stirs up the dead for you,
even all the chief ones of the earth;
it has raised up from their thrones
all the kings of the nations.
10 They all shall speak
and say to you:
“Have you also become as weak as we have?
Have you become like us?”
11 Your pomp is brought down to Hell,
and the noise of your harps;
maggots are spread under you,
and the worms cover you.
12 How are you fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who weaken the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart,
“I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit also on the mount of the congregation,
in the recesses of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.”
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Hell,
to the sides of the pit.
16 Those who see you shall stare at you
and ponder over you:
“Is this the man who made the earth
to tremble and shook kingdoms,
17 who made the world as a wilderness
and destroyed its cities,
who did not open the house of his prisoners?”
18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory,
each one in his own tomb;
19 but you are cast out of your grave
like an abominable branch
and clothed with those who are slain,
thrust through with a sword,
who go down to the stones of the pit
as a corpse trodden underfoot.
20 You shall not be joined with them in burial
because you have destroyed your land
and slain your people.
The seed of evildoers
shall never be renowned.
21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his children
for the iniquity of their fathers;
they must not rise nor possess the land,
nor fill the face of the world with cities.
22 For I will rise up against them,
says the Lord of Hosts,
and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant,
and son, and nephew,
says the Lord.
23 I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog
and pools of water,
and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,
says the Lord of Hosts.
An Oracle Concerning Assyria
24 The Lord of Hosts has sworn, saying:
Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass,
and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
25 that I will break the Assyrian in My land,
and on My mountains tread him under foot.
Then shall his yoke depart from off them
and his burden depart from off their shoulders.
26 This is the purpose that is purposed on the whole earth,
and this is the hand that is stretched out on all the nations.
27 For the Lord of Hosts has purposed, and who shall disannul it?
And His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
An Oracle Concerning Philistia
28 In the year that King Ahaz died was this oracle:
29 Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you,
because the rod that struck you is broken;
for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a viper,
and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
30 The firstborn of the poor shall feed,
and the needy shall lie down in safety:
and I will kill your root with famine,
and he shall slay your remnant.
31 Wail, O gate. Cry, O city.
Melt away, O Philistia, all of you;
for smoke shall come from the north,
and there is no straggler in his ranks.
32 What shall one then answer
the messengers of the nation?
That the Lord has founded Zion,
and the poor of His people shall trust in it.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.