Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz

7 In the days of ^(A)Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, ^(B)Rezin the king of Syria and ^(C)Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. ² When the house of David was told, ^(D)“Syria is in league with^{[a] (E)}Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz^[b] and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

³ And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and ^(F)Shear-jashub^[c] your son, at the end of ^(G)the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. ⁴ And say to him, ^(H)‘Be careful, ^(I)be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two ^(J)smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and ^(K)the son of Remaliah. ⁵ Because Syria, with Ephraim and ^(L)the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, ⁶ “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it^[d] for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” ⁷ thus says the Lord God:

The Sign of Immanuel

¹⁰ Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: ¹¹ “Ask ^(Q)a sign of the Lord your^[f] God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” ¹² But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” ¹³ And he^[g] said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you ^(R)weary my God also? ¹⁴ Therefore the ^(S)Lord himself will give you a sign. ^(T)Behold, the ^(U)virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name ^(V)Immanuel.^{[h] 15} He shall eat ^(W)curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. ^16 (X)For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be ^(Y)deserted. ^17 (Z)The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that ^(AA)Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

¹⁸ In that day the Lord will ^(AB)whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹ And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and ^(AC)in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.^[i]

²⁰ In that day ^(AD)the Lord will ^(AE)shave with a razor that is ^(AF)hired beyond ^(AG)the River^[j]—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.

^21 (AH)In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, ²² and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat ^(AI)curds and honey.

²³ In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels^[k] of silver, will become ^(AJ)briers and thorns. ^24 (AK)With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. ^25 (AL)And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear ^(AM)of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

The Coming Assyrian Invasion

8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet ^(AN)and write on it in common characters,^[l] ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’^{[m] 2} And ^(AO)I will get reliable witnesses, ^(AP)Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”

³ And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, ^(AQ)“Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; ^4 (AR)for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the ^(AS)wealth of ^(AT)Damascus and the spoil of ^(AU)Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

⁵ The Lord spoke to me again: ⁶ “Because this people has refused the waters of ^(AV)Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over ^(AW)Rezin and the son of Remaliah, ⁷ therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them ^(AX)the waters of ^(AY)the River,^[n] mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it ^(AZ)will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, ⁸ and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, ^(BA)reaching even to the neck, and its ^(BB)outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, ^(BC)O Immanuel.”

Fear God, Wait for the Lord

¹¹ For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and ^(BG)warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: ¹² “Do not call ^(BH)conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and ^(BI)do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. ¹³ But the Lord of hosts, ^(BJ)him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. ¹⁴ And he will become a ^(BK)sanctuary and ^(BL)a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁵ And many ^(BM)shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

¹⁶ Bind up ^(BN)the testimony; ^(BO)seal the teaching^[r] among my disciples. ¹⁷ I will ^(BP)wait for the Lord, who is ^(BQ)hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. ^18 (BR)Behold, I and ^(BS)the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. ¹⁹ And when they say to you, “Inquire of the ^(BT)mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of ^(BU)the dead on behalf of the living? ^20 (BV)To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no ^(BW)dawn. ²¹ They will pass through the land,^[s] greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against^[t] their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. ^22 (BX)And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into ^(BY)thick darkness.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is ^(A)folly to ^(B)those who are perishing, but to us ^(C)who are being saved it is ^(D)the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written,

^20 (F)Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? ^(G)Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach^[a] to save those who believe. ²² For ^(H)Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ ^(I)crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ ^(J)the power of God and ^(K)the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: ^(L)not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,^[b] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But ^(M)God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; ^(N)God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even ^(O)things that are not, to ^(P)bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so ^(Q)that no human being^[c] might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰ And because of him^[d] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us ^(R)wisdom from God, ^(S)righteousness and ^(T)sanctification and ^(U)redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, ^(V)“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”