Isaiah 7-10

English Standard Version

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. ²When 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.

³And 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. ⁴And 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. ⁵Because 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,” ⁷thus says the Lord God:

^(M)“‘It shall not stand,
    and it shall not come to pass.
⁸For the head of Syria is ^(N)Damascus,
    and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
And within sixty-five years
    Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.
⁹And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
    and the head of Samaria is ^(O)the son of Remaliah.
^(P)If you^[e] are not firm in faith,
    you will not be firm at all.’”

The Sign of Immanuel

¹⁰Again 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.” ¹²But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” ¹³And 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? ¹⁴Therefore 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] ¹⁵He 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!”

¹⁸In 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. ¹⁹And 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]

²⁰In 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, ²²and 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.

²³In 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] ²And ^(AO)I will get reliable witnesses, ^(AP)Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”

³And 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.”

⁵The 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, ⁷therefore, 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, ⁸and 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.”

⁹Be broken,^[o] you peoples, and ^(BD)be shattered;^[p]
    give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
    strap on your armor and be shattered.
¹⁰Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
    speak a word, ^(BE)but it will not stand,
    for God ^(BF)is with us.^[q]

Fear God, Wait for the Lord

¹¹For 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. ¹³But the Lord of hosts, ^(BJ)him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. ¹⁴And 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. ¹⁵And many ^(BM)shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

¹⁶Bind up ^(BN)the testimony; ^(BO)seal the teaching^[r] among my disciples. ¹⁷I 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. ¹⁹And 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. ²¹They 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.

For to Us a Child Is Born

9 ^[u] But there will be no ^(BZ)gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he ^(CA)brought into contempt the land of ^(CB)Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he ^(CC)has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.^[v]

²^[w] ^(CD)The people ^(CE)who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of ^(CF)deep darkness,
    on them has light shone.
³^(CG)You have multiplied the nation;
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with ^(CH)joy at the harvest,
    as they ^(CI)are glad ^(CJ)when they divide the spoil.
⁴^(CK)For the yoke of his burden,
    ^(CL)and the staff for his shoulder,
    the rod of his oppressor,
    you have broken as ^(CM)on the day of Midian.
⁵^(CN)For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
    and every garment rolled in blood
    will be burned as fuel for the fire.
⁶^(CO)For to us a child is born,
    to us ^(CP)a son is given;
^(CQ)and the government shall be ^(CR)upon^[x] his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called^[y]
Wonderful ^(CS)Counselor, ^(CT)Mighty God,
    ^(CU)Everlasting ^(CV)Father, Prince of ^(CW)Peace.
⁷Of the increase of his government and of peace
    ^(CX)there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
^(CY)with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
^(CZ)The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression

⁸The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
    and it will fall on Israel;
⁹and all the people will know,
    ^(DA)Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
    who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:
¹⁰“The bricks have fallen,
    but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
    but we will put cedars in their place.”
¹¹But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,
    and stirs up his enemies.
¹²^(DB)The Syrians on the east and ^(DC)the Philistines on the west
    devour Israel with open mouth.
^(DD)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

¹³The people ^(DE)did not turn to him who struck them,
    nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.
¹⁴So the Lord cut off from Israel ^(DF)head and tail,
    palm branch and reed in one day—
¹⁵^(DG)the elder and honored man is the head,
    and ^(DH)the prophet who teaches lies is the tail;
¹⁶for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,
    and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.
¹⁷Therefore the Lord does not ^(DI)rejoice over their young men,
    and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;
for everyone is ^(DJ)godless and an evildoer,
    and every mouth speaks ^(DK)folly.^[z]
^(DL)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

¹⁸For wickedness burns like ^(DM)a fire;
    it consumes briers and thorns;
it kindles the thickets of the forest,
    and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
    the land is scorched,
and ^(DN)the people are like fuel for the fire;
    ^(DO)no one spares another.
²⁰^(DP)They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,
    and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;
^(DQ)each devours the flesh of his own arm,
²¹Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;
    together they are ^(DR)against Judah.
^(DS)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

10 Woe to those who ^(DT)decree iniquitous decrees,
    and the writers who ^(DU)keep writing oppression,
²to turn aside the needy from justice
    and ^(DV)to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be their spoil,
    and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
³What will you do on ^(DW)the day of punishment,
    in the ruin that will come ^(DX)from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
    and where will you leave your wealth?
⁴Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners
    or fall among the slain.
^(DY)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

Judgment on Arrogant Assyria

⁵Woe to Assyria, ^(DZ)the rod of my anger;
    the staff in their hands is my fury!
⁶Against a ^(EA)godless nation I send him,
    and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take ^(EB)spoil and seize plunder,
    and to ^(EC)tread them down like the mire of the streets.
⁷But he ^(ED)does not so intend,
    and his heart does not so think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
    and to cut off nations not a few;
⁸for he says:
^(EE)“Are not my commanders all kings?
⁹^(EF)Is not ^(EG)Calno like ^(EH)Carchemish?
    Is not ^(EI)Hamath like ^(EJ)Arpad?
    ^(EK)Is not ^(EL)Samaria like Damascus?
¹⁰As my hand has reached to ^(EM)the kingdoms of the idols,
    whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
¹¹shall I not do to Jerusalem and ^(EN)her idols
    ^(EO)as I have done to Samaria and her images?”

¹²^(EP)When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, ^(EQ)he^[aa] will punish the speech^[ab] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. ¹³^(ER)For he says:

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
    and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
    and plunder their treasures;
    like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
¹⁴My hand has found like a nest
    the wealth of the peoples;
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
    so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing
    or opened the mouth or chirped.”

¹⁵Shall ^(ES)the axe boast over him who hews with it,
    or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
    or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
¹⁶Therefore the Lord God of hosts
    will send wasting sickness among his ^(ET)stout warriors,
and under his glory ^(EU)a burning will be kindled,
    like the burning of fire.
¹⁷^(EV)The light of Israel will become a fire,
    and ^(EW)his Holy One a flame,
and ^(EX)it will burn and devour
    his thorns and briers ^(EY)in one day.
¹⁸The glory of ^(EZ)his forest and of his ^(FA)fruitful land
    the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
    and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
¹⁹The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
    that a child can write them down.

The Remnant of Israel Will Return

²⁰^(FB)In that day ^(FC)the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more ^(FD)lean on him who struck them, but ^(FE)will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ²¹A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, ^(FF)to the mighty God. ²²^(FG)For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, ^(FH)only a remnant of them will return. ^(FI)Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. ²³For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.

²⁴Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people, ^(FJ)who dwell in Zion, ^(FK)be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as ^(FL)the Egyptians did. ²⁵For ^(FM)in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. ²⁶And ^(FN)the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck ^(FO)Midian ^(FP)at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it ^(FQ)as he did in Egypt. ²⁷And in that day ^(FR)his burden will depart from your shoulder, and ^(FS)his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”^[ac]

²⁸He has come to Aiath;
he has passed through ^(FT)Migron;
    at Michmash he stores ^(FU)his baggage;
²⁹they have crossed over ^(FV)the pass;
    at ^(FW)Geba they lodge for the night;
^(FX)Ramah trembles;
    ^(FY)Gibeah of Saul has fled.
³⁰Cry aloud, O daughter of ^(FZ)Gallim!
    Give attention, O Laishah!
    O poor ^(GA)Anathoth!
³¹Madmenah is in flight;
    the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
³²This very day he will halt at ^(GB)Nob;
    he will shake his fist
    at the mount of ^(GC)the daughter of Zion,
    the hill of Jerusalem.

³³Behold, the Lord God of hosts
    ^(GD)will lop ^(GE)the boughs with terrifying power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
    and the lofty will be brought low.
³⁴He will cut down ^(GF)the thickets of the forest with an axe,
    and ^(GG)Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.