Isaiah 7

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.

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

Acts 12:19-25

New King James Version

¹⁹But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death.

And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.

Herod’s Violent Death

²⁰Now Herod had been very angry with the people of ^(A)Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus ^[a]the king’s personal aide their friend, they asked for peace, because ^(B)their country was ^[b]supplied with food by the king’s country.

²¹So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. ²²And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” ²³Then immediately an angel of the Lord ^(C)struck him, because ^(D)he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and ^[c]died.

²⁴But ^(E)the word of God grew and multiplied.

Barnabas and Saul Appointed

²⁵And ^(F)Barnabas and Saul returned ^[d]from Jerusalem when they had ^(G)fulfilled their ministry, and they also ^(H)took with them ^(I)John whose surname was Mark.

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Footnotes

Acts 12:20 who was in charge of the king’s bedchamber
Acts 12:20 Lit. nourished
Acts 12:23 breathed his last
Acts 12:25 NU, M to

Acts 13:1-12

New King James Version

Paul and Barnabas Are Sent to the Gentiles

13 Now ^(A)in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: ^(B)Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, ^(C)Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. ²As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ^(D)“Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work ^(E)to which I have called them.” ³Then, ^(F)having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.

Preaching in Cyprus

⁴So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to ^(G)Cyprus. ⁵And when they arrived in Salamis, ^(H)they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had ^(I)John as their assistant.

⁶Now when they had gone through ^[a]the island to Paphos, they found ^(J)a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, ⁷who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. ⁸But ^(K)Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) ^[b]withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. ⁹Then Saul, who also is called Paul, ^(L)filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him ¹⁰and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, ^(M)you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? ¹¹And now, indeed, ^(N)the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.”

And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. ¹²Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

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