Isaiah 7:17-25
Expanded Bible
17 The Lord will bring ·troubled times to [L upon] you, your people, and to ·the people of your father’s family [L your father’s house; C David’s dynasty]. ·They will be worse than […days unlike] anything that has happened since Israel separated from Judah [C the civil war dividing Israel into north (Israel) and south (Judah) after David’s son Solomon died, two centuries earlier]. ·The Lord will bring the king of Assyria to fight against you [L …—the king of Assyria].
18 “·At that time [L In that day] the Lord will whistle for ·the Egyptians, and they will come like flies from Egypt’s faraway streams [L the fly that is at the farthest streams of Egypt]. ·He will call for the Assyrians, and they will come like bees [L … and for bees from the land of Assyria; C Israel and Judah were caught in a tug-of-war between these two great powers]. 19 ·These enemies will camp [L They will rest/settle] in the deep ravines and in the ·cliffs [L crevices/clefts of the rocks], by the thornbushes and ·watering holes [or pastures]. 20 [In that day] The Lord will ·hire Assyria and use it like a razor to punish Judah [L shave with a razor hired beyond the River (Euphrates)—the king of Assyria]. ·It will be as if the Lord is shaving the hair from Judah’s head and body and beard [L …—the head, the hair of the feet and cutting away the beard; C “hair of the feet” is likely a euphemism for pubic hair; such shaving was an act of humiliation].
21 “·At that time [L In that day] a person will be ·able to keep alive only [fortunate to have left] ·one young cow [a heifer] and two sheep. 22 ·There will be only enough milk for that person to eat milk curds [or Because of the abundance of milk, he will have curds to eat]. All who remain in the land will ·go back to eating just [or have enough to eat from] milk curds and honey. 23 [In that day] In every ·vineyard [L place] where there were a thousand grapevines worth ·twenty-five pounds [L a thousand pieces] of silver, there will be only ·weeds [briers] and thorns. 24 People will ·come there only to hunt [L come] with bow and arrow, since the land will be covered with nothing but ·weeds [briers] and thorns [C with no crops, the land will be useful only for hunting]. 25 People once ·worked and grew food on [L hoed with a hoe] these hills, but at that time people will not go there, ·because the land will be filled with [L for fear of] ·weeds [briers] and thorns. ·Only sheep and cattle will go to those places [L It will become a pasture for cattle/oxen and a trampling place for sheep].”
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Isaiah 7:17-25
Amplified Bible
Trials to Come for Judah
17 The Lord will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim (the ten northern tribes) separated from Judah—[He will call for] the king of Assyria.”
18 In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is in the [a]mouth of the rivers and canals of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 These [armies, like flies and bees] will all come and settle on the steep and rugged ravines and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thorn bushes and in all the watering places.
20 In that day [when foreign armies swarm the land] the Lord will shave with a razor, hired from the regions beyond the Euphrates (that is, with the king of Assyria), [that razor will shave] the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard [leaving Judah stripped, shamed and scorned].(A)
21 Now in that day [because of the poverty caused by the invaders] a man will keep alive only a young milk cow and two sheep; 22 and because of the abundance of milk produced he will eat curds, for everyone that is left in the land will eat [only] curds and [wild] honey.
23 And it will come to pass in that day, in every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be briars and thorns. 24 People will come there [to hunt] with arrows and with bows because all the land will be briars and thorns. 25 As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the pick and the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place where oxen are pastured and where sheep tread.
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- Isaiah 7:18 Lit end.
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