Beginning
Israel, God’s Special Field
5 Now I will sing a song to my friend. This song is about his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard
on a hill with very rich soil.
2 He dug and cleared the field of stones.
He planted the best grapevines there.
And he built a tower in the middle of it.
He cut out a winepress as well.
He hoped good grapes would grow there.
But only bad grapes grew.
3 My friend says, “You people living in Jerusalem,
and you men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could I have done for my vineyard?
I did everything I could.
I hoped for good grapes to grow.
But why were there only bad grapes?
5 Now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard:
I will remove the hedge,
and it will be burned.
I will break down the stone wall,
and it will be walked on.
6 I will ruin my field.
It will not be trimmed or hoed.
Weeds and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it.”
7 The vineyard belonging to the Lord of heaven’s armies
is the nation of Israel.
The garden that the Lord loves
is the men of Judah.
The Lord looked for justice, but there was only killing.
The Lord hoped for right living, but there were only cries of pain.
8 How terrible it will be for you who add more houses to your houses
and more fields to your fields.
Finally there is no room left for other people.
Then you are left alone in the land.
9 The Lord of heaven’s armies said this to me:
“The fine houses will be destroyed.
The large and beautiful houses will be left empty.
10 At that time a ten-acre vineyard will make only six gallons of wine.
And ten bushels of seed will grow only half a bushel of grain.”
11 How terrible it will be for people who rise early in the morning
to look for strong drink.
They stay awake late at night,
becoming drunk with wine.
12 At their parties they have lyres, harps,
tambourines, flutes and wine.
They don’t see what the Lord has done.
They don’t notice the work of his hands.
13 So my people will be captured and taken away
because they don’t really know me.
All the great men will die of hunger.
The common people will die of thirst.
14 So the place where the dead are wants more and more people.
It opens its mouth wide.
Jerusalem’s important men will go down into it.
And the common people will go down into it.
15 So the common people and the great people will be humbled.
Those who are proud will be humbled.
16 The Lord of heaven’s armies will receive glory by judging fairly.
The holy God will show himself holy by doing what is right.
17 Then the sheep will go anywhere they want.
Lambs will feed on the land that rich people once owned.
18 How terrible it will be for those people!
They pull their guilt and sins behind them
as people pull wagons with ropes.
19 They say, “Let’s see God hurry.
Let’s see him do his work soon.
We want to see it.
Let’s see the plan of the Holy One of Israel happen soon.
Then we would know what it really is.”
20 How terrible it will be for people who call good things bad
and bad things good.
They think darkness is light
and light is darkness.
They think sour is sweet
and sweet is sour.
21 How terrible it will be for people who think they are wise.
They think they are clever.
22 How terrible it will be for people who are famous for drinking wine.
They are champions at mixing drinks.
23 They take money to set the guilty free.
But they don’t allow good people to be judged fairly.
24 They will be destroyed
just as fire burns straw or dry grass.
They will be destroyed
like a plant whose roots rot
and whose flower dies and blows away like dust.
They have refused to obey the teachings of the Lord of heaven’s armies.
They hated the message from the Holy God of Israel.
25 So the Lord has become very angry with his people.
And he has raised his hand to punish them.
Even the mountains are frightened.
Dead bodies lie in the streets like garbage.
But the Lord is still angry.
His hand is still raised to strike down the people.
26 God raises a banner for the nations far away.
He is whistling to call those people.
The enemy comes quickly!
27 Not one of them becomes tired or falls down.
Not one of them gets sleepy and falls asleep.
Their weapons are close at hand.
Their sandal straps are not broken.
28 Their arrows are sharp.
All of their bows are ready to shoot.
The horses’ hooves are hard as rock.
Their chariot wheels move like a whirlwind.
29 Their shout is like the roar of a lion.
It is loud like a young lion.
The enemy growls as they grab their captives.
There is no one to stop them from taking their captives away.
30 On that day they will roar
like the waves of the sea.
And when people look at the land,
they will see only darkness and pain.
All light will become dark in this thick cloud.
Isaiah Becomes a Prophet
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a very high throne. His long robe filled the Temple. 2 Burning heavenly creatures stood above him. Each creature had six wings. They used two wings to cover their faces. They used two wings to cover their feet. And they used two wings for flying. 3 Each creature was calling to the others:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of heaven’s armies.
His glory fills the whole earth.”
4 Their voices caused the frame around the door to shake. The Temple filled with smoke.
5 I said, “Oh, no! I will be destroyed. I am not pure. And I live among people who are not pure. But I have seen the King, the Lord of heaven’s armies.”
6 On the altar there was a fire. One of the burning heavenly creatures used a pair of tongs to take a hot coal from the fire. Then he flew to me with the hot coal in his hand. 7 The creature touched my mouth with the hot coal. Then he said, “Look. Your guilt is taken away because this hot coal has touched your lips. Your sin is taken away.”
8 Then I heard the Lord’s voice. He said, “Whom can I send? Who will go for us?”
So I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
9 Then the Lord said, “Go and tell this to the people:
‘You will listen and listen, but you will not understand.
You will look and look, but you will not learn.’
10 Make these people stubborn.
Make them not able to understand what they hear and see.
Otherwise, they might really understand
what they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears.
They might really understand in their minds.
If they did this, they would come back to me and be forgiven.”
11 Then I asked, “Lord, how long should I do this?”
He answered,
“Do this until the cities are destroyed
and the people are gone.
Do this until there are no people left living in the houses.
Do this until the land is destroyed and left empty.
12 I will send the people far away.
And the land will be left empty.
13 One-tenth of the people will be left in the land.
But the land will be destroyed again.
These people will be like an oak tree.
When the tree is chopped down, a stump is left.
The people who remain will be like a stump that will sprout again.”
Trouble with Aram
7 Now Ahaz was the son of Jotham, who was the son of Uzziah. When Ahaz was king of Judah, Rezin and Pekah went up to Jerusalem to fight against it. Rezin was king of Aram. And Pekah son of Remaliah was king of Israel. But they were not able to defeat the city.
2 A message was told to Ahaz king of Judah. It said, “The armies of Aram and Israel[a] have joined together.”
When Ahaz heard this, he and the people became very frightened. They shook with fear like trees of the forest blown by the wind.
3 Then the Lord told Isaiah, “You and your son Shear-Jashub should go out and talk to Ahaz. Go to the place where the water flows into the upper pool. This is on the road to the Washerman’s Field. 4 Tell Ahaz, ‘Be careful. Be calm, and don’t be afraid. Don’t let those two men, Rezin and Remaliah’s son Pekah, scare you. Don’t be afraid of their anger and Aram’s anger. Those two men are as weak as two barely burning sticks that are ready to go out. 5 They have made plans against you. They said, 6 “Let’s fight against Judah and tear it apart. We will divide Judah for ourselves. We will make the son of Tabeel the new king of Judah.” 7 But I, the Lord God, say,
Their plan will not succeed.
It will not happen.
8 That is because Aram is led by the city of Damascus.
And Damascus is led by its weak king, Rezin.
Within 65 years Israel will no longer be a nation.
9 Israel is led by the city of Samaria,
and Samaria is led by its weak king, the son of Remaliah.
If your faith is not strong,
then you will not have strength to last.’”
Immanuel—God Is with Us
10 Then the Lord spoke to Ahaz again. 11 The Lord said, “Ask for a sign to prove to yourself that these things are true. It may be a sign from as deep as the place where the dead are or as high as the heavens.”
12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask for a sign. I will not test the Lord.”
13 Then Isaiah said, “Ahaz, descendant of David, listen very carefully! Isn’t it bad enough that you wear out the patience of people? Do you have to wear out the patience of my God also? 14 But the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin[b] will be pregnant. She will have a son, and she will name him Immanuel.[c] 15 He will be eating milk curds and honey when he learns to reject what is evil and to choose what is good. 16 You are afraid of the kings of Israel and Aram now. But before the child learns what is good and what is evil, the lands of Israel and Aram will be empty. 17 The Lord will bring some troubled times to you. Those troubles will come to your people and to the people of your father’s family. The Lord will bring the king of Assyria to fight against you.
18 “At that time the Lord will whistle to call for the Egyptians. And they will come like flies from the streams of Egypt. The Lord will call for the Assyrians. And they will come like bees from the land of Assyria. 19 These enemies will camp in the deep ravines and in the cliffs. They will camp by the thornbushes and watering holes. 20 The Lord will use Assyria to punish Judah. Assyria will be hired and used like a razor. It will be as if the Lord is shaving the hair from Judah’s head and legs and is shaving off Judah’s beard.
21 “At that time a person will be able to keep only one young cow and two sheep alive. 22 There will be only enough milk for that person to eat milk curds. All who remain in the land will go back to eating only milk curds and honey. 23 In this land there are now vineyards that have 1,000 grapevines. These grapevines are worth about 25 pounds of silver. But these fields will become full of weeds and thorns. 24 The land will become wild and useful only as a hunting ground. 25 People once worked and grew food on these hills. But at that time people will not go there. The land will be filled with weeds and thorns. Only sheep and cattle will go to those places.”
Assyria Will Come Soon
8 The Lord told me, “Take a large scroll on which to write. Use a pen to write these words: ‘Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.’[d] 2 I will gather some men to be reliable witnesses. They will be Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.”
3 Then I went to the prophetess. She became pregnant and had a son. Then the Lord told me, “Name the boy Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 4 The king of Assyria will take away all the wealth and possessions of Damascus and Samaria. This will happen before the boy learns to say ‘my father’ or ‘my mother.’”
5 Again the Lord spoke to me. 6 He said,
“These people refuse to accept
the slow-moving waters of the pool of Shiloah.
These people are terrified of Rezin
and Remaliah’s son Pekah.
7 So I, the Lord, will bring
the king of Assyria and all his power against them.
They will come like a powerful flood of water from the Euphrates River.
The Assyrians will be like water rising over the banks of the river,
flowing over the land.
8 That water will flow into Judah and pass through it.
It will rise to Judah’s throat.
Immanuel, this army will spread its wings like a bird
until it covers your whole country.”
9 Be broken, all you nations.
Be smashed to pieces.
Listen, all you faraway countries.
Prepare for battle and be smashed to pieces!
Prepare for battle and be smashed to pieces!
10 Make your plans for the fight.
But your plans will be defeated.
Give orders to your armies.
But your orders will be useless.
This is because God is with us.
Warnings to Isaiah
11 The Lord spoke to me with his great power. He warned me not to follow the lead of the rest of the people. The Lord said,
12 “People are saying that others make plans against them.
You should not believe those things.
Don’t be afraid of the things they fear.
Do not dread those things.
13 But remember that the Lord of heaven’s armies is holy.
He is the one you should fear.
He is the one you should dread.
14 Then he would be a place of safety for you.
But for the two families of Israel,
he will be like a stone that causes people to stumble.
He will be like a rock that makes them fall.
He will be like a trap for the people of Jerusalem.
He will catch them in his trap.
15 Many people will fall over this rock.
They will fall and be broken.
They will be trapped and caught.”
16 Make an agreement.
Seal up the teaching while my followers are watching.
17 I will wait for the Lord to help us.
The Lord is ashamed of the family of Israel.
I will trust the Lord.
18 I am here. And with me are the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and proofs for the people of Israel. We have been sent by the Lord of heaven’s armies. He lives on Mount Zion.
19 Some people say, “Ask the mediums and fortune-tellers what to do. They whisper and mutter and ask dead people what to do.” But I tell you that people should ask their God for help. Why should people who are still alive ask something from the dead? 20 You should follow the teachings and the agreement with the Lord. The mediums and fortune-tellers do not speak the word of the Lord. Their words are worth nothing.
21 People will wander through the land troubled and hungry. When they become hungry, they will become angry. Then they will look up and curse their king and their God. 22 They will look around them at their land. And they will see only trouble and darkness and awful gloom. And they will be forced into the darkness.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.