Chronological

5 Let me [as God’s representative] sing of and for my greatly Beloved [God, the Son] a tender song of my Beloved concerning His vineyard [His chosen people]. My greatly Beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.^(A)

² And He dug and trenched the ground and gathered out the stones from it and planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower in the midst of it and hewed out a winepress in it. And He looked for it to bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

³ And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between Me and My vineyard [My people, says the Lord].

⁴ What more could have been done for My vineyard that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to bring forth grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

⁵ And now I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten and burned up; and I will break down its wall, and it shall be trodden down [by enemies].

⁶ And I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned or cultivated, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

⁷ For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant planting [the plant of His delight]. And He looked for justice, but behold, [He saw] oppression and bloodshed; [He looked] for righteousness (for uprightness and right standing with God), but behold, [He heard] a cry [of oppression and distress]!

⁸ Woe to those who join house to house [and by violently expelling the poorer occupants enclose large acreage] and join field to field until there is no place for others and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!

⁹ In my [Isaiah’s] ears the Lord of hosts said, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and beautiful ones shall be without inhabitant.

¹⁰ For ten acres of vineyard shall yield only about eight gallons, and ten bushels of seed will produce but one bushel.

¹¹ Woe unto those who rise early in the morning, that they may pursue strong drink, who tarry late into the night till wine inflames them!

¹² They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord, neither do they consider the operation of His hands [in mercy and in judgment].

¹³ Therefore My people go into captivity [to their enemies] without knowing it and because they have no knowledge [of God]. And their honorable men [their glory] are famished, and their common people are parched with thirst.

¹⁴ Therefore Sheol (the unseen state, the realm of the dead) has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth without measure; and [Jerusalem’s] nobility and her multitude and her pomp and tumult and [the drunken reveler] who exults in her descend into it.

¹⁵ And the common man is bowed down, and the great man is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.

¹⁶ But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and God, the Holy One, shows Himself holy in righteousness and through righteous judgments.

¹⁷ Then shall the lambs feed [among the ruins] as in their own pasture, and [among] the desolate places of the [exiled] rich shall sojourners and aliens eat.

¹⁸ Woe to those who draw [calamity] with cords of iniquity and falsehood, who bring punishment to themselves with a cart rope of wickedness,

¹⁹ Who say, Let [the Holy One] make haste and speed His [prophesied] vengeance, that we may see it; and let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!

²⁰ Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent and shrewd in their own sight!

²² Woe to those who are mighty heroes at drinking wine and men of strength in mixing alcoholic drinks!—

²³ Who justify and acquit the guilty for a bribe, but take away the rights of the innocent and righteous from them!

²⁴ Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be like rottenness and their blossom shall go up like fine dust—because they have rejected and cast away the law and the teaching of the Lord of hosts and have not believed but have treated scornfully and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵ Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against His people, and He has stretched forth His hand against them and has smitten them. And the mountains trembled, and their dead bodies were like dung and sweepings in the midst of the streets. For all this, His anger is not turned away, but His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

²⁶ And He will lift up a signal to call together a hostile people from afar [to execute His judgment on Judea], and will hiss for them from the end of the earth [as bees are hissed from their hives], and behold, they shall come with speed, swiftly!

²⁷ None is weary or stumbles among them, none slumbers or sleeps; nor is the girdle of their loins loosed or the latchet (thong) of their shoes broken;

²⁸ Their arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses’ hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.

²⁹ Their roaring is like that of a lioness, they roar like young lions; they growl and seize their prey and carry it safely away, and there is none to deliver it.

³⁰ And in that day they [the army from afar] shall roar against [the Jews] like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress; and the light [itself] will be darkened by the clouds of it.

6 In the year that King Uzziah died, [in a vision] I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the skirts of His train filled the [most holy part of the] temple.^(B)

² Above Him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two [each] covered his [own] face, and with two [each] covered his feet, and with two [each] flew.

³ And one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!

⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

⁵ Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone and ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!

⁶ Then flew one of the seraphim [heavenly beings] to me, having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with tongs from off the altar;

⁷ And with it he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity and guilt are taken away, and your sin is completely atoned for and forgiven.

⁸ Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

⁹ And He said, Go and tell this people, Hear and hear continually, but understand not; and see and see continually, but do not apprehend with your mind.

¹⁰ Make the heart of this people fat; and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn again and be healed.

¹¹ Then said I, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until cities lie waste without inhabitant and houses without man, and the land is utterly desolate,

¹² And the Lord removes [His] people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

¹³ And though a tenth [of the people] remain in the land, it will be for their destruction [eaten up and burned] like a terebinth tree or like an oak whose stump and substance remain when they are felled or have cast their leaves. The holy seed [the elect remnant] is the stump and substance [of Israel].

7 In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but they could not conquer it.

² And the house of David [Judah] was told, Syria is allied with Ephraim [Israel]. And the heart [of Ahaz] and the hearts of his people trembled and shook, as the trees of the forest tremble and shake with the wind.

³ Then said the Lord to Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Judah’s King Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub [a remnant shall return], at the end of the aqueduct or canal of the Upper Pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field;

⁴ And say to him, Take heed and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted because of these two stumps of smoking firebrands—at the fierce anger of [the Syrian King] Rezin and Syria and of the son of Remaliah [Pekah, usurper of the throne of Israel].

⁵ Because Syria, Ephraim [Israel], and the son of Remaliah have purposed evil against you [Judah], saying,

⁶ Let us go up against Judah and harass and terrify it; and let us cleave it asunder [each of us taking a portion], and set a [vassal] king in the midst of it, namely the son of Tabeel,

⁷ Thus says the Lord God: It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.

⁸ For the head [the capital] of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is [King] Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken to pieces so that it will no longer be a people.

⁹ And the head (the capital) of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son [Pekah]. If you will not believe and trust and rely [on God and on the words of God’s prophet instead of Assyria], surely you will not be established nor will you remain.

¹⁰ Moreover, the Lord spoke again to King Ahaz, saying,

¹¹ Ask for yourself a sign (a token or proof) of the Lord your God [one that will convince you that God has spoken and will keep His word]; ask it either in the depth below or in the height above [let it be as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven].

¹² But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.

¹³ And [Isaiah] said, Hear then, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary and try the patience of men, but will you weary and try the patience of my God also?

¹⁴ Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the young woman who is unmarried and a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [God with us].^(C)

¹⁵ Butter and curds and wild honey shall he eat when he knows [enough] to refuse the evil and choose the good.

¹⁶ For before the child shall know [enough] to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land [Canaan] whose two kings you abhor and of whom you are in sickening dread shall be forsaken [both Ephraim and Syria].^(D)

¹⁷ The Lord shall bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim [the ten northern tribes] departed from Judah—even the king of ^[a]Assyria.

¹⁸ And in that day the Lord shall whistle for the fly [the numerous and troublesome foe] that is in the whole extent of the canal country of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

¹⁹ And these [enemies like flies and bees] shall come and shall rest all of them in the desolate and rugged valleys and deep ravines and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes and on all the pastures.

²⁰ In the same day [will the people of Judah be utterly stripped of belongings], the Lord will shave with the razor that is hired from the parts beyond the River [Euphrates]—even with the king of Assyria—[that razor will shave] the head and the hair of the legs, and it shall also consume the beard [leaving Judah with open shame and scorn].^(E)

²¹ And [because of the desolation brought on by the invaders] in that day, a man will [be so poor that he will] keep alive only a young milk cow and two sheep.

²² And because of the abundance of milk that they will give, he will eat butter and curds, for [only] butter and curds and [wild] honey [no vegetables] shall everyone eat who is left in the land [these products provided from the extensive pastures and the plentiful wild flowers upon which the bees depend].

²³ And in that day, in every place where there used to be a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be briers and thorns.

²⁴ With arrows and with bows shall a man come [to hunt] there, because all the land will be briers and thorns.

²⁵ And as for all the hills that were formerly cultivated with mattock and hoe, you will not go there for fear of briers and thorns; but they will become a place where oxen are let loose to pasture and where sheep tread.

8 Then the Lord said to me, Take a large tablet [of wood, metal, or stone] and write upon it with a graving tool and in ordinary characters [which the humblest man can read]: Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz [they (the Assyrians) hasten to the spoil (of Syria and Israel), they speed to the prey].

² And I took faithful witnesses to record and attest [this prophecy] for me, Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.

³ And I approached [my wife] the prophetess, and when she had conceived and borne a son, the Lord said to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz [as a continual reminder to the people of the prophecy],

⁴ For before the child knows how to say, My father or my mother, the riches of Damascus [Syria’s capital] and the spoil of Samaria [Israel’s capital] ^[b]shall be carried away before the king of Assyria.

⁵ The Lord spoke to me yet again and said,

⁶ Because this people [Israel and Judah] have refused and despised the waters of Shiloah [Siloam, the only perennial fountain of Jerusalem, and symbolic of God’s protection and sustaining power] that go gently, and rejoice in and with Rezin [the king of Syria] and Remaliah’s son [Pekah the king of Israel],

⁷ Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the waters of the River [Euphrates], strong and many—even the king of Assyria and all the glory [of his gorgeous retinue]; and it will rise over all its channels, brooks, valleys, and canals and extend far beyond its banks;^(F)

⁸ And it will ^[c]sweep on into Judah; it will overflow and go over [the hills], reaching even [but only] to the neck [of which Jerusalem is the head], and the outstretched wings [of the armies of Assyria] shall fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel ^[d][Messiah, God is with us]!^(G)

⁹ Make an uproar and be broken in pieces, O you peoples [rage, raise the war cry, do your worst, and be utterly dismayed]! Give ear, all you [our enemies] of far countries. Gird yourselves [for war], and be thrown into consternation! Gird yourselves, and be [utterly] dismayed!

¹⁰ Take counsel together [against Judah], but it shall come to nought; speak the word, but it will not stand, for God is with us [Immanuel]!

¹¹ For the Lord spoke thus to me with His strong hand [upon me], and warned and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

¹² Do not call conspiracy [or hard, or holy] all that this people will call conspiracy [or hard, or holy]; neither be in fear of what they fear, nor [make others afraid and] in dread.

¹³ The Lord of hosts—regard Him as holy and honor His holy name [by regarding Him as your only hope of safety], and let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread [lest you offend Him by your fear of man and distrust of Him].

¹⁴ And He shall be a sanctuary [a sacred and indestructible asylum to those who reverently fear and trust in Him]; but He shall be a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.^(H)

¹⁵ And many among them shall stumble thereon; and they shall fall and be broken, and be snared and taken.

¹⁶ Bind up the testimony, seal the law and the teaching among my [Isaiah’s] disciples.

¹⁷ And I will wait for the Lord, Who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; and I will look for and hope in Him.

¹⁸ Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are ^[e]signs and wonders [that are to take place] in Israel from the Lord of hosts, Who dwells on Mount Zion.

¹⁹ And when the people [instead of putting their trust in God] shall say to you, Consult for direction mediums and wizards who chirp and mutter, should not a people seek and consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

²⁰ [Direct such people] to the teaching and to the testimony! If their teachings are not in accord with this word, it is surely because there is no dawn and no morning for them.

²¹ And they [who consult mediums and wizards] shall pass through [the land] sorely distressed and hungry; and when they are hungry, they will fret, and will curse by their king and their God; and whether they look upward

²² Or look to the earth, they will behold only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and into thick darkness and widespread, obscure night they shall be driven away.