Old/New Testament

Reassurance Regarding a Threat

7 Now it came about in the days of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah, son of Remaliah of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. ² When it was reported to the house of David saying: “Aram is camped in Ephraim,” his heart as well as the heart of his people shook like the trees of the forest shaking with the wind.

³ Then Adonai said to Isaiah: “Go out now to meet Ahaz—you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, in the highway of the fullers’ field^[a]; ⁴ and say to him, ‘Keep calm and be quiet. Do not fear nor be faint-hearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, nor of the son of Remaliah, ⁵ because Aram has plotted harm against you, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah saying, ⁶ “Let us go up against Judah, terrorize it, divide it for ourselves, and appoint Tabeel’s son as king in the midst of it.”

⁷ Thus says Adonai Elohim:

The Sign of Immanuel

¹⁰ Then Adonai spoke again to Ahaz saying, ¹¹ “Ask for a sign from Adonai your God—from the depths of Sheol or the heights of Heaven.”

¹² But Ahaz said, “I won’t ask—I wouldn’t test Adonai!”

¹³ Then he said, “Hear now, house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men? Will you also weary my God? ¹⁴ Therefore Adonai Himself will give you a sign:

¹⁶ For before the boy knows to refuse evil and choose good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned. ¹⁷ Adonai will bring—on you, on your people and on your father’s house such days as have never come since the day Ephraim separated from Judah—the king of Assyria!

¹⁸ In that day Adonai will whistle for the fly at the source of the Nile of Egypt and for the bee in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹ Then they will come, all of them—and will settle in the steep wadis and in the clefts of the cliffs and in all the thorn bushes and in all the watering holes. ²⁰ In that day Adonai will shave—with a razor hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the legs, and even clip off the beard.

²¹ In that day it will be that a man will rear a calf and two sheep, ²² and from the abundant milk they give, he will eat curds—for anyone left in the land will eat curds and honey.

²³ In that day it will be that every place where there were 1,000 vines worth 1,000 silver shekels will become briers and thorns. ²⁴ With arrows and bows one will come there, since all the land will become briers and thorns. ²⁵ As for all the hills that were tilled with the hoe—you will not go there for fear of briers and thorns. Instead it will be for grazing of oxen and roaming of sheep.

Assyria Will Rise to Judah’s Neck

8 Then Adonai said to me: “Take yourself a great tablet, and write on it with a man’s stylus: ‘Maher-shalal-hashbaz^[d].’” ² So I took for myself trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the kohen and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.

³ Then I went to the prophetess; and she conceived and bore a son. Then Adonai said to me: “Call his name Maher-shalal-hashbaz. ⁴ For before the child will have knowledge to cry ‘my father!’ or ‘my mother!’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.” ⁵ Then Adonai spoke to me further, saying:

¹¹ For thus Adonai spoke to me, with a strong hand, warning me that I should not walk in the way of these people, saying: ¹² “Do not say: ‘It’s a conspiracy!’ about everything that these people call a conspiracy. You must not fear or tremble at what they fear.

¹⁸ Here I am with the children that Adonai has given me as signs and wonders in Israel, from Adonai-Tzva’ot who dwells on Mount Zion. ¹⁹ When they say to you: “Consult the mediums and necromancers who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people seek their God? Should a people consult the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰ To Torah and to the testimony!

If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no light. ²¹ They will pass this way that are hard-pressed and hungry, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will become enraged and curse their king and their God. Whether they turn their faces upward ²² or look to the earth, behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be driven into darkness.

A Great Light in Galilee

Destined for Wrath, Saved by Grace

2 You were dead in your trespasses and sins. ² At that time, you walked in the way of this world, in conformity to the ruler of the domain of the air—the ruler of the spirit who is now operating in the sons of disobedience. ³ We too all lived among them in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind. By nature we were children of wrath, just like the others. ⁴ But God was rich in mercy,^[a] because of His great love with which He loved us. ⁵ Even when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with Messiah. (By grace you have been saved!) ⁶ And He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Messiah Yeshua— ⁷ to show in the olam ha-ba the measureless richness of His grace in kindness toward us in Messiah Yeshua.

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves—it is the gift of God. ⁹ It is not based on deeds, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship—created in Messiah Yeshua for good deeds, which God prepared beforehand so we might walk in them.

Jew and Gentile, One in Messiah

¹¹ Therefore, keep in mind that once you—Gentiles in the flesh—were called “uncircumcision” by those called “circumcision” (which is performed on flesh by hand). ¹² At that time you were separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Messiah Yeshua, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah. ¹⁴ For He is our shalom, the One who made the two into one and broke down the middle wall of separation. Within His flesh He made powerless the hostility— ¹⁵ the law code of mitzvot contained in regulations. He did this in order to create within Himself one new man from the two groups, making shalom, ¹⁶ and to reconcile both to God in one body through the cross—by which He put the hostility to death. ¹⁷ And He came and proclaimed shalom to you who were far away and shalom to those who were near^[b]— ¹⁸ for through Him we both have access to the Father by the same Ruach. ¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household. ²⁰ You have been built on the foundation made up of the emissaries and prophets, with Messiah Yeshua Himself being the cornerstone. ^{[c] 21} In Him the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple for the Lord. ²² In Him, you also are being built together into God’s dwelling place^[d] in the Ruach.