Old/New Testament
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.
From Death to Life
2 In the past your spiritual lives were dead because of your sins and the things you did wrong against God. 2 Yes, in the past you lived the way the world lives. You followed the ruler of the evil powers that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God. 3 In the past all of us lived like them. We lived trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. We should have suffered God’s anger because we were sinful by nature. We were the same as all other people.
4 But God’s mercy is great, and he loved us very much. 5 We were spiritually dead because of the things we did wrong against God. But God gave us new life with Christ. You have been saved by God’s grace. 6 And he raised us up with Christ and gave us a seat with him in the heavens. He did this for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. 7 He did this so that for all future time he could show the very great riches of his grace. He shows that grace by being kind to us in Christ Jesus. 8 I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believe. You did not save yourselves. It was a gift from God. 9 You cannot brag that you are saved by the work you have done. 10 God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would do good works. God had planned in advance those good works for us. He had planned for us to live our lives doing them.
One in Christ
11 You were born non-Jews. You are the people the Jews call “uncircumcised.”[a] Those who call you “uncircumcised” call themselves “circumcised.” (Their circumcision is only something they themselves do on their bodies.) 12 Remember that in the past you were without Christ. You were not citizens of Israel. And you had no part in the agreements[b] with the promise that God made to his people. You had no hope, and you did not know God. 13 Yes, at one time you were far away from God. But now in Christ Jesus you are brought near to God through the blood of Christ’s death. 14 Because of Christ we now have peace. Christ made both Jews and non-Jews one people. They were separated as if there were a wall between them. But Christ broke down that wall of hate by giving his own body. 15 The Jewish law had many commands and rules. But Christ ended that law. Christ’s purpose was to make the two groups of people become one new people in him. By doing this Christ would make peace. 16 Through the cross Christ ended the hatred between the two groups. And after Christ made the two groups to be one body, he wanted to bring them back to God. Christ did this with his death on the cross. 17 Christ came and preached peace to you non-Jews who were far away from God. And he preached peace to those Jews who were near to God. 18 Yes, through Christ we all have the right to come to the Father in one Spirit.
19 So now you non-Jews are not visitors or strangers. Now you are citizens together with God’s holy people. You belong to God’s family. 20 You believers are like a building that God owns. That building was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the most important stone[c] in that building. 21 That whole building is joined together in Christ. And Christ makes it grow and become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in Christ you, too, are being built together with the Jews. You are being built into a place where God lives through the Spirit.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.