Old/New Testament
Immanuel Is the Answer to Judah’s Hardness
7 This took place in the days when Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah. Rezin king of Aram,[a] and Pekah son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, marched up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but they could not capture it.
2 The house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim.” The heart of Ahaz trembled, and the heart of his people trembled as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah:
Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear Jashub.[b] Meet him at the end of the water channel from the upper pool, on the road that goes to the launderers[c] field.
4 Tell Ahaz, “Get control of yourself, and remain calm. Do not be afraid. Do not lose your courage because of these two stubs of smoldering torches. Do not be afraid because of the fierce anger of Rezin, Aram, and the son of Remaliah, 5 even though Aram, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you and said, 6 ‘Let’s go up against Judah and tear it apart. Let’s divide it among ourselves and set up a king over it, namely, this son of Tabe’el.’”
7 This is what the Lord God says.
Their plan shall not succeed.
It shall not take place.
8 Yes, the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin,
but within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken into pieces,
so that it will no longer be a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is only Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son.
If you do not stand firm in faith,
you will not stand at all.[d]
10 The Lord spoke to Ahaz again. He said, 11 “Ask for a sign from the Lord your God. Ask for it either in the depths below or in the heights above.”
12 But Ahaz responded, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.”
13 So Isaiah said:
Listen now, you house of David. Is it not enough for you to test the patience of men? Will you test the patience of my God as well? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give a sign for all of you.[e] Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and name him Immanuel.[f] 15 He will eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse evil and choose good, 16 because even before the child knows how to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.
17 The Lord will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house days worse than any since the day that Ephraim broke away from Judah. The Lord will bring the king of Assyria.
18 This is what will take place in that day: The Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the farthest end of Egypt’s rivers and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 They will come and settle in the deep ravines, in the clefts in the rocks, among all the thorn hedges, and in all the pastures.[g]
20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor hired from the regions beyond the River Euphrates, namely, the king of Assyria. This razor will shave their head and the hair on their legs, and it will also scrape away their beard.
21 In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, 22 and because of the abundant milk they give, he will eat curds. So everyone left in the land will eat curds and honey. 23 In that day, in every place where a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels were growing, there will be only briers and thorns. 24 Hunters will go there with a bow and arrow, because all that land will be briers and thorns. 25 You will no longer venture into all the hills that once were cultivated with the hoe, because you will be afraid of the briers and thorns, and the hills will be a pasture for grazing oxen, a land trampled by sheep.
Isaiah and His Sons Are a Sign
8 The Lord said to me, “Get a large tablet and write on it with a man’s stylus: For Maher Shalal Hash Baz.”
2 I also swore in faithful witnesses: Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.[h]
3 I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher Shalal Hash Baz.[i] 4 For before the child knows how to say ‘My father’ and ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”
5 Then the Lord spoke to me again and said:
6 Because these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah, and they rejoice in Rezin and in Remaliah’s son, 7 therefore, the Lord is now about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the River,[j] that is, the king of Assyria in all his glory. It will overflow all its channels, and it will flood all its banks. 8 It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through the land. It will rise up all the way to the neck, and its wingspan will reach across the width of your land, Immanuel.
9 Be broken to pieces, you peoples.
Be shattered![k]
Listen, all of you from faraway countries.
Dress for battle, and be shattered!
Dress for battle, and be shattered!
10 Get together, make your plans,
but they will not succeed.
Speak the word, but it will not stand,
for God is with us.[l]
11 Listen! This is how the Lord spoke to me with a strong hand upon me. He instructed me not to walk in the way of this people. He said:
12 Do not say “A conspiracy!” about everything that this people calls a conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear.[m] Do not be terrified. 13 The Lord of Armies is the one you are to respect as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread. 14 He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone they stumble over and a rock they fall over, and he will be a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 Many will stumble over it. They will fall and be broken. They will be snared and captured.
16 Roll up the scroll of testimony. Seal the law among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the Lord, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will wait hopefully for him. 18 Look, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and warnings to Israel from the Lord of Armies, who dwells in Mount Zion.
19 When they tell you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists, who whisper and mutter,” shouldn’t a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If people do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them. 21 They will pass through the land, distressed and starving, but when this takes place and they are starving, they will be frustrated, and they will curse their king and their God. They will turn their faces upward, 22 and then they will look down to the ground, but I tell you, they will see only distress, darkness, and the gloom that brings anguish. They will be banished into thick darkness.
Made Alive in Christ by Grace
2 You were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked when you followed the ways of this present world. You were following the ruler of the domain of the air, the spirit now at work in the people who disobey.
3 Formerly, we all lived among them in the passions of our sinful flesh, as we carried out the desires of the sinful flesh and its thoughts. Like all the others, we were by nature objects of God’s wrath.
4 But God, because he is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! 6 He also raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 7 He did this so that, in the coming ages, he might demonstrate the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 Indeed, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance so that we would walk in them.
United in Christ
11 Therefore, remember that at one time, you Gentiles in the flesh—the ones who are called “uncircumcised” by those called “the circumcised” (which is performed physically by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separated from Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise. You were without hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace. He made the two groups one by destroying the wall of hostility that divided them 15 when he abolished the law of commandments and regulations in his flesh. He did this to create in himself one new person out of the two, in this way making peace. 16 And he did this to reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by putting the hostility to death on it.[a] 17 He also came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.[b]
19 So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household. 20 You have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the Cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.