< Isaiah 7 >
1 It happened in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but they could not prevail against it.
2 It was told the house of David, saying, "Aram is allied with Ephraim." His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.
3 Then YHWH said to Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the Launderers' Field.
4 Tell him, 'Be careful, and keep calm. Do not be afraid, neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and of the son of Remaliah.
5 Because Aram, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have plotted evil against you, saying,
6 "Let's go up against Judah, and tear it apart, and let's divide it among ourselves, and set up a king in its midst, even the son of Tabeel."
7 This is what YHWH says: "It shall not stand, neither shall it happen."
8 For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people;
9 and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.'"
10 YHWH spoke again to Ahaz, saying,
11 "Ask a sign of YHWH your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above." (Sheol )
12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, neither will I tempt YHWH."
13 He said, "Listen now, house of David: Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also?
14 Therefore YHWH himself will give you a sign. Look, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and they will call his name Immanuel.
15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
16 For before the child knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken.
17 YHWH will bring on you, on your people, and on your father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.
18 It will happen in that day that YHWH will whistle for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
19 They shall come, and shall all rest in the desolate valleys, in the clefts of the rocks, on all thorn hedges, and on all pastures.
20 In that day YHWH will shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.
21 It shall happen in that day that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep;
22 and it shall happen, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter: for everyone will eat butter and honey that is left in the midst of the land.
23 It will happen in that day that every place where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver shekels, shall be for briers and thorns.
24 People will go there with arrows and with bow, because all the land will be briers and thorns.
25 All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep."
