Isaiah Is Sent to King Ahaz

7 In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to make war against Jerusalem. But they could not win the battle. ² When the family of David was told, “Syria has joined with Ephraim,” his heart and the hearts of his people shook as trees shake with the wind.

³ Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Now you and your son Shear-jashub go out to meet Ahaz at the end of the ditch of the upper pool on the road to the Fuller’s Field. ⁴ Say to him, ‘Be careful and quiet. Do not be afraid or weak in your heart because of these two pieces of burnt and smoking wood. Do not be afraid of the burning anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. ⁵ Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, have made sinful plans against you, saying, ⁶ “Let us go up against Judah and make the people very afraid. Let us break open its walls, and make the son of Tabeel its king.” ⁷ But the Lord God says, “This plan will not work. It will not happen. ⁸ For the head of Syria is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin. (Within another sixty-five years Ephraim will be destroyed so that it is no longer a people.) ⁹ The head of Ephraim is Samaria. And the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you will not believe, for sure you will not last.”’”

Word about Immanuel

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹ “Ask for something special to see from the Lord your God. Ask for it to be as deep as the place of the dead or as high as heaven.” ¹² But Ahaz said, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.” ¹³ Then Isaiah said, “Listen now, O people of David! Is it too small a thing for you to test men, that you will test my God as well? ¹⁴ So the Lord Himself will give you a special thing to see: A young woman, who has never had a man, will give birth to a son. She will give Him the name Immanuel. ¹⁵ He will eat milk and honey when He knows enough to have nothing to do with wrong-doing and chooses good. ¹⁶ For before the boy knows to turn away from what is bad and choose good, the land whose two kings you are afraid of will be left empty.” ¹⁷ The Lord will bring upon you and your people and your father’s house such days as have never come since the day that Ephraim was divided from Judah. He is going to bring the king of Assyria on you. ¹⁸ In that day the Lord will call for flies that are in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt, and for bees that are in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹ They will all come and stay in the narrow valleys, on the hill-sides, on the thorn bushes, and in the fields.

²⁰ In that day the Lord will use the king of Assyria from the other side of the Euphrates to cut off the hair from your head, your legs, and your face.

²¹ In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep. ²² And because they give much milk, he will have all he can use. For everyone who is left in the land will have milk and honey to eat. ²³ In that day, every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand pieces of silver, will be thistles and thorns. ²⁴ Men will go there with bows and arrows because all the land will be covered with thistles and thorns. ²⁵ As for all the hills which used to be cared for as a garden, you will not go there for fear of thistles and thorns. They will become a place where cattle feed and where sheep will run.

Assyria Will Take the Land

8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large piece of stone and write on it in easy-to-read letters: ‘They hurry to get what they can. They run to pick up what is left.’” ² And I took men who could be trusted to watch the writing, Uriah the religious leader and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. ³ Then I went to the woman who spoke for God, and she was able to have a child, and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hashbaz. ⁴ For before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and everything of any worth in Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”

⁵ The Lord spoke to me again, saying, ⁶ “These people have turned away from the gentle, flowing waters of Shiloah, and find joy in Rezin and the son of Remaliah. ⁷ So now, see, the Lord is ready to bring on them the strong and powerful waters of the Euphrates, the king of Assyria and all his greatness. It will rise up high and cause a flood. ⁸ Then it will flow into Judah. It will flood and pass through, and come up even to the neck. And the spread of its wings will cover the width of your land, O Immanuel.

⁹ “Be broken, O people, and be afraid. Listen, all you far places of the earth. Get ready, yet be afraid. Get ready, yet be afraid. ¹⁰ Make a plan, but it will come to nothing. Give your plan, but it will not be done. For God is with us.”

The People Are Told to Obey

¹¹ For the Lord said this to me with great power, and told me not to walk in the way of these people. He said, ¹² “Do not call holy all that these people call holy. Do not fear what they fear, or be afraid of it. ¹³ It is the Lord of All Whom you should think of as holy. Let Him be the One you fear. He is the One to be afraid of. ¹⁴ Then He will become a holy place. But He will be a stone of trouble and a rock to fall over for both houses of Israel. He will be a net and a trap for the people of Jerusalem. ¹⁵ Many will fall over them. They will fall and be broken. They will be trapped and caught.”

¹⁶ Put together what I have said. Hold to my teachings among my followers. ¹⁷ I will wait for the Lord Who is hiding His face from the family of Jacob. I trust Him and hope in Him. ¹⁸ See, I and the children the Lord has given me are something special to see and a wonder in Israel from the Lord of All, Who lives on Mount Zion.

¹⁹ When they say to you, “Ask those who speak in secret with the spirits of the dead and who use their secret ways,” should not a people ask their God? Should they speak to the dead for the living? ²⁰ Tell them to put their faith in the teaching and the Law. If they do not speak what this word says, it is because they have no light in them. ²¹ They will pass through the land troubled and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be angry and curse their king and their God as they look up. ²² Then they will look to the earth and see trouble and darkness and suffering and will be driven out into darkness.

Birth and Rule of the Prince of Peace

9 But there will be no more heavy hearts for those who were suffering. In the past God allowed the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali to be put to shame. In the future He will honor Galilee where those who are not Jews live and where the road to the sea is. It is on the other side of the Jordan. ² The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. The light will shine on those living in the land of dark shadows. ³ You will make the nation great. You will give them great joy. They will be glad before You, as with the joy of gathering time, and as men have joy when they divide the riches taken after a battle. ⁴ For You will break the heavy load from their neck and shoulders. You will break the power of those who made it hard for them, as at the battle of Midian. ⁵ For every shoe of the soldiers in the battle, and every coat rolled in blood, will be burned in the fire. ⁶ For to us a Child will be born. To us a Son will be given. And the rule of the nations will be on His shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Teacher, Powerful God, Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace. ⁷ There will be no end to His rule and His peace, upon the throne of David and over his nation. He will build it to last and keep it strong with what is right and fair and good from that time and forever. The work of the Lord of All will do this.

Punishment against Israel

⁸ The Lord sends word against Jacob, and it falls on Israel. ⁹ And all the people will know it, that is, Ephraim and the people of Samaria. They say with a proud spirit in their hearts, ¹⁰ “The clay blocks have fallen down, but we will build again with smooth stones. The sycamore trees have been cut down, but we will put cedar trees in their place.” ¹¹ So the Lord brings men from Rezin to fight against them. He makes those who hate them move to action. ¹² The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west swallow Israel with an open mouth. Even with this, the Lord’s anger does not turn away. His hand is still held out.

¹³ Yet the people do not return to Him Who punished them. They do not look to the Lord of All. ¹⁴ So the Lord will cut off the head and tail from Israel, both palm branch and river-grass in one day. ¹⁵ The leaders and men of honor are the head, and the tail is the false preachers who teach lies. ¹⁶ For those who lead these people are leading them from the right way, and those who are led by them are going the wrong way. ¹⁷ So the Lord is not pleased with their young men. He does not have pity on their children who have no parents or on their women whose husbands have died. Every one of them is without God and does sinful things. Every mouth speaks foolish words. Even with all this, His anger does not turn away. His hand is still held out.

¹⁸ For sin burns like a fire. It burns thistles and thorns. It sets the woods on fire, and they go up in smoke. ¹⁹ The land is burned up by the anger of the Lord, and the people are like wood for the fire. No man shows pity on his brother. ²⁰ They take what is on the right hand but still are hungry. They eat what is in the left hand but are not filled. Each of them eats the flesh of his own children. ²¹ Manasseh goes against Ephraim, and Ephraim goes against Manasseh. And together they are against Judah. Even with all this, the Lord’s anger does not turn away. His hand is still held out.