i To King Ahaz And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it; but could not prevail against it. And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest are moved with the wind. Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the high way of the fuller's field; and say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither let thine heart be faint, because of these two tails of smoking firebrands— 'For the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, Because Syria hath counselled evil against thee, Ephraim also, and the son of Remaliah, 'Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, 'And set up a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeel' thus saith the Lord GOD: It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass : 'For the head of Syria is Damascus, and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken in pieces, that it be not a people: 'And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, 'And the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established. And the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD. And he said, Hear ye now, house of David; is it a small thing for you to weary men, that ye will weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin is with child, and beareth a son, and shall call his name 'God-withus.'* Butter and honey shall he eat, when he knoweth to *Immanuel. refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings thou abhorrest shall be forsaken. ii To the King of Israel The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria. The Fly and the Bee And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss 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. And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all pastures. The Razor In that day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, which is 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. Butter and Honey And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep; and it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the midst of the land. And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, shall even be for briers and thorns. With arrows and with bow shall one come thither; because all the land shall be briers and thorns. And all the hills that were digged with the mattock, thou shalt not come thither for fear of briers and thorns, but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep. Maher-shalal-hash-baz And the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great tablet, and write upon it in common characters, For Maher-shalal hash-baz; and I will take unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD unto me, Call his name 'Maher-shalal-hash-baz.' For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and, My mother, the riches of Damascus and the 'spoil' of Samaria shall be carried away' before the king of Assyria. The River And the LORD spake unto me yet again, saying, Forasmuch as this people hath refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son; now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the River, strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: and he shall sweep onward into Judah; he shall overflow and pass through; he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O God-with-us! * * Immanuel. 29 |