Shared Word Translation
Isaiah 7
King Ahaz Faces Fear
In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but they could not prevail against it. It was told to the house of David, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim.” And the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook, as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz—you and your son Shear-jashub—at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the road to the field of the launderer. Say to him: Take care, be quiet; do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stubs of firebrands—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.
Because Aram—with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah—has plotted evil against you, saying, ‘Let us go up against Judah and cut it open, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in it,’ therefore thus says the Lord GOD: It shall not stand, and it shall not happen.
For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in trust, you will not stand at all.
The LORD Offers a Sign
Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; ask it either in the depth below or in the height above.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.”
Then Isaiah said, “Hear then, house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord will give you a sign. Look—the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. The LORD will bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon your ancestral house, such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.”
What Comes Like a Flood
On that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is at the ends of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.
On that day the Lord will shave with a razor hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will also sweep away the beard.
On that day one will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, and because of the abundance of milk they give, one will eat curds; for everyone left in the land will eat curds and honey.
On that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines worth a thousand silver pieces will become briers and thorns. People will go there with bow and arrows, for all the land will be briers and thorns. As for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not go there for fear of briers and thorns; but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.