Read the Bible

Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz

¹ Now it happened in the days of ^(C1)Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that ^(C2)Rezin the king of Aram and ^(C3)Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but ^(C4)could not ^(F1)conquer it.² When it was told to the ^(C1)house of David, saying, "^(F1)The Arameans ^(C2)have camped in ^(C3)Ephraim," his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

³ Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son ^(F1)Shear-jashub, at the end of the ^(C1)conduit of the upper pool, to the highway of the ^(F2)fuller's field,⁴ and say to him, 'Take care and stay ^(C1)quiet, have no ^(C2)fear and ^(C3)do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering ^(C4)firebrands, on account of the burning anger of Rezin and Aram and the ^(C5)son of Remaliah.⁵ 'Because ^(C1)Aram, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has counseled evil against you, saying,⁶ "Let us go up against Judah and ^(F1)terrorize it, and make for ourselves a breach in ^(F2)its walls and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,"⁷ thus says Lord Yahweh: "^(C1)It shall not stand, nor shall it happen.⁸ "For the head of Aram is ^(C1)Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin (now within another sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered, so that it is no longer a people),⁹ and the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. ^(C1)If you do not ^(F1)establish your faith in Yahweh, you surely shall not ^(F2)be established."'"

The Sign of Immanuel

¹⁰ Then Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying,¹¹ "Ask a ^(C1)sign for yourself from Yahweh your God; ^(F1)make it deep as Sheol or high as ^(F2)heaven."¹² But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not test Yahweh!"¹³ Then he said, "^(F1)Listen now, O ^(C1)house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will ^(C2)try the patience of ^(C3)my God as well?¹⁴ "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, ^(C1)the ^(F1)virgin ^(F2)will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name ^(F3)(C2)Immanuel.¹⁵ "He will eat ^(C1)curds and honey ^(F1)in order that He will know to refuse evil and choose good.¹⁶ "^(C1)For before the boy will know to refuse evil and choose good, ^(C2)the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.¹⁷ "Yahweh will bring on you, on your people, and on your father's house days which have never come since the day that ^(C1)Ephraim separated from Judah—the ^(C2)king of Assyria!"

Trials to Come for Judah

¹⁸ And it will be in that day, that Yahweh will ^(C1)whistle for the fly that is in the ^(F1)(C2)remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.¹⁹ And they will all come and rest upon the steep ^(F1)ravines, on the ^(C1)crevices of the cliffs, ^(C2)on all the thorn bushes, and on all the ^(F2)watering places.

²⁰ In that day, the Lord will ^(C1)shave with a ^(C2)razor—one ^(C3)hired from regions beyond ^(C4)the ^(F1)River (that is, the king of Assyria)—the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard.

²¹ And it will be in that day, that a man may keep alive a ^(C1)heifer and a pair of sheep;²² and because of the abundance of the milk produced, he will eat curds, for everyone that is left within the land will eat ^(C1)curds and honey.

²³ And it will be in that day, ^(C1)that every place where there used to be one thousand vines, valued at ^(F1)one thousand shekels of silver, will become ^(C2)briars and thorns.²⁴ People will come there with bows and arrows because all the land will be briars and thorns.²⁵ As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for ^(F1)(C1)pasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.