7
VII
1And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
2And when it was told to the house of David, Syria is confederate with Ephraim: then his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest are moved before the wind.
3And Jehovah said unto Isaiah: Go out now to meet Ahaz, thou and Shear-jeshub thy son, at the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool, at the causeway of the fuller’s field. 4And thou shalt say unto him: Take heed, and be still: fear not, neither let thy heart be faint, on account of these two tails of smoking firebrands; for the fierce wrath of Rezin, and Syria, and the son of Remaliah. 5Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have plotted mischief against thee, saying:
6Let us go up against Judah, and besiege it;
And let us divide it among ourselves:
And let us set up a king in the midst of it;
Even the son of Tabeal.
7Thus saith the Lord Jehovah:
It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
8Although the head of Syria be Damascus,
And the head of Damascus, Rezin;
Yet within three score and five years,
Ephraim shall be broken, that he be no more a people:
9Yea, although the head of Ephraim be Samaria;
And the head of Samaria, Remaliah’s son.
If ye believe not in me, surely ye shall not be established.
10And Jehovah spoke yet again to Ahaz, saying:
11Ask for thee a sign from Jehovah thy God:
Ask it in the deep, or seek it in the height above.
12And Ahaz said: I will not ask, neither will I tempt Jehovah. And he said:
13Hear ye now, O house of David:
Is it a small thing for you to weary the patience of men,
That you should weary ray God also?
14Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign:
Behold, the Virgin shall conceive, and bear a son;
And she shall call his name Immanuel.
15Butter and honey shall he eat,
Until he shall have knowledge to refuse the evil, and to choose the good:
16For before the child shall have knowledge
To refuse the evil, and to choose the good;
The land, which causeth uneasiness unto thee
By reason of its two kings, shall be deserted.
17 But Jehovah shall bring upon thee,
And upon thy people, and upon thy father's house,
Days, such as have not come,
From the day that Ephraim departed from Judah;
Namely, the king of Assyria.
18And it shall come to pass in that day,
That Jehovah 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.
19And they shall come, and they shall light all of
them,
On the valleys of the deserts, and on the clefts of the rocks,
And on all the thorn-bushes, and upon all the meadows.
20In that day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired
From beyond the river; namely, with the king of Assyria,
The head, and the hair of the feet;
And the beard also it shall take away.
21And it shall come to pass in that day,
That a man shall keep one cow and two sheep;
22And it shall be,
From the plenty of milk which they shall give, he shall eat butter:
Yea, butter and honey shall every one eat
That is left in the midst of the land.
23And it shall come to pass in that day,
That every place, wherein there were a thousand vines
At a thousand pieces of silver,
Shall become the portion of briers and thorns.
24With arrows and with the bow shall men come thither;
For the whole land shall become briers and thorns.
25And upon all the hills, which were dressed with the mattock,
Will no one go, for fear of briers and thorns;
But they shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.