Isaiah 7
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.
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Isaiah 7: TEG
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.
Isaiah 7
7
The Syro-Ephraimite War#7:1–8:18] These verses (often termed Isaiah’s “Memoirs”) contain a series of oracles and narratives (some in first person), all closely related to the Syro-Ephraimite war of 735–732 B.C. Several passages feature three children whose symbolic names refer to the Lord’s purposes: Shear-jashub (7:3), Emmanuel (7:10–17; 8:8–10), and Maher-shalal-hash-baz (8:1–4). Judah and its Davidic dynasty should trust God’s promises and not fear the combined armies of Israel and Syria; within a very short time these two enemy states will be destroyed, and David’s dynasty will continue.
Crisis in Judah. 1In the days of Ahaz,#Days of Ahaz: who ruled from 735 to 715 B.C. This attack against Jerusalem by the kings of Aram (Syria) and Israel in 735 B.C. was occasioned by the refusal of Ahaz to enter with them into an anti-Assyrian alliance; cf. 2 Kgs 16. king of Judah, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, king of Israel, son of Remaliah, went up to attack Jerusalem, but they were not able to conquer it.#2 Kgs 16:5; 2 Chr 28:5–15. 2When word came to the house of David that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, the heart of the king and heart of the people trembled, as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind.
3Then the Lord said to Isaiah: Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub,#Shear-jashub: this name means “a remnant will return” (cf. 10:20–22). at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the fuller’s field, 4and say to him: Take care you remain calm and do not fear; do not let your courage fail before these two stumps of smoldering brands,#Is 8:12; 30:15. the blazing anger of Rezin and the Arameans and of the son of Remaliah— 5because Aram, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has planned#Planned: the plans of those who plot against Ahaz shall not be accomplished (v. 7). What the Lord plans will unfailingly come to pass, whereas human plans contrary to those of the Lord are doomed to frustration; cf. 8:10; 14:24–27; 19:11–14; 29:15; 30:1. See further the note on 14:24–27. evil against you. They say, 6“Let us go up against Judah, tear it apart, make it our own by force, and appoint the son of Tabeel#Son of Tabeel: a puppet of Jerusalem’s enemies. His appointment would interrupt the lawful succession from David. king there.”
7Thus says the Lord God:
It shall not stand, it shall not be!#Is 8:10; Ps 33:10.
8#God had chosen and made a commitment to David’s dynasty and his capital city Jerusalem, not to Rezin and his capital Damascus, nor to the son of Remaliah and his capital Samaria (2 Sm 7:12–16; Ps 2:6; 78:68–72; 132:11–18). Within sixty-five years…nation: this text occurs at the end of v. 8 in the Hebrew. Ahaz would not have been reassured by so distant a promise; the phrase is probably a later addition. The head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin;
9The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
Within sixty-five years,
Ephraim shall be crushed, no longer a nation.
Unless your faith is firm,
you shall not be firm!#2 Chr 20:20.
Emmanuel. 10Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as Sheol, or high as the sky!#Deep…sky: an extraordinary or miraculous sign that would prove God’s firm will to save the royal house of David from its oppressors. 12But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!”#Tempt the Lord: Ahaz prefers to depend upon the might of Assyria rather than the might of God. 13Then he said: Listen, house of David! Is it not enough that you weary human beings? Must you also weary my God? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign;#Isaiah’s sign seeks to reassure Ahaz that he need not fear the invading armies of Syria and Israel in the light of God’s promise to David (2 Sm 7:12–16). The oracle follows a traditional announcement formula by which the birth and sometimes naming of a child is promised to particular individuals (Gn 16:11; Jgs 13:3). The young woman: Hebrew ‘almah designates a young woman of marriageable age without specific reference to virginity. The Septuagint translated the Hebrew term as parthenos, which normally does mean virgin, and this translation underlies Mt 1:23. Emmanuel: the name means “with us is God.” Since for the Christian the incarnation is the ultimate expression of God’s willingness to “be with us,” it is understandable that this text was interpreted to refer to the birth of Christ. the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel. 15Curds and honey#Curds and honey: the only diet available to those who are left after the devastation of the land; cf. vv. 21–25. he will eat so that he may learn to reject evil and choose good; 16for before the child learns to reject evil and choose good, the land of those two kings whom you dread shall be deserted.
17The Lord shall bring upon you and your people and your father’s house such days as have not come since Ephraim seceded#Such days as have not come since Ephraim seceded: the days of the kingdom prior to the secession of Ephraim and the other northern tribes (1 Kgs 12). The king of Assyria: the final comment appears to be a later editorial gloss indicating days worse than any since the secession. from Judah (the king of Assyria). 18On that day
The Lord shall whistle
for the fly in the farthest streams of Egypt,
and for the bee in the land of Assyria.#Is 5:26.
19All of them shall come and settle
in the steep ravines and in the rocky clefts,
on all thornbushes and in all pastures.
20#God will use the Assyrians from across the River (the Euphrates) as his instrument (“razor”) to inflict disgrace and suffering upon his people. Ahaz paid tribute to the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III, who decimated Syria and Israel in his campaigns of 734–732 B.C. (cf. 2 Kgs 16:7–9). The feet: euphemism for sexual parts; cf. Is 6:2. On that day the Lord shall shave with the razor hired from across the River (the king of Assyria) the head, and the hair of the feet; it shall also shave off the beard.#Is 3:24; 2 Sm 10:4–6; Ez 5:1.
21On that day a man shall keep alive a young cow or a couple of sheep, 22and from their abundant yield of milk he shall eat curds; curds and honey shall be the food of all who are left in the land. 23#Cf. note on 5:5–6. On that day every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand pieces of silver shall become briers and thorns. 24One shall have to go there with bow and arrows, for all the country shall be briers and thorns.#Is 32:13. 25But as for all the hills which were hoed with a mattock, for fear of briers and thorns you will not go there; they shall become a place for cattle to roam and sheep to trample.#Is 5:5; 32:14.
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