1 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 toward Jerusalem to war
against it, but could not prevail against it.
2 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 wood are moved with the wind.
3 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 highway of the fuller's field;
4 And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither
be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands,
for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of
Remaliah.
5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken
evil counsel against thee, saying,
6 Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a
breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even
the son of Tabeal:
7 Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall
it come to pass.
8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus
is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim
be broken, that it be not a people.
9 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.
10 Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying,
11 Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the
depth, or in the height above.
12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.
13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small
thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?
14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold,
a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his
name Immanuel.
15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse
the evil, and choose the good.
16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose
the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of
both her kings.
17 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.
18 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.
19 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 bushes.
20 In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is
hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria,
the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume
the beard.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish
a young cow, and two sheep;
22 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 land.
23 And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall
be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings,
it shall even be for briers and thorns.
24 With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because
all the land shall become briers and thorns.
25 And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there
shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it
shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading
of lesser cattle.
Chapter 8
1 Moreover the
LORD said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with
a man's pen concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
2 And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the
priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.
3 And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare
a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
4 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 taken away before the king of Assyria.
5 The LORD spake also unto me again, saying,
6 Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that
go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son;
7 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:
8 And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go
over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out
of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
9 Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken
in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves,
and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall
be broken in pieces.
10 Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak
the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.
11 For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed
me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,
12 Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people
shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be
afraid.
13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear,
and let him be your dread.
14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling
and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for
a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken,
and be snared, and be taken.
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
17 And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from
the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are
for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts,
which dwelleth in mount Zion.
19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have
familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter:
should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the
dead?
20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according
to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry:
and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they
shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and
look upward.
22 And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and
darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.
Chapter 9
1 Nevertheless
the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at
the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land
of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by
the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.
2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:
they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them
hath the light shined.
3 Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy:
they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as
men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4 For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff
of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of
Midian.
5 For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and
garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and
fuel of fire.
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be
no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order
it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from
henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will
perform this.
8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon
Israel.
9 And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant
of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
10 The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones:
the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
11 Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin
against him, and join his enemies together;
12 The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they
shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger
is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
13 For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither
do they seek the LORD of hosts.
14 Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail,
branch and rush, in one day.
15 The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet
that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they
that are led of them are destroyed.
17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men,
neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for
every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh
folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand
is stretched out still.
18 For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers
and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest,
and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.
19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened,
and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall
spare his brother.
20 And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and
he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied:
they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:
21 Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together
shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned
away, but his hand is stretched out still. |