The crisis Created by the menace to Judah in 735 B.C.

The prophet’s word to the terrified king

7 In the days Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, Rezin King of Aram, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, King of Israel, marched against Jerusalem to attack it, but they were unable to develop an actual assault upon it.

2 When news reached the Court that the Aramean army was on Ephraimite soil, the heart of Ahaz and his people shook like forest-trees before the 3 wind. Then the Lord said to Isaiah, ‘Go out – you and your son Shear-yashub – to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the 4 Fuller’s Field Road, and say to him: be careful to keep calm. Be not faint-hearted or afraid of this pair of fire-brands that are nothing but smoking stumps. Be not afraid of the fierce anger of Rezin 5 and Aram and the son of Remaliah. Aram and Ephraim with the son of Remaliah have indeed 6 plotted your ruin: their purpose is to invade Judah, and, after reducing her straits, to break into (Jerusalem); then, having overpowered her, they intend to set the son of Tabeel on the throne.

7 But thus says the Lord the God:

’This thing will not succeed,

8 for the head of Aram is Damascus,

and the head of Damascus is Rezin;

9 the head of Ephraim is Samaria,

and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.

Your faith must firmly hold,

if you would yourselves be held.’’

The great refusal and the sign

10 Once more I addressed Ahaz thus, ‘Ask the Lord 11 your God for a sign – ask it (if you like) either from the depths of the underworld or from the heights above.’ 12 ‘No,’ replied Ahaz, ‘I will not ask for one. That would be equivalent to submitting the Lord to a test.’ 13 Then I said, ‘Hear then, you household of David. Is not enough for you to weary mortal men that you must weary my God as well? 14 you will have a sign therefore from the Lord himself. Behold!

A maid is with child, she will bring forth a son,

and will call his name Immanuel.

15 Honey and curd he will eat,

when he knows how to choose what is good,

and to shun what is evil.

16 For ere the child will know

how to choose what is good

and to shun what is evil,

that land will be deserted

whose two kings you so dreaded.

Judah will also be ravaged

17 The Lord will bring upon you your people

and on your father’s house

such days as have never yet been,

since Ephraim departed from Judah.

18 That day it will come to pass

that the Lord will whistle for the flies and the bees.

19 They will come every one, and then down they

will settle

in the steep-walled ravines and in clefts of the rocks,

and on all thorn-hedges and places of pasture.

20 That day will the Lord shave bare

with a razor that is hired

in the land beyond the River

both the head and hidden hair;

and the beard too will be snipped.

21 And in that day will a man

keep but two sheep and a cow;

22 yet the plenteous yield of milk

will supply him fare of curd.

For the fare of every man

who is left upon the land

will be nothing but curd and honey.

23 And in that day every spot

where were once a thousand vines,

worth a thousand silver pieces,

will with thorns and briers be covered.

24 With bow and with arrow will men come thither,

for all the land will be thorns and briers.

25 Fear of thorns and briers will hold men afar

from the hills that used to be hoed with the hoe.

There cattle will wander and sheep will tread.

The fall of Damascus and Samaria

8 The Lord said to me, ‘Take a large tablet, and write upon it in the common script ’Speed-spoil 2 Hurry-prey;’ and take (two) reliable witnesses, 3 Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.’ Then after the prophetess, through my approach to her, had conceived and borne a son, the Lord said to me, ‘Call his name Speed-spoil Hurry-prey.

4 For ere the child will know

how to cry ’My father! My mother!’

The wealth of Damascus, the spoil of Samaria,

will be carried away to the king of Assyria.’

The invasion of Judah

5 Once more I had a message from the Lord – it was this:

6 ‘Because this people has spurned

the gentle stream of Shiloah,

and melt with fear of Rezin

and the son of Remaliah,

7 therefore, behold, the Lord

will speedily bring upon them

the waters of the Euphrates,

the great and mighty river.

It will rise above all its channels,

and overflow all its banks.

8 On it will sweep over Judah,

an overflowing flood

that will reach as high as the neck.’

But (the Lord’s) outstretched wings

will cover the breadth of the land;

for with us is God.

The futility of opposition to Judah

9 you may storm as you will, you nations,

you will be shattered.

All you far-distant lands

of the earth, attend.

You may gird yourselves for the fray,

but you all will be shattered.

10 You may forge your plans as you will,

they will all be confounded.

Be your resolves what they will,

they will not be accomplished;

for with us is God.

None is to be feared but the Lord

11 These were the Lord’s words to me, as he grasped me with his hand and warned me not to walk in the ways of the people:

12 ‘Call you not all a conspiracy

that this people calls conspiracy.

Share not their fears and their dreads.

13 But the Lord of Hosts – it is he

you should count as the great conspirator.

Let him be your fear and your dread.

14 A stone and a rock he will prove, whereon

both houses of Israel will strike and stumble –

a trap and a snare to the folk of Jerusalem.

15 Many among them will stumble and fall,

will be broken and snared and taken.

Isaiah’s patient hope

16 I will seal my teaching and fasten my message 17 in (the heart of) my disciples. I will patiently wait for the Lord who hides his face from the 18 household of Israel; I will set my hope in him. I myself and the children the Lord has given me are in Israel as signs and symbols from the Lord of Hosts whose home is on Mount Zion.

The awful plight of unbelieving Judah

19 When they tell you have recourse to ghosts and familiar spirits that chirp and mutter, ask them if a nation should not rather have recourse to its God. Why should they consult the dead on behalf 20 of the living? Assuredly they will (one day) clamour for the teaching and the message, when there is no daybreak for them any more.

21 They will range through the land sore pressed and hungry,

and hunger will curse their king and their God.

22 They will lift up their eyes to the heavens above,

they will look to the earth beneath;

but they will see nothing but distress and anguish,

and thick impenetrable gloom.

The great deliverance and the glorious king

9 In the former time he brought the territory of Zebulon and Naphtali into contempt, but in the latter time has he covered with glory the ground held by the nations beyond the Jordan on the way to the sea.

2 The people who walked in darkness

have seen a glorious light:

those who dwelt in the land of gloom –

on them the light has shone.

3 you have multiplied their gladness

and given them great joy:

the joy they made in your presence

was like the joy of harvest;

their gladness was like the gladness

of men who divide the spoil.

4 For the yoke that pressed so heavy,

and the bar upon their shoulders,

and the rod of their taskmasters,

you have broken as on Midian’s day.

5 Every boot of thundering warrior,

every war-cloak drenched with blood,

is destined for the burning,

will be fuel for the fire.

6 For to us a child is born,

unto us a son is given,

on whose shoulder is dominion;

and this is the name he bears –

‘Counsellor most wonderful,

god with the warrior might,

father everlasting,

prince of the reign of peace.’

7 Great is the dominion

and endless is the peace,

upon the throne of David,

and over all his realm:

to establish and uphold it

in the righteousness and justice

from henceforth and for ever.

The zeal of the Lord of Hosts

will bring this thing to pass.