A Message to Ahaz

1And it cometh to pass in the days of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, gone up hath Rezin king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, to Jerusalem, to battle against it, and he is not able to fight against it. 2And it is declared to the house of David, saying, ‘Aram hath been led towards Ephraim,’ And his heart and the heart of his people is moved, like the moving of trees of a forest by the presence of wind.

3And Jehovah saith unto Isaiah, ‘Go forth, I pray thee, to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-Jashub thy son, unto the end of the conduit of the upper pool, unto the highway of the fuller’s field, 4and thou hast said unto him: ‘Take heed, and be quiet, fear not, And let not thy heart be timid, Because of these two tails of smoking brands, For the fierceness of the anger of Rezin and Aram, And the son of Remaliah. 5Because that Aram counselled against thee evil, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying: 6We go up into Judah, and we vex it, And we rend it unto ourselves, And we cause a king to reign in its midst—The son of Tabeal. 7Thus said the Lord Jehovah: It doth not stand, nor shall it be! 8For the head of Aram [is] Damascus, And the head of Damascus [is] Rezin, And within sixty and five years Is Ephraim broken from [being] a people. 9And the head of Ephraim [is] Samaria, And the head of Samaria [is] the son of Remaliah. If ye do not give credence, Surely ye are not stedfast.’

The Sign of Immanuel

(Micah 5:1-6; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-7)

10And Jehovah addeth to speak unto Ahaz, saying: 11‘Ask for thee a sign from Jehovah thy God, Make deep the request, or make [it] high upwards.’ 12And Ahaz saith, ‘I do not ask nor try Jehovah.’ 13And he saith, ‘Hear, I pray you, O house of David, Is it a little thing for you to weary men, That ye weary also my God? 14Therefore the Lord Himself giveth to you a sign, Lo, the Virgin is conceiving, And is bringing forth a son, And hath called his name Immanuel, 15Butter and honey he doth eat, When he knoweth to refuse evil, and to fix on good. 16For before the youth doth know To refuse evil, and to fix on good, Forsaken is the land thou art vexed with, because of her two kings.

Judgment to Come

(Micah 1:1-7)

17Jehovah bringeth on thee, and on thy people, And on the house of thy father, Days that have not come, Even from the day of the turning aside of Ephraim from Judah, By the king of Asshur.

18And it hath come to pass, in that day, Jehovah doth hiss for a fly that [is] in the extremity of the brooks of Egypt, And for a bee that [is] in the land of Asshur. 19And they have come, and rested all of them in the desolate valleys, And in holes of the rocks, and on all the thorns, And on all the commendable things.

20In that day doth the Lord shave, By a razor that is hired beyond the river, By the king of Asshur, The head, and the hair of the feet, Yea, also the beard it consumeth.

21And it hath come to pass, in that day, A man keepeth alive a heifer of the herd, And two of the flock, 22And it hath come to pass, From the abundance of the yielding of milk he eateth butter, For butter and honey doth every one eat Who is left in the heart of the land.

23And it hath come to pass, in that day, Every place where there are a thousand vines, At a thousand silverlings, Is for briers and for thorns. 24With arrows and with bow he cometh thither, Because all the land is brier and thorn. 25And all the hills that with a mattock are kept in order, Thither cometh not the fear of brier and thorn, And it hath been for the sending forth of ox, And for the treading of sheep!’