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the reign of Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, waged war against Jerusalem, but they could not conquer it.
2 When the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the hearts of his people trembled like trees of the forest shaking before the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you, and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field.
4 “Say to him: ‘Take heed and be quiet. Do not be afraid or fainthearted because of these two smouldering stubs of firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Ramaliah.
5 “Because Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying, 6 “Let’s go up against Judah and terrorize it, and conquer it for ourselves. Then we can set a king over it, the son of Tabeel” ’.”
7 Yet this is what the Lord God says:
“It will not take place,
it will not happen,
8 for the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is only Rezin.
Within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is only the son of Remaliah.
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
you will not stand at all.”
10 Again the Lord said to Ahaz, 11 “Ask for a sign from the Lord your God; let it be as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven.”
12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, neither will I put the Lord to the test.”
13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear then, O house of David! Does it mean little, that you test the patience of men? Will you also test the patience of my God also?
14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive
and give birth to a Son,
and call His name Immanuel.
15 “He will eat curds and honey
when He knows enough
to reject evil and choose good.
16 But before the boy will know
to refuse the evil and choose the good,
the land of the two kings you dread
will be abandoned.
17 “The Lord will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, for the king of Assyria will come.
18 “On that day
the Lord will whistle for the fly
that is at the most farthest streams of the rivers of Egypt,
and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
19They will all come and settle
in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks,
in all the thornbushes, and at all the water holes.
20 “On that day
the Lord will use a razor
hired from beyond the River—
the king of Assyria—
to shave the head, the hair on the legs,
and to take off the beard as well.
21 “On that day
a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep;
22then from the abundant milk they give he will eat curds.
For everyone who is left in the land
will eat curds and honey.
23 “On that day
every place where there used to be a thousand vines,
worth a thousand shekels of silver,
there will only be briers and thorns.
24Men will go there with bow and arrow,
for all the land will be covered with briers and thorns.
25 “As for all the hills
that used to be cultivated with a hoe,
you will not go there
for fear of briers and thorns;
but they will become places
for oxen to graze over,
and for sheep to trample.