Ésaïe 7

Two charred ends of firewood

¹In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war on it, but they were not able to take it. ²Word came to the house of David: “Aram has camped in Ephraim.” Then the king’s heart and the hearts of his people shook, like the trees of a forest swaying in the wind. ³The LORD said to Isaiah, “Take your son Shear-jashub and go out to meet Ahaz at the end of the water channel from the Upper Pool, on the road to the Fuller’s Field, ⁴and say to him, ‘Watch yourself and keep still. Have no fear. Do not let your courage fail because of these two charred ends of firewood, still smoking: the hot anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. ⁵Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted harm against you. They say, ⁶“Let us march against Judah and fill it with dread. Let us break through its walls and take it for ourselves, and put a king in it: the son of Tabeel.”

⁷So the Lord GOD says this: \q “It will not stand. It will not come about. ⁸For Aram’s head is Damascus, and Damascus’s head is Rezin. \q Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken apart and cease to be a people. ⁹Ephraim’s head is Samaria, and Samaria’s head is the son of Remaliah. \q If you do not hold firm in trust, you will not be held firm.”’”^a

A sign for Ahaz

¹⁰The LORD spoke to Ahaz once more: ¹¹“Ask the LORD your God for a sign. Let your request reach down to the depths or up to the heights above.”^{b 12}Ahaz replied, “I will make no request, and I will not test the LORD.” ¹³Then Isaiah said, “Listen, house of David! Is wearing people out such a small thing to you that you now wear out my God as well? ¹⁴Because of this, the Lord himself will give all of you a sign: see, the young woman is pregnant; she will give birth to a son and call him by the name Immanuel.^{cd 15}Curds and honey will be his food by the time he can turn away from what is bad and choose what is good. ¹⁶Even before the boy is able to turn from what is bad and choose what is good, the land of those two kings who frighten you will be abandoned. ¹⁷The LORD will bring days on you, on your people, and on your royal house that have not been seen since Ephraim split off from Judah: the king of Assyria!

The fly and the bee

¹⁸On that day the LORD will whistle for the fly from the farthest streams of Egypt and for the bee in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹They will all swarm in and settle in the gorges under the cliffs and in the cracks of the rocks, on every thorny shrub and at every place where the flocks drink. ²⁰On that day the Lord will shave with a hired razor from beyond the Euphrates, the king of Assyria. He will shave the head and the hair of the body, and it will strip away the beard as well.

²¹On that day someone will keep a heifer and two sheep alive. ²²They will give so much milk that he will have curds to eat; indeed, curds and honey will be the food of all who are left in the land. ²³On that day every vineyard of a thousand vines, worth a thousand pieces of silver, will be overrun by thorns and briers. ²⁴Anyone who goes there will carry a bow and arrows, for thorns and briers will cover the whole land. ²⁵As for the hills that used to be worked with the hoe, you will not go to them for fear of the thorns and briers. Oxen will be let out to graze there, and sheep will trample the ground.”^e