1In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war against it. But they could not win against it.
2The house of David was told, "Syria has joined with Ephraim." Then the heart of Ahaz shook, and the hearts of his people shook, as the trees of the forest shake in the wind.
3Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shearjashub. Meet him at the end of the channel of the upper pool, on the road to the washer's field."
4"Say to him, 'Be careful, and be calm. Do not be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoking stumps of firewood, because of the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah."
5"'Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have made an evil plan against you. They have said,"
6"'Let us go up against Judah and trouble it. Let us break our way into it, and set up a king inside it, the son of Tabeal.'"
7"This is what the Lord GOD says: 'It will not stand, and it will not happen."
8"'For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken to pieces, so that it is no longer a people."
9"'And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If you will not believe, surely you will not stand firm.'"
10The LORD spoke to Ahaz again, saying,
11"Ask a sign from the LORD your God. Ask it either in the depths below or in the heights above."
12But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test."
13And he said, "Listen now, house of David. Is it a small thing for you to wear out people? Will you wear out my God also?"
14"So the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, a virgin will be with child and will bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel."
15"He will eat butter and honey, so that he may know how to refuse the evil and choose the good."
16"For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land you hate will be left empty by both her kings."
17"The LORD will bring on you, and on your people, and on your father's house days such as have not come since the day Ephraim broke away from Judah. He will bring the king of Assyria."
18In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is in the farthest streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
19They will come, and all of them will settle in the deserted valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and on all the thorn bushes, and on all the pastures.
20In that same day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired from beyond the River, that is, with the king of Assyria. He will shave the head and the hair of the legs, and it will take away the beard as well.
21In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep.
22They will give so much milk that he will eat butter. For everyone left in the land will eat butter and honey.
23In that day every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand pieces of silver will be given over to briers and thorns.
24Men will come there with arrows and with bows, because all the land will become briers and thorns.
25And on all the hills that were once dug with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briers and thorns. They will be a place to let out oxen, and for sheep to walk on.