Commentary on Isaiah - Volume 2

1It came to pass, in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up against Jerusalem, to besiege it, but could not overcome it.

2And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is allied with Ephraim; and his heart was moved, as when the trees of the forest are moved by the wind.

3Then said Jehovah to Isaiah, Go out to meet Ahaz, thou and Shearjashub, thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, at the road of the fullers field.

4And thou shalt say to him:
Take heed, and be quiet;
Fear not, and let not thy heart be soft,
For the two tails of those smoking firebrands,
For the fierceness of the anger of Rezin the Syrian,
And of the son of Remaliah.

5Because the Syrian hath taken wicked counsel against thee
With Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, saying:

6Let us go up against Judah, and harass it,
And let us open it for us;
And let us appoint a king in the midst of it,
The son of Tabeal.

7Thus hath the Lord Jehovah said,
It shall not stand, and shall not be,

8For the head of Syria is Damascus,
And the head of Damascus is Rezin;
And within sixty-five years shall be broken
Ephraim, that it be not a people.

9Yet the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
And the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If ye do not believe,
Surely ye shall not stand.

10And Jehovah added to speak to Ahaz, saying:

11Ask thee a sign from Jehovah thy God,
By asking in the deep,
Or in the height above.

12And Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord.

13And he said,
Hear now, O house of David!
Is it a small thing for you to weary men,
If ye do not also weary my God?

14Therefore will the Lord himself give you a sign:
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
And shall call his name Immanuel.

15Butter and honey shall he eat,
Till he know to refuse the evil,
And to choose the good.

16And before the child shall know
To refuse the evil and choose the good,
Forsaken shall be the land which thou hatest
By both her kings.

17Jehovah will bring upon thee,
And on thy people, and on thy fathers house,
Days which have not come
Since the day of the revolt of Ephraim from Judah,
The king of Assyria.

18It shall be in that day, Jehovah shall hiss
For the fly, which is in the extremity of the rivers of Egypt,
And for the bee which is in the land of Assyria.

19And they shall all of them come and rest
In the desolate valleys, and in the caverns of the rocks,
And on all thorns, and on all bushes.

20In that day shall Jehovah shave with a hired razor,
By those who are beyond the river, by the king of Assyria,
The head and the hair of the feet;
And shall also take away the beard.

21And it shall be in that day, that a man shall nourish
A young cow and two sheep.

22And it shall come to pass,
That, on account of the abundance of milk which they shall yield,
He shall eat butter.
Yea, butter and honey shall every one eat
That shall be left in the midst of the land.

23It shall also be in that day,
That, wherever there are a thousand vines,
They shall be sold for a thousand pieces of silver,
On account of thorns and briers.

24With arrows and bow shall they come thither,
Because thorns and briers shall be throughout all the land.

25And on all the mountains which are dug with the hoe
Thither shall not come the dread of thorns and briers;
But they shall be laid out for pasture to the cattle,
And shall be trodden by the flocks.