King Ahaz of Judah is afraid of Syria and Israel. Isaiah tells him to trust God and ask for a sign. When Ahaz refuses, Isaiah says the Lord himself will give one: a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
1 And it 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 toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
2 And it was told the house of David , saying , Syria is confederate with Ephraim . And his heart was moved , and the heart of his people , as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind .
3 Then said the LORD unto Isaiah , Go forth now to meet Ahaz , thou, and Shearjashub thy son , at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field ;
4 And say unto him, Take heed , and be quiet ; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands , for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria , and of the son of Remaliah .
5 Because Syria , Ephraim , and the son of Remaliah , have taken evil counsel against thee, saying ,
6 Let us go up against Judah , and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal :
7 Thus saith the Lord GOD , It shall not stand , neither shall it come to pass.
8 For the head of Syria is Damascus , and the head of Damascus is Rezin ; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken , that it be not a people .
9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria , and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son . If ye will not believe , surely ye shall not be established .
10 Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz , saying ,
11 Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God ; ask it either in the depth , or in the height above .
12 But Ahaz said , I will not ask , neither will I tempt the LORD .
13 And he said , Hear ye now, O house of David ; Is it a small thing for you to weary men , but will ye weary my God also?
14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign ; Behold, a virgin shall conceive , and bear a son , and shall call his name Immanuel .
15 Butter and honey shall he eat , that he may know to refuse the evil , and choose the good .
16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil , and choose the good , the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings .
17 The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people , and upon thy father's house , days that have not come , from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah ; even the king of Assyria .
18 And it shall come to pass in that day , that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt , and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria .
19 And they shall come , and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys , and in the holes of the rocks , and upon all thorns , and upon all bushes .
20 In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired , namely, by them beyond the river , by the king of Assyria , the head , and the hair of the feet : and it shall also consume the beard .
21 And it shall come to pass in that day , that a man shall nourish a young cow , and two sheep ;
22 And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter : for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land .
23 And it shall come to pass in that day , that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings , it shall even be for briers and thorns .
24 With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns .
25 And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock , there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns : but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen , and for the treading of lesser cattle .