VII. 1 And it came to pass the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uaziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but succeeded not in warring against it.

2 And it was told the house of David, saying, Aram rested

7. ’is taken away,’ or, ‘shall shall pass away.’8 fin. Pronoun ‘me’ not emphatic.9. Or, ‘hear ye (and similarly, see ye) still, continually’: verb of each phrase repeated in infinitive.2. ‘rested upon,’ i.e. perhaps, ‘settled,’ ‘encamped’: or the phrase be used of close alliance.

upon Ephraim. And his heart was shaken, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are shaken with the wind.

3 And the LORD said unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub 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 faint-hearted for these two tails of smoking firebrands. for the fierce anger of Rezin with Aram, and of the son of Remaliah.

5 Because Aram hath taken evil counsel against thee, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying,

6 Let us go up against Judah, and terrify it, and let us take it by storm for ourselves, and set up 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 Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and ﬁve years Vshall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.

9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the-head of Samaria is ’s son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.

10 And the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying,

11 Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God: ask, going deep or mounting high.

4. ‘Take heed...’ Cheyne renders, ‘Look that thou keep ut sileas, Vulg.8. ‘that it be not ...’ Lit. ‘from (i.e. from being) a people.’9. ‘believe, be ’ The same Heb. verb in different voices or aspects: almost ‘if ye will not endure, ye shall not be enduring.’11. Or, ‘make thy petition deep, or make it high.’ Many (Lowth, Ewald, Delitzsch, Cheyne &c.) incline to read, ‘Deepen it (thy to Sheol, or raise it to the ’ This according to most comm. requires different vowel points from Heb. text.

12 And Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.

13 And he said, Hear ye now, house of David; is its too little for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?

14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, the is with child, and beareth a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

15 Butter and honey shall he eat, as he leameth to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

16 For before the child learn to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land shall be forsaken, whose two kings thou fearest.

17 The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy ’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; the king of Assyria.

18 And it shall be in that. day, that the LORD shall hiss to the ﬂy that is at the end of the rivers of Egypt, and to the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

19 And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the precipitous valleys, and in the crevices of the rocks, and upon all thorn bushes, and upon all pastures.

14. ‘shall call.’ Heb. has here a form resembling pers.15. ‘as he learneth,’ or, ‘when he knoweth...’; less probably. may know...’16 Lit. ‘forsaken shall be the land, as to which thou fearest, before the face of her two kings ’ (Kay).18 ‘rivers’: perhaps ‘Nile-arms’ or ‘canals’: plur. of word used only of the Nile.19. ‘pastures.’ Some render, ‘bushes.’

20 In that day shall the LORD shave with the razor that is hired, (which is) beyond the river, the king of Assyria; the head, and. the hair of the feet, and the beard also shall it sweep away.