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1 And it came to pass in the days of Achaz the son of Joatham, the son of Ozias, king of Juda, there came up Rasin king of Aram, and Phakee son of Romelias, king of Israel, against Jerusalem to war against it, but they could not *take it. 2 And a message was brought to the house of David, saying, Aram has conspired with Ephraim. And his soul was amazed, and the soul of his people, as in a wood a tree is moved by the wind. 3 And the Lord said to Esaias, Go forth to meet Achaz, thou, and thy son Jasub who is left, to the pool of the upper way of the fuller's field. 4 And thou shalt say to him, Take care to be quiet, and fear not, neither let thy soul be disheartened because of these two smoking firebrands: for when my fierce anger is over, I will heal again. 5 And as for the son of Aram, and the son of Romelias, forasmuch as they have devised an evil counsel, saying, 6 We will go up against Judea, and having conferred with them we will turn them away to our side, and we will make the son of Tabeel king of it; 7 thus saith the Lord of hosts, This counsel shall not abide, nor come to pass. 8 But the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus, Rasim; and yet within sixty and five years the kingdom of Ephraim shall cease from being a people. 9 And the head of Ephraim is Somoron, and the head of Somoron the son of Romelias: but †if ye believe not, neither will ye at all understand.
10 And the Lord again spoke to Achaz, saying, 11 Ask for thyself a sign of the Lord thy God, in the depth or in the height. 12 And Achaz 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 little thing for you to contend with men? and how do ye contend against the Lord? 14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; ✡ behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel. 15 Butter and honey shall he eat, before he knows either to prefer evil, or choose the good. 16 For before the child shall know good or evil, he refuses evil, to choose the good; and the land shall be forsaken which thou art afraid of because of the two kings.
17 But God shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon the house of thy father, days which have never come, from the day that Ephraim took away from Juda the king of the Assyrians. 18 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss for the flies, ‡which insect shall rule over a part of the river of Egypt, and for the bee which is in the land of the Assyrians. 19 And they all shall enter into the clefts of the land, and into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves, and into every ravine. 20 In that day the Lord shall shave with the hired razor of the king of Assyria beyond the river the head, and the hairs of the feet, and will remove the beard. 21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall rear a heifer, and two sheep. 22 And it shall come to pass from their §drinking an abundance of milk, that every one that is left on the land shall eat butter and honey.
23 And it shall come to pass in that day, for every place where there shall be a thousand vines at a thousand shekels, they shall become **barren land and thorns. 24 Men shall enter thither with arrow and bow; for all the land shall be barren ground and thorns. 25 And every mountain shall be certainly ploughed: there shall no fear come thither: for there shall be from among the barren ground and thorns that whereon cattle shall feed and oxen shall tread.
* 7:1 Lit. besiege See Heb. † 7:9 Comp. Heb. ✡ 7:14 Mat. 1. 23. ‡ 7:18 Or, which part of the enemy, etc. shall rule over the river of Egypt; but according to Alex. the reading in the text is the right one. § 7:22 Alex. ποιεῖν, 'giving.' ** 7:23 Gr. for land and for a thorn.