1 It happened in the days of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, marched up to Jerusalem to make war on it, but they were not able to fight their way into it.
2 The house of David received word: "Syria has taken up position in Ephraim." Then his heart and the heart of his people trembled, the way the trees of the forest tremble in the wind.
3 The LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out now, you and your son Shear-jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the channel from the upper pool, by the road to the Washer's Field.
4 Tell him: 'Take care to stay calm. Do not be afraid, and do not lose heart over these two stubs of smoking firewood, over the burning anger of Rezin and Syria and of the son of Remaliah.
5 Syria, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted harm against you. They say,
6 "Let us march against Judah, terrify it and break through its walls for ourselves, and put the son of Tabeel on the throne there as king."
7 This is what the Lord GOD says: It will not stand; 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 too broken to be a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you will not believe, you will certainly not be established.'"
10 The LORD spoke to Ahaz once more:
11 "Ask for a sign from the LORD your God, whether deep down in Sheol or high up above."
12 Ahaz replied, "I will not ask; I will not test the LORD."
13 Then Isaiah said, "Listen now, house of David! Is it not enough for you to wear out people, that you wear out my God too?
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
15 Curds and honey will be his food when he knows how to reject what is evil and choose what is good.
16 Before the boy knows how to reject the evil and choose the good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned.
17 The LORD will bring on you, on your people and on your father's house days unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah: he will bring the king of Assyria."
18 On that day the LORD will whistle for the fly at the far end of the channels of Egypt and for the bee in the land of Assyria.
19 They will come and settle, every one of them, in the steep gorges and the cracks in the rocks, on all the thorn bushes and at all the watering holes.
20 On that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River, the king of Assyria, to shave the head and the hair of the legs, and it will take off the beard too.
21 On that day a man will keep alive one young cow and two sheep,
22 and they will give so much milk that he will eat curds; everyone left in the land will live on curds and honey.
23 On that day every place that once held a thousand vines worth a thousand silver pieces will be given over to thorns and briers.
24 Men will go there with bow and arrows, because the whole land will be thorns and briers.
25 And the hills once worked with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of the thorns and briers; they will become places where cattle are let loose and sheep trample.