Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz

1 In the days of ^mAhaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, ⁿRezin the king of Syria and ⁿPekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. 2 When the house of David was told, ^o“Syria is in league with^{1 p}Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz² and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

3 And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and ^qShear-jashub³ your son, at the end of ^rthe conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 4 And say to him, ^s‘Be careful, ^tbe quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two ^usmoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and ^vthe son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, with Ephraim and ^vthe son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it⁴ for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” 7 thus says the Lord God:

The Sign of Immanuel

10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask ^aa sign of the Lord your⁶ God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he⁷ said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you ^bweary my God also? 14 Therefore the ^cLord himself will give you a sign. ^dBehold, the ^evirgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name ^fImmanuel.⁸ 15 He shall eat ^gcurds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 ^hFor before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be ⁱdeserted. 17 ^jThe Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that ^kEphraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

18 In that day the Lord will ^lwhistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and ^min the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.⁹

20 In that day ⁿthe Lord will ^oshave with a razor that is ^phired beyond ^qthe River¹⁰—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.

21 ^rIn that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, 22 and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat ^scurds and honey.

23 In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels¹¹ of silver, will become ^tbriers and thorns. 24 ^uWith bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. 25 ^vAnd as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear ^tof briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

The Coming Assyrian Invasion

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet ^wand write on it in common characters,¹² ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’¹³ 2 And ^xI will get reliable witnesses, ^yUriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”

3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, ^z“Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 ^afor before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the ^awealth of ^bDamascus and the spoil of ^bSamaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

5 The Lord spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of ^cShiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over ^dRezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them ^ethe waters of ^fthe River,¹⁴ mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it ^gwill rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, ^hreaching even to the neck, and its ⁱoutspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, ^jO Immanuel.”

Fear God, Wait for the Lord

11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and ⁿwarned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call ^oconspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and ^pdo not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, ^qhim you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a ^rsanctuary and ^sa stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many ^tshall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

16 Bind up ^uthe testimony; ^vseal the teaching¹⁸ among my disciples. 17 I will ^wwait for the Lord, who is ^xhiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 ^yBehold, I and ^zthe children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the ^amediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of ^bthe dead on behalf of the living? 20 ^cTo the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no ^ddawn. 21 They will pass through the land,¹⁹ greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against²⁰ their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 ^eAnd they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into ^fthick darkness.

A Sign Against Egypt and Cush

1 In the year that ^lthe commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to ^mAshdod and fought against it and captured it— 2 at that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,” and he did so, walking ⁿnaked and barefoot.

3 Then the Lord said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years ^oas a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,¹ 4 so shall the ^pking of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. 5 ^qThen they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. 6 And the inhabitants of ^rthis coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and ^sto whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

1 ^dAs soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet ^eIsaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a ^fday of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; ^gchildren have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 ^hIt may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for ⁱthe remnant that is left.’”

5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, ^jI will put a spirit in him, so that ^khe shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and ^lI will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”

8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^mLibnah, for he had heard that the king had left ^mLachish. 9 Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of ⁿCush,¹ “He has set out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ^o‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 ^pHave the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, ^qGozan, ^rHaran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 ^pWhere is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer for Deliverance

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, ^senthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; ^tyou have made the heavens and the earth. 17 ^uIncline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear ^vall the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O Lord, ^wthe kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

Sennacherib’s Fall

21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

30 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah ^gshall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 ^hFor out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. ⁱThe zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

33 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or ^jcast up a siege mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 35 ^kFor I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for ^lthe sake of my servant David.”

36 ^mAnd the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at ⁿNineveh. 38 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of ^oArarat, ^pEsarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery

1 ^qIn those days Hezekiah became ^rsick and was at the point of death. And ^sIsaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.”³ 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 and said, “Please, O Lord, remember how ^tI have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add ^ufifteen years to your life.⁴ 6 ^vI will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.

7 “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised: 8 ^wBehold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.⁵

9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

21 ^rNow Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.” 22 Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”

Envoys from Babylon

1 ^sAt that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, ^tsent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, ^uthe silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. ^vThere was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: 6 ^wBehold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. 7 ^xAnd some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, ^y“There will be peace and security in my days.”