ISAIAH’S CALL AND MISSION

6 In the year that King Uzziahk died, I saw the Lordl seated on a high and loftym throne,n and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 SeraphimA were standing above him; they each had six wings:o with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.p 3 And one called to another:

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies;

his gloryq fills the whole earth.r

4 The foundations of the doorways shooks at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.

5 Then I said:

Woe is met for I am ruinedB

because I am a man of unclean lips

and live among a people of unclean lips,u

and because my eyes have seen the King,

the Lord of Armies.

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altarv with tongs. 7 He touched my mouthw with it and said:

Now that this has touched your lips,

your iniquity is removed

and your sin is atoned for.x

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking:

Who will I send?

Who will go for us?

I said:

Here I am. Send me.

9 And he replied:

Go! Say to these people:

Keep listening, but do not understand;y

keep looking, but do not perceive.

10 Make the mindsC of these people dull;

deafen their ears and blind their eyes;

otherwise they might see with their eyes

and hear with their ears,

understand with their minds,

turn back, and be healed.z

11 Then I said, “Until when, Lord?”aa And he replied:

Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants,ab

houses are without people,

the land is ruined and desolate,

12 and the Lord drives the people far away,

leaving great emptiness in the land.

13 Though a tenth will remain in the land,

it will be burned again.

Like the terebinth or the oak

that leaves a stump when felled,

the holy seeda is the stump.b

THE MESSAGE TO AHAZ

7 This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah:c Aram’s King Rezin and Israel’s King Pekah son of Remaliah went to fight against Jerusalem,d but they were not able to conquer it.

2 When it became known to the house of Davide that Aram had occupied Ephraim,f the heart of AhazA and the hearts of his people trembled like trees of a forest shaking in the wind.

3 The Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashubB,g to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool,h by the road to the Launderer’s Field. 4 Say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Don’t be afraid or cowardlyi because of these two smoldering sticks, the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and the son of Remaliah. 5 For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted harm against you. They say, 6 ‘Let’s go up against Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it for ourselves. Then we can install Tabeel’s son as king in it.’ ”

7 This is what the Lord God says:

It will not happen; it will not occur.j

8 The chief city of Aram is Damascus,

the chief of Damascus is Rezin

(within sixty-five years

Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people),

9 the chief city of Ephraim is Samaria,

and the chief of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.

If you do not stand firm in your faith,

then you will not stand at all.

THE IMMANUEL PROPHECY

10 Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz: 11 “Ask for a signk from the Lord your God—it can be as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven.”

12 But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.”

13 Isaiahl said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God?m 14 Therefore, the Lord himself will give youC a sign: See, the virgin will conceive,D have a son, and name him Immanuel.E,n 15 By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good,o he will be eating curdsF and honey.p 16 For before the boy knows to reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned. 17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father’s house such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from Judah:q He will bring the king of Assyria.”r

18 On that days

the Lord will whistlet to flies

at the farthest streams of the Nile

and to bees in the land of Assyria.

19 All of them will come and settle

in the steep ravines, in the clefts of the rocks,u

in all the thornbushes, and in all the water holes.

20 On that day the Lord will use a razorv hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyriaw—to shave the hair on your heads, the hair on your legs, and even your beards.

21 On that day

a man will raise a young cow and two sheep,

22 and from the abundant milk they give

he will eat curds,

for every survivor in the land will eat curds and honey.x

23 And on that day

every place where there were a thousand vines,

worth a thousand pieces of silver,

will become thorns and briers.y

24 A man will go there with bow and arrows

because the whole land will be thorns and briers.

25 You will not go to all the hills

that were once tilled with a hoe,

for fear of the thorns and briers.

Those hills will be places for oxen to graze

and for sheep to trample.

THE COMING ASSYRIAN INVASION

8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large piece of parchmentA and write on it with an ordinary pen:B,a Maher-shalal-hash-baz.C 2 I have appointedD trustworthy witnesses—the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.”b

3 I was then intimate with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz, 4 for before the boy knows how to call ‘Father,’ or ‘Mother,’c the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off to the king of Assyria.”d

5 The Lord spoke to me again:

6 Because these people rejected

the slowly flowing water of Shiloah

and rejoiced withE Rezin

and the son of Remaliah,e

7 the Lord will certainly bring against them

the mighty rushing water of the Euphrates River—

the king of Assyria and all his glory.

It will overflow its channels

and spill over all its banks.

8 It will pour into Judah,

flood over it, and sweep through,

reaching up to the neck;f

and its flooded banksF

will fill your entire land, Immanuel!g

9 Band together,G peoples, and be broken;

pay attention, all you distant lands;

prepare for war, and be broken;

prepare for war, and be broken.

10 Devise a plan; it will fail.h

Make a prediction; it will not happen.

For God is with us.H,i

THE LORD OF ARMIES, THE ONLY REFUGE

11 For this is what the Lord said to me with great power, to keepI me from going the way of this people:j

12 Do not call everything a conspiracy

that these people say is a conspiracy.k

Do not fear what they fear;l

do not be terrified.

13 You are to regard only the Lord of Armies as holy.m

Only he should be feared;n

only he should be held in awe.

14 He will be a sanctuary;o

but for the two houses of Israel,

he will be a stonep to stumble over

and a rock to trip over,q

and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15 Many will stumble over these;r

they will fall and be broken;

they will be snared and captured.

16 Bind up the testimony.s

Seal up the instructiont among my disciples.

17 I will wait for the Lord,u

who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob.v

I will wait for him.

18 Here I am with the children the Lord has given mew to be signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Armies who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 When they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,”x shouldn’t a people inquire of their God?A Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?y 20 Go to God’s instruction and testimony!z If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.

21 They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22 They will look toward the earthaa and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.