A Message to Ahaz

1AND it came to pass in the days of Achaz the son of Joathan, the son of Ozias, king of Juda, that Basin king of Syria, and Phacee the son of Romelia king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem, to fight against it: but they could not prevail over it. 2And they told the house of David, saying: Syria hath rested upon Ephraim, and his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind.

3And the Lord said to Isaias: Go forth to meet Achaz, thou and Jasub thy son that is left, to the conduit of the upper pool, in the way of the fuller's field. 4And thou shalt say to him: See thou be quiet: fear not, and let not thy heart be afraid of the two tails of these fire brands, smoking with the wrath of the fury of Rasin king of Syria, end of the son of Romelia. 5Because Syria hath taken counsel against thee, unto the evil of Ephraim and the son of Romelia, saying: 6Let us go up to Juda, and rouse it up, and draw it away to us, and make the son of Tabeel king in the midst thereof. 7Thus saith the Lord God: It shall not stand, and this shall not be. 8But the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Basin: and within threescore and five years, Ephraim shall cease to be a people: 9And the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria the son of Romelia. If you will not believe, you shall not continue.

The Sign of Immanuel

(Micah 5:1-6; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-7)

10And the Lord spoke again to Achaz, saying: 11Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God either unto the depth of hell, or unto the height above. 12And Achaz said: I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord. 13And he said: Hear ye therefore, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to be grievous to men, that you are grievous to my God also? 14Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel. 15He shall eat butter and honey, that he may know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good. 16For before the child know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good, the land which thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of the face of her two kings.

Judgment to Come

(Micah 1:1-7)

17The Lord shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon the house of thy father, days that have not come since the time of the separation of Ephraim from Juda with the king of the Assyrians.

18And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly, that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19And they shall come, and shall all of them rest in the torrents of the valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all places set with shrubs, and in all hollow places.

20In that day the Lord shall shave with a razor that is hired by them that are beyond the river, by the king of the Assyrians, the head and the hairs of the feet, and the whole beard.

21And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep. 22And for the abundance of milk he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that shall be left in the midst of the land.

23And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place where there were a thousand vines, at a thousand pieces of silver, shall become thorns and briers. 24With arrows and with bows they shall go in thither: for briars and thorns shall be in all the land. 25And as for all the hills that shall be raked with a rake, the fear of thorns and briers shall not come thither, but they shall be for the ox to feed on, and the lesser cattle to tread upon.