[1] And though there be only a tenth part in it, even that
shall be again consumed; yet as a teil-tree, and as an oak,
whose stocks [stumps] remain to them, when they are felled,
so the holy seed shall be the stock [stump]
thereof.--_Strachey._
_PART II._
CONSOLATION OF IMMANUEL IN THE MIDST OF THE
ASSYRIAN OPPRESSIONS.--CHAPS. VII.-XII.
_Divine Sign of the Virgin's Wondrous Son._--CHAP. VII.
1. It came to pass, in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of
Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aramæa, and Pekah the
son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war
against it, and (he) could not make war upon it. 2. And it was told
the house of David, Aram has settled down upon Ephraim: then his
heart shook, and the heart of the people, as trees of the wood shake
before the wind.
3. Then said Jehovah to Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and
Shear-jashub thy son, to the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool,
to the road of the fuller's field; 4. and say unto him, Take heed,
and keep quiet; and let not thy heart become soft from these two
smoking firebrand stumps! at the fierce anger of Rezin, and Aram, and
the son of Remaliah. 5. Because Aram hath determined evil over thee,
Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying, 6. We will march against
Judah, and terrify it, and conquer it for ourselves, and make the son
of Tabeal king in the midst of it: 7. thus saith the Lord Jehovah, It
will not be brought about, and will not take place. 8. For head of
Aram is Damascus, and head of Damascus Rezin, and in five-and-sixty
years will Ephraim as a people be broken to pieces. 9. And head of
Ephraim is Samaria, and head of Samaria the son of Remaliah; if ye
believe not, surely ye will not remain.
10. And Jehovah continued speaking to Ahaz as follows: 11. Ask thee a
sign of Jehovah thy God, going deep down into Hades, or high up to
the height above. 12. But Ahaz replied, I dare not ask, and dare not
tempt Jehovah. 13. And he spake, Hear ye now, O house of David! Is it
too little to you to weary men, that ye weary my God also?
14. Therefore the Lord, He will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin
conceives, and bears a son, and calls his name Immanuel. 15. Butter
and honey will he eat, at the time that he knows to refuse the evil
and choose the good. 16. For before the boy shall understand to
refuse the evil and choose the good, the land will be desolate, of
whose two kings thou art afraid.
17. Jehovah will bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy
father's house, days such as have not come since the day when Ephraim
broke away from Judah--the king of Asshur. 18. And it comes to pass
in that day, Jehovah will hiss for the fly which is at the end of the
Nile-arms of Egypt, and the bees that are in the land of Asshur;
19. and they come and settle all of them in the valleys of the
slopes, and in the clefts of the rocks, and in all the thorn-hedges,
and upon all grass-plats. 20. In that day will the Lord shave with a
razor, the thing for hire on the shore of the river, with the king of
Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet: and even the beard it
will take away. 21. And it will come to pass in that day, that a man
will keep a small cow and a couple of sheep; 22. and it comes to
pass, for the abundance of the milk they will give he will eat cream:
for butter and honey will every one eat that is left within the land.
23. And it will come to pass in that day, every place where a
thousand vines stood at a thousand silverlings will have become
thorns and thistles. 24. With arrows and with bows will men go, for
the whole land will have become thorns and thistles. 25. And all the
hills that were accustomed to be hoed with the hoe, thou wilt not go
to them for fear of thorns and thistles; and it has become a
gathering-place for oxen, and a treading-place for sheep.