The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 During the time that Ahaz son of Jothan, son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel attacked Jerusalem, but the attack sputtered out.
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And 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 Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
2 When the Davidic government learned that Aram had joined forces with Ephraim (that is, Israel), Ahaz and his people were badly shaken. They shook like trees in the wind.
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And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.
3 Then God told Isaiah, "Go and meet Ahaz. Take your son Shear-jashub (A-Remnant-Will-Return) with you. Meet him south of the city at the end of the aqueduct where it empties into the upper pool on the road to the public laundry.
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Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field;
4 Tell him, Listen, calm down. Don't be afraid. And don't panic over these two burnt-out cases, Rezin of Aram and the son of Remaliah. They talk big but there's nothing to them.
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And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
5 Aram, along with Ephraim's son of Remaliah, have plotted to do you harm. They've conspired against you, saying,
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Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying,
6 'Let's go to war against Judah, dismember it, take it for ourselves, and set the son of Tabeel up as a puppet king over it.'
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Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal:
7 But God, the Master, says, "It won't happen. Nothing will come of it
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Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
8 Because the capital of Aram is Damascus and the king of Damascus is a mere man, Rezin. As for Ephraim, in sixty-five years it will be rubble, nothing left of it.
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For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.
9 The capital of Ephraim is Samaria, and the king of Samaria is the mere son of Remaliah. If you don't take your stand in faith, you won't have a leg to stand on."
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And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.
10 God spoke again to Ahaz. This time he said,
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Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying,
11 "Ask for a sign from your God. Ask anything. Be extravagant. Ask for the moon!"
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Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.
12 But Ahaz said, "I'd never do that. I'd never make demands like that on God!"
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But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.
13 So Isaiah told him, "Then listen to this, government of David! It's bad enough that you make people tired with your pious, timid hypocrisies, but now you're making God tired.
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And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?
14 So the Master is going to give you a sign anyway. Watch for this: A girl who is presently a virgin will get pregnant. She'll bear a son and name him Immanuel (God-With-Us).
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Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
15 By the time the child is twelve years old, able to make moral decisions,
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Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
16 the threat of war will be over. Relax, those two kings that have you so worried will be out of the picture.
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For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.
17 But also be warned: God will bring on you and your people and your government a judgment worse than anything since the time the kingdom split, when Ephraim left Judah. The king of Assyria is coming!"
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The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.
18 That's when God will whistle for the flies at the headwaters of Egypt's Nile, and whistle for the bees in the land of Assyria.
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And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
19 They'll come and infest every nook and cranny of this country. There'll be no getting away from them.
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And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.
20 And that's when the Master will take the razor rented from across the Euphrates - the king of Assyria no less! - and shave the hair off your heads and genitals, leaving you shamed, exposed, and denuded. He'll shave off your beards while he's at it.
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In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.
21 It will be a time when survivors will count themselves lucky to have a cow and a couple of sheep.
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And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;
22 At least they'll have plenty of milk! Whoever's left in the land will learn to make do with the simplest foods - curds, say, and honey.
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And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.
23 But that's not the end of it. This country that used to be covered with fine vineyards - thousands of them, worth millions! - will revert to a weed patch.
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And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns.
24 Weeds and thorn bushes everywhere! Good for nothing except, perhaps, hunting rabbits.
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With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns.
25 Cattle and sheep will forage as best they can in the fields of weeds - but there won't be a trace of all those fertile and well-tended gardens and fields.
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And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The King James Version is in the public domain.