New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel went up to attack Jerusalem, but could not mount an attack against it.
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Now it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin, the king of Aram, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but were not able to overcome it.
2 When the house of David heard that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
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And word came to the family of David that Aram had put up its tents in Ephraim. And the king's heart, and the hearts of his people, were moved, like the trees of the wood shaking in the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller's Field,
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Then the Lord said to Isaiah, Go out now, you and Shear-jashub, your son, and you will come across Ahaz at the end of the stream flowing from the higher pool, in the highway of the washerman's field;
4 and say to him, Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.
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And say to him, Take care and be quiet; have no fear, and do not let your heart be feeble, because of these two ends of smoking fire-wood, because of the bitter wrath of Rezin and Aram, and of the son of Remaliah.
5 Because Aram—with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah—has plotted evil against you, saying,
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Because Aram has made evil designs against you, saying,
6 Let us go up against Judah and cut off Jerusalem and conquer it for ourselves and make the son of Tabeel king in it;
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Let us go up against Judah, troubling her, and forcing our way into her, and let us put up a king in her, even the son of Tabeel:
7 therefore thus says the Lord God: It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.
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This is the word of the Lord God: This design will not come about or be effected.
8 For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. (Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered, no longer a people.)
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For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin (and in sixty-five years from now Ephraim will be broken, and will no longer be a people):
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all.
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And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If you will not have faith, your kingdom will be broken.
10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying,
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And Isaiah said again to Ahaz,
11 Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.
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Make a request to the Lord your God for a sign, a sign in the deep places of the underworld, or in the high heavens.
12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.
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But Ahaz said, I will not put the Lord to the test by making such a request.
13 Then Isaiah said: "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also?
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And he said, Give ear now, O family of David: is it not enough that you are driving men to disgust? will you do the same to my God?
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.
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For this cause the Lord himself will give you a sign; a young woman is now with child, and she will give birth to a son, and she will give him the name Immanuel.
15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
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Butter and honey will be his food, when he is old enough to make a decision between evil and good.
16 For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.
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For before the child is old enough to make a decision between evil and good, the land whose two kings you are now fearing will have become waste.
17 The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on your ancestral house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria."
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The Lord is about to send on you, and on your people, and on your father's house, such a time of trouble as there has not been from the days of the separating of Ephraim from Judah; even the coming of the king of Assyria.
18 On that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the sources of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
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And it will be in that day that the Lord will make a piping sound for the fly which is in the end of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee which is in the land of Assyria.
19 And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.
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And they will come, covering all the waste valleys, and the holes of the rocks, and the thorns, and all the watering-places.
20 On that day the Lord will shave with a razor hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will take off the beard as well.
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In that day will the Lord take away the hair of the head and of the feet, as well as the hair of the face, with a blade got for a price from the other side of the River; even with the king of Assyria.
21 On that day one will keep alive a young cow and two sheep,
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And it will be in that day that a man will give food to a young cow and two sheep;
22 and will eat curds because of the abundance of milk that they give; for everyone that is left in the land shall eat curds and honey.
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And they will give so much milk that he will be able to have butter for his food: for butter and honey will be the food of all who are still living in the land.
23 On that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns.
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And it will be in that day that in every place where before there were a thousand vines valued at a thousand shekels of silver, there will be nothing but blackberries and thorns.
24 With bow and arrows one will go there, for all the land will be briers and thorns;
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Men will come there with bows and arrows, because all the land will be full of blackberries and thorns.
25 and as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not go there for fear of briers and thorns; but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.
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And they will send out the oxen and the sheep on all the hills which before were worked with the spade, ... fear of blackberries and thorns.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.