Yeshayah 7

1. And it came to pass in the yamim of Achaz ben Yotam ben Uziyahu, Melech Yehudah, that Retzin Melech Aram (Syria), and Pekach ben Remalyahu Melech Yisroel, went up toward Yerushalayim to war against her, but could not prevail over her.

2. And it was told the Bais Dovid, saying, Aram (Syria) is allied with Ephrayim. And his lev was shaken, and the lev of his people, like the trees of the forest are shaken with the wind.

3. Then said Hashem unto Yeshayah, Go forth now to meet Achaz, thou, and Shearyashuv (A Remnant Will Return) thy ben, at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool on the road to the Fuller’s Field;

4. And say unto him, Take heed, and stay calm; fear not, neither be fainthearted because of the two stubs of these smoking firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Retzin and Aram (Syria), and of the ben Remalyahu;

5. Or because Aram (Syria), Ephrayim, and ben Remalyahu, have plotted your ruin, saying,

6. Let us go up against Yehudah, and trouble it, and let us divide it for ourselves, and set a melech in the midst of it, even ben Tav’el;

7. Thus saith Adonoi Hashem, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.

8. For the rosh of Aram (Syria) is Damascus, and the rosh of Damascus is Retzin; and within threescore and five shanah shall Ephrayim be broken, that it be not a people.

9. And the rosh of Ephrayim is Shomron, and the rosh of Shomron is ben Remalyahu. If ye will not stand in emunah, then you shall not stand at all.

10. Moreover, Hashem spoke again unto Achaz, saying,

11. Ask thee an ot (sign) of Hashem Eloheicha; ask it either in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.

12. But Achaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt Hashem.

13. And he (Yeshayah) said, Hear ye now, O Bais Dovid; Is it a small thing for you to weary anashim, but will ye weary my G-d also?

14. Therefore Hashem Himself shall give you an ot (sign); Hinei, HaAlmah (the unmarried young virgin) shall conceive, and bear Ben, and shall call Shmo Immanu El (G-d is with us) [See extensive commentary in The Translator To The Reader, page vii].

15. Curds and honey shall he eat at the time that he knows to refuse the rah, and choose the tov.

16. For before the na’ar (boy) shall understand to refuse the rah, and choose the tov, the adamah (land) will be desolate, of whose two melachim thou art afraid.

17. Hashem shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon the Bais of thy father, yamim such as have not come since the yom when Ephrayim departed from Yehudah [2Kgs 15:29; 16:9]: even Melech Ashur (Assyria).

18. And it shall come to pass in that yom, that Hashem shall whistle for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the Nile of Mitzrayim, and for the bee that is in Eretz Ashur.

19. And they shall come, and shall settle all of them on the steep ravines, and in the crevices of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all water holes.

20. In the same yom shall Adonoi shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the River, by Melech Ashur, the head, and the hair of the legs; and it shall also consume the beard.

21. And it shall come to pass in that yom, that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep;

22. And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of cholov that they shall give, he shall eat cream; for thickened milk and devash shall every one eat that is left in the land.

23. And it shall come to pass in that yom, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand gefen worth a thousand kesef, it shall even be for briers and thorns.

24. With arrows and with bows shall men come there; because kol ha’aretz shall become briers and thorns.

25. And on all hills that were hoed with a hoe, thou shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for pasturing of cattle, and for the treading place of seh.