Isaiah 7

Chapter context

What is happening in Isaiah 7?

holinessjudgmentremnantmessiah

Isaiah 7 belongs to the early movement of the book, especially the section often described as oracles of judgment and holiness. Isaiah is one of Scripture’s grandest prophetic books, moving from holy judgment to consolation, servant imagery, and new-creation hope. Read this chapter with the wider themes of holiness, judgment, and remnant in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ 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 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 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 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 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, ⁶ 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 Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. ⁸ 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 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 Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, ¹¹ 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 will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD. ¹³ 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 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 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. ¹⁶ 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 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 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 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 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 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep; ²² 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 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 With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns. ²⁵ 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.

Study helps

Glossary

Jerusalem Place v. 1, 6: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Jerusalem.
Pekah Person v. 1: Open-eyed, the son of Remaliah a captain in the army of Pekahiah, king of Israel, whom he slew, with the aid of a band of Gileadites, and succeeded (B. C. 758) on the throne ( 2 Kings 15:25 ).
Remaliah Person v. 1, 4-5: Adorned by the Lord, the father of Pekah, who conspired successfully against Pekahiah ( 2 Kings 15:25 , 27, 30, 32, 37; Isa. 7:1 , 4, 5, 9; 8:6).
Rezin Person v. 1, 4, 8: Firm; a prince, a king of Syria, who joined Pekah (q. v. ) in an invasion of the kingdom of Judah ( 2 Kings 15:37 ; 16:5-9 ; Isa. 7:1-8 ). Ahaz induced Tiglath-pileser III.
Syria Place v. 1-2, 4-5, 8: Biblical region. Modern identification: Damascus.
David Person v. 2, 13: Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam. 17:25 .
Isaiah Person v. 3: (Heb. Yesh’yahu, i. e., “the salvation of Jehovah”). (1. ) The son of Amoz ( Isa. 1:1 ; 2:1 ), who was apparently a man of humble rank.
Upper Pool Place v. 3: Biblical pool. Modern identification: Jerusalem.
Washer’s Field Place v. 3: Biblical field. Modern identification: Bir Ayub.
Tabeal Person v. 6: Goodness of God, the father of one whom the kings of Syria and Samaria in vain attempted to place on the throne of Ahaz ( Isa. 7:6 ).
Damascus Place v. 8: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Damascus.
Samaria Place v. 9: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Samaria.
Assyria Place v. 17-18, 20: Biblical region. Modern identification: Nineveh.
Egypt Place v. 18: The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. Modern identification: Ain Shams.
Nile Place v. 18: Biblical river. Modern identification: Nile River.
Euphrates Place v. 20: Biblical river. Modern identification: Euphrates River.