Isaiah 7 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 It was during the reign of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin, king of Aram, marched to attack Jerusalem. Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, joined in the attack, but they couldn't conquer the city.
1 In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
2 When the royal family of Judah was told, “Aram and Ephraim have an alliance,” Ahaz and his people were terrified and they shook like trees in the forest tossed about by the wind.
2 David’s house was told, “Syria is allied with Ephraim.” His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.
3 Then the Lord told Isaiah, “Take your son Shear-jashub with you and go and meet Ahaz. He'll be at the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool, by the road to the laundry field.
3 Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller’s field.
4 Tell him, ‘Calm down and keep quiet. Don't be afraid or scared over a couple of smoldering bits of firewood, over the burning anger of Rezin and Aram, and of Remaliah's son.
4 Tell him, ‘Be careful, and keep calm. Don’t be afraid, neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking torches, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
5 Aram has plotted to destroy you together with Ephraim and Remaliah's son saying,
5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have plotted evil against you, saying,
6 Let's go and attack Judah! We'll terrorize it and conquer it for ourselves, and make Tabeel's son its king.’”
6 “Let’s go up against Judah, and tear it apart, and let’s divide it among ourselves, and set up a king within it, even the son of Tabeel.”
7 But this is what the Lord God says, “This plan won't materialize—it just won't happen!
7 This is what the Lord Yahweh says: “It shall not stand, neither shall it happen.”
8 For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. In addition, within sixty-five years Israel as a nation will be destroyed.
8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people.
9 The head of Israel is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If you don't trust in me, then you won't survive.”
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.’”
10 Later the Lord sent another message to Ahaz,
10 Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying,
11 “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether as deep as where people are buried or as high as heaven.”
11 “Ask a sign of Yahweh your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.”
12 “No, I'm not going to ask,” Ahaz replied. “I refuse to put the Lord to the test.”
12 But Ahaz said, “I won’t ask. I won’t tempt Yahweh.”
13 Then Isaiah said, “Listen, royal family of Judah! Isn't it enough for you to wear people out? Do you have to wear my God out too?
13 He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also?
14◆ This is why the Lord himself is going to give you a sign. Look! The virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and she will call him Immanuel.
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
15 He will eat curds and honey until the time he knows to refuse evil and choose the good.
15 He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil and choose the good.
16 For before the boy knows to refuse evil and choose the good, the land of the two kings you're afraid of will be deserted.
16 For before the child knows to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken.
17 The Lord will make you, your people, and the royal family experience a time unlike anything since the day Ephraim split from Judah. He will bring the king of Assyria to attack you!”
17 Yahweh will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, even the king of Assyria.
18 At that time the Lord will whistle to call flies from the distant rivers of Egypt and bees from the country of Assyria.
18 It will happen in that day that Yahweh will whistle 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 will all come and descend on the steep valleys and rock crevices, on all the thorn bushes and waterholes.
19 They shall come, and shall all rest in the desolate valleys, in the clefts of the rocks, on all thorn hedges, and on all pastures.
20 At that time the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River, the king of Assyria, to shave you from head to toe, including your beards.
20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.
21 At that time someone who manages to keep a young cow and two sheep alive
21 It shall happen in that day that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep.
22 will eat curds, because they produce so much milk—for everyone who survives in the land will eat curds and honey.
22 It shall happen, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter, for everyone will eat butter and honey that is left within the land.
23 At that time everywhere that once had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels will only have brambles and thorns.
23 It will happen in that day that every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, will be for briers and thorns.
24 People will go hunting there with bows and arrows because the land will be covered with brambles and thorns.
24 People will go there with arrows and with bow, because all the land will be briers and thorns.
25 In fact, all the hills that were once tilled by the hoe you won't want to go to because you'll worry about the brambles and thorns there. They'll just be where cattle are let loose and where sheep roam.
25 All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending out of oxen, and for sheep to tread on.”
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Ahaz
A faithless king who courted Assyria and even sacrificed his own son.
Cited in the guide: 2 Kings 16; 2 Chron. 28; Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:9
Shear-jashub
Isaiah's son whom the LORD told him to bring to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct.
Cited in the guide: Isaiah 7:3
Cross references (24)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 2 Kings 15:37; 2 Kings 16:1; Isaiah 7:4–9; Isaiah 8:6; Psalm 83:3–5
- 2 Isaiah 8:12; Isaiah 7:13; Isaiah 9:9; Proverbs 28:1; 2 Kings 7:6–7
- 3 2 Kings 18:17; Isaiah 36:2; Romans 9:27; Isaiah 6:13; Isaiah 10:21
- 4 Isaiah 35:4; Lamentations 3:26; Deuteronomy 20:3; Matthew 24:6; Isaiah 30:15
- 5 Psalm 83:3–4; Zechariah 1:15; Psalm 2:2; Nahum 1:11
- 7 Isaiah 8:10; Lamentations 3:37; Isaiah 46:10–11; Psalm 33:11; Proverbs 21:30
- 8 Isaiah 17:1–3; Genesis 14:15; 2 Samuel 8:6; Hosea 1:6–10; 2 Kings 17:5–23
- 9 Hebrews 11:6; Romans 11:20; 2 Chronicles 20:20; 1 John 5:10; Acts 27:25
- 10 Isaiah 8:5; Isaiah 1:5; Isaiah 10:20; Hosea 13:2; Isaiah 1:13
- 11 Isaiah 37:30; Isaiah 38:7–8; 2 Kings 19:29; Judges 6:36–40; Isaiah 38:22
- 12 2 Kings 16:15; Acts 5:9; Ezekiel 33:31; Malachi 3:15; Deuteronomy 6:16
- 13 Isaiah 43:24; Malachi 2:17; Hebrews 3:10; Jeremiah 6:11; Isaiah 63:10
- 14 Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 9:6; Luke 1:31; John 1:1–2; John 1:14
- 15 Isaiah 7:22; Amos 5:15; Philippians 1:9–10; Matthew 3:4; Romans 12:9
- 16 Isaiah 8:4; Deuteronomy 1:39; 2 Kings 16:9; Hosea 5:9; Amos 1:3–5
- 17 Isaiah 8:7–8; Isaiah 10:5–6; Isaiah 36:1–22; 2 Chronicles 33:11; 2 Chronicles 32:1–33
- 18 Isaiah 5:26; Deuteronomy 1:44; Isaiah 31:1; Deuteronomy 7:20; Joshua 24:12
- 19 Isaiah 2:19; Jeremiah 16:16; Isaiah 2:21; Micah 7:17; 2 Chronicles 33:11
- 20 Isaiah 8:7; Ezekiel 29:18; Ezekiel 5:1–4; Isaiah 10:15; Jeremiah 27:6–7
- 21 Isaiah 5:17; Jeremiah 39:10; Isaiah 17:2; Isaiah 37:30; Isaiah 7:25
- 22 Isaiah 7:15; Matthew 3:4; 2 Samuel 17:29
- 23 Isaiah 5:6; Song of Songs 8:11–12; Matthew 21:33; Hebrews 6:8; Jeremiah 4:26
- 24 Genesis 27:3
- 25 Isaiah 13:20–22; Isaiah 17:2; Isaiah 5:17; Isaiah 7:21–22; Zephaniah 2:6
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
Why does my Bible say something different?
- Isaiah 7:14: “a virgin” or “the young woman”?
The Hebrew text of Isaiah 7:14 says ha-almah, “the young woman.” The Greek Septuagint, translated by Jews before the time of Christ, says hē parthenos, “the virgin,” and St Matthew quotes that Greek wording (Matthew 1:23). The Orthodox Church reads the Septuagint here, as the Apostles did. The faith in the virgin birth does not rest on one Hebrew word, but the word still deserves an honest look.
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
And hear again how Isaiah in express words foretold that He should be born of a virgin; for he spoke thus: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bring forth a son, and they shall say for His name, God with us.' " For things which were incredible and seemed impossible with men, these God predicted by the Spirit of prophecy …
5. And when He says, "Hear, O house of David," He performed the part of one indicating that He whom God promised David that He would raise up from the fruit of his belly (ventris) an eternal King, is the same who was born of the Virgin, herself of the lineage of David.
For so had the prophet foretold: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which, being interpreted, is, God with us." He did many miracles that He might commend God in Himself, some of which, even as many as seemed sufficient to proclaim Him, are contained in the …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
For he doth not merely say, "Behold, the Virgin shall be with child," but having first said, "Behold, the Lord Himself shall give you a sign," then he subjoins, "Behold, the Virgin shall be with child." Whereas, if she that was to give birth was not a virgin, but this happened in the way of marriage, what sort of sign …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
the virgin shall conceive in her womb, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)