The Hebrew Prophets

Then sayd I, Lord, howe long? And he answered, Vntill the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be vtterly desolate,

And the Lord haue remoued men farre away, and there be a great desolation in the mids of the land.

But yet in it shalbe a tenth, and shall returne, and shalbe eaten vp as an elme or an oke, which haue a substance in them, when they cast their leaues: so the holy seede shall be the substance thereof.

And in the dayes of Ahaz, the sonne of Iotham, the sonne of Vzziah king of Iudah, Rezin the King of Aram came vp, and Pekah the sonne of Remaliah King of Israel, to Ierusalem to fight against it, but he could not ouercome it.

And it was tolde the house of Dauid, saying, Aram is ioyned with Ephraim: therefore his heart was moued, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest are moued by the winde.

Then sayde the Lord vnto Isaiah, Goe foorth nowe to meete Ahaz (thou and Sheariashub thy sonne) at the ende of the conduit of the vpper poole, in the path of the fullers fielde,

And say vnto him, Take heede, and be still: feare not, neither be faint hearted for the two tailes of these smoking firebrands, for the furious wrath of Rezin and of Aram, and of Remaliahs sonne:

Because Aram hath taken wicked counsell against thee, and Ephraim, and Remaliahs sonne, saying,

Let vs goe vp against Iudah, and let vs waken them vp, and make a breach therein for vs, and set a King in the mids thereof, euen the sonne of Tabeal.

Thus sayth the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall it be.

For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin: and within fiue and threescore yeere, Ephraim shalbe destroyed from being a people.

And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliahs sonne. If ye beleeue not, surely ye shall not be established.

And the Lord spake againe vnto Ahaz, saying,

Aske a signe for thee of the Lord thy God: aske it, either in the depth beneath or in the height aboue.

But Ahaz sayd, I wil not aske, neither will I tempt the Lord.

Then he sayd, Heare you nowe, O house of Dauid, Is it a small thing for you to grieue men, that ye will also grieue my God?

Therefore the Lord himselfe will giue you a signe. Beholde, the virgine shall conceiue and beare a sonne, and she shall call his name Immanu-el.

Butter and hony shall he eate, till he haue knowledge to refuse the euill, and to chuse the good.

For afore the childe shall haue knowledge to eschew the euill, and to chuse the good, the land, that thou abhorrest, shalbe forsaken of both her Kings.

The Lord shall bring vpon thee, and vpon thy people, and vpon thy fathers house (the dayes that haue not come from the day that Ephraim departed from Iudah) euen the King of Asshur.

And in that day shall the Lord hisse for the flie that is at the vttermost part of the floods of Egypt, and for the bee which is in the lande of Asshur,

And they shall come and shall light all in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rockes, and vpon all thorny places, and vpon all bushy places.

In that day shall the Lord shaue with a rasor that is hired, euen by them beyond the Riuer, by the King of Asshur, the head and the heare of the feete, and it shall consume the beard.

And in the same day shall a man nourish a yong kow, and two sheepe.

And for the abundance of milke, that they shall giue, hee shall eate butter: for butter and hony shall euery one eate, which is left within the land.