Today's Reading

¹It happened 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 to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.

²It was told the house of David, saying, "Syria is allied with Ephraim." His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.

³Then the Lord 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.

⁴Tell him, 'Be careful, and keep calm. Do not be afraid, neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.

⁵Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have plotted evil against you, saying,

⁶"Let's go up against Judah, and tear it apart, and let's divide it among ourselves, and set up a king in its midst, even the son of Tabeel."

⁷This is what the Lord God says: "It shall not stand, neither shall it happen."

⁸For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people;

⁹and 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.'"

¹⁰The Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying,

¹¹"Ask a sign of the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above."

¹²But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord."

¹³He 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?

¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

¹⁵He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

¹⁶For before the child knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken.

¹⁷The Lord 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.

¹⁸It will happen in that day that the Lord 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.

¹⁹They shall come, and shall all rest in the desolate valleys, in the clefts of the rocks, on all thorn hedges, and on all pastures.

²⁰In 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.

²¹It shall happen in that day that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep;

²²and 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 in the midst of the land.

²³It will happen in that day that every place where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver shekels, shall be for briers and thorns.

²⁴People will go there with arrows and with bow, because all the land will be briers and thorns.

²⁵All 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 forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep."

¹The Lord said to me, "Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man's pen, 'For Maher Shalal Hash Baz;'

²and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah."

³I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then said the Lord to me, "Call his name 'Maher Shalal Hash Baz.'

⁴For before the child knows how to say, 'My father,' and, 'My mother,' the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria."

⁵The Lord spoke to me yet again, saying,

⁶"Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son;

⁷now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks.

⁸It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through; it will reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel.

⁹Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered! Dress for battle, and be shattered!

¹⁰Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand: for God is with us."

¹¹For the Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

¹²"Do not say, 'A conspiracy!' concerning all about which this people say, 'A conspiracy!' neither fear their threats, nor be in dread.

¹³The Lord of hosts is who you must regard as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread.

¹⁴And he will be a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock that makes them fall to both the houses of Israel, for a trap and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁵Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured."

¹⁶Wrap up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples.

¹⁷I will wait for the Lord, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

¹⁸Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion.

¹⁹When they tell you, "Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:" shouldn't a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

²⁰Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.

²¹They will pass through it, sore distressed and hungry; and it will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God. They will turn their faces upward,

²²and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.

¹But there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

²The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in the land of the shadow of death, on them the light has shined.

³You have multiplied the nation. You have increased their joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

⁴For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midian.

⁵For all the armor of the armed man in the noisy battle, and the garments rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.

⁶For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on the throne of David, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

⁸The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it falls on Israel.

⁹All the people will know, including Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart,

¹⁰"The bricks have fallen, but we will build with cut stone. The sycamore fig trees have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place."

¹¹Therefore the Lord will set up on high against him the adversaries of Rezin, and will stir up his enemies,

¹²The Syrians in front, and the Philistines behind; and they will devour Israel with open mouth. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

¹³Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them, neither have they sought the Lord of hosts.

¹⁴Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed, in one day.

¹⁵The elder and the honorable man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail.

¹⁶For those who lead this people lead them astray; and those who are led by them are destroyed.

¹⁷Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is profane and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

¹⁸For wickedness burns like a fire. It devours the briers and thorns; yes, it kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.

¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts, the land is burnt up; and the people are the fuel for the fire. No one spares his brother.

²⁰One will devour on the right hand, and be hungry; and he will eat on the left hand, and they will not be satisfied. Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm:

²¹Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus:

²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ;

⁴even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without blemish before him in love;

⁵having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,

⁶to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved One,

⁷in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

⁸which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,

⁹making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him

¹⁰to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, in him;

¹¹in whom also we were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his will;

¹²to the end that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ:

¹³in whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation,-in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

¹⁴who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory.

¹⁵For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which you have toward all the saints,

¹⁶do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers,

¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;

¹⁸having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

¹⁹and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might

²⁰which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,

²¹far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.

²²He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the church,

²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

¹Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

²He who walks in his uprightness fears the Lord, but he who is perverse in his ways despises him.

³The fool's talk brings a rod to his back, but the lips of the wise protect them.

⁴Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox.

⁵A truthful witness will not lie, but a false witness pours out lies.

⁶A scoffer seeks wisdom, and doesn't find it, but knowledge comes easily to a discerning person.

⁷Stay away from a foolish man, for you won't find knowledge on his lips.

⁸The wisdom of the prudent is to think about his way, but the folly of fools is deceit.

⁹Fools mock at making atonement for sins, but among the upright there is good will.

¹⁰The heart knows its own bitterness and joy; he will not share these with a stranger.

¹¹The house of the wicked will be overthrown, but the tent of the upright will flourish.

¹²There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

¹³Even in laughter the heart may be sorrowful, and mirth may end in heaviness.

¹⁴The unfaithful will be repaid for his own ways; likewise a good man will be rewarded for his ways.

¹⁵A simple man believes everything, but the prudent man carefully considers his ways.

¹⁶A wise man fears, and shuns evil, but the fool is hotheaded and reckless.

¹⁷He who is quick to become angry will commit folly, and a crafty man is hated.

¹⁸The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

¹⁹The evil bow down before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

²⁰The poor person is shunned even by his own neighbor, but the rich person has many friends.

²¹He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who has pity on the poor.

²²Do they not go astray who plot evil? But love and faithfulness belong to those who plan good.

²³In all hard work there is profit, but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty.

²⁴The crown of the wise is their riches, but the folly of fools crowns them with folly.

²⁵A truthful witness saves souls, but a false witness is deceitful.

²⁶In the fear of the Lord is a secure fortress, and he will be a refuge for his children.

²⁷The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning people from the snares of death.

²⁸In the multitude of people is the king's glory, but in the lack of people is the destruction of the prince.

²⁹He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly.

³⁰The life of the body is a heart at peace, but envy rots the bones.

³¹He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him.

³²The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge.

³³Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding, and is even made known in the inward part of fools.

³⁴Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

³⁵The king's favor is toward a servant who deals wisely, but his wrath is toward one who causes shame.