Isaiah 7-12
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 7[a]
The Coming of Immanuel.[b] 1 During the period when Ahaz, the son of Jotham and the grandson of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel, the son of Remaliah, went forth to conquer Jerusalem, but they were unable to mount an attack against it. 2 When the house of David was informed that Aram had pitched camp in Ephraim, the heart of King Ahaz and the hearts of his people began to tremble just as trees of the forest shake in the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah: Go forth with your son Shear-jashub[c] to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the road to the Fuller’s Field, 4 and say to him, Pay close attention to me. Remain calm and be unafraid. Do not let your courage fail because of these two smoldering stumps of firewood. Do not yield to the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah, 5 or become fearful because Aram, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have been plotting against you and saying, 6 “Let us go forth and attack Judah. Let us tear it apart, force it to surrender to us, and appoint the son of Tabeel[d] there as king.”
7 Therefore, thus says the Lord God:
This will not happen,
either now or ever.
8 For the head of Aram is Damascus
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
9 Within sixty-five years
Ephraim will no longer be a people.
If you do not stand firm in your faith
you will not stand firm at all.
10 [e]Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying:
11 Ask the Lord, your God for a sign;
let it be as deep as the netherworld
or as high as the heavens.
12 But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 Then Isaiah said:
Listen, O house of David!
Are you not satisfied to try the patience of men?
Must you also try the patience of my God?
14 Therefore, you will be given this sign
by the Lord himself:
The virgin will be with child,
and she will give birth to a son,
and she will name him Immanuel.
15 He will feed on curds and honey
by the time he learns to reject the bad
and choose the good.
16 Before that child has learned
to reject the bad and choose the good,
deserted will be the lands
of those two kings whom you dread.
17 The Lord will inflict on you,
and on your people and your father’s house,
days far worse than any that have been seen
since Ephraim[f] broke away from Judah—
you will become subjects of the king of Assyria.
18 When that day arrives,
the Lord will summon flies from the distant streams of Egypt
and bees from the land of Assyria.
19 They will all come forth and settle
in the steep ravines and in the clefts of the rocks,
on all the thornbushes and in all the pastures.
20 On that day the Lord will shave
with a razor hired from across the river[g]
(with the king of Assyria)
the head and the hair between the legs
as well as the beard.
21 When that day comes,
each man will keep a young cow and two sheep,
22 and because of the abundant milk they give
he will subsist on curds.
For all those who are left in the land
will eat curds and honey.
23 On that day,
wherever there used to be a thousand vines
worth a thousand pieces of silver,
that area will then be covered
with brambles and thornbushes.
24 Men will go there with bows and arrows,
for the entire country will be covered
by briers and thorns.
25 For fear of briers and thorns
you will not venture upon any hills
that used to be hoed with a hoe.
They will become a place for cattle to graze
and where sheep may tread.
Chapter 8
Isaiah’s Son.[h] 1 The Lord said to me: Take a large scroll and write on it in ordinary letters: “Maher-shalal-hash-baz.” 2 I had it attested for me by reliable witnesses, Uriah, the priest, and Zechariah, son of Jeberechiah.
3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. The Lord said to me: Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz, 4 for, before the child knows how to say “father” or “mother,” the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.
5 [i]Once again the Lord spoke to me and said:
6 Because this people has rejected
the waters of Shiloah that flow gently
and trembled in fear
before Rezin and the son of Remaliah,
7 the Lord will therefore raise against it
the mighty flood waters of the river
(the king of Assyria and all his glory).
The river will rise above all its channels
and overflow all its banks;
8 it will sweep on into Judah like a flood
reaching up to the neck,
and its wings, spreading out,
will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel.
9 Realize this, you peoples, and be afraid.
Listen, all you far-distant nations.
Arm yourselves, but be frightened;
arm yourselves, but be frightened.
10 No matter what plans you devise,
they will come to naught,
for God is with us.
11 Isaiah’s Followers. This is what the Lord said to me when he held me firmly with his hand and warned me not to follow the ways of this people:
12 [j]Do not call conspiracy what this people calls conspiracy,
and do not fear what they fear
or stand in awe of them.
13 The Lord is the one whom you should proclaim holy;
he must be the object of your fear and awe.
14 He will become a snare, an obstacle,
a rock over which the two houses of Israel[k] will stumble,
a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 And many of them will stumble;
they will fall and be broken;
they will be snared and taken captive.
16 Bind up the testimony and seal the teaching
so that my disciples can keep it in their hearts.
17 I will wait eagerly for the Lord
who has hidden his face from the house of Jacob;
I will place my hope in him.
18 I stand here with the children
whom the Lord has given me
to be signs and portents in Israel
sent by the Lord of hosts
who dwells on Mount Zion.
19 People may say to you,
“Seek guidance from ghosts and mediums
who whisper and mutter.
Should not a people consult its gods
and the dead on behalf of the living
20 while seeking instruction or a message?”
Those who offer suggestions like this
will experience no dawn.
21 They will wander through the land
greatly distressed and starving.
Once their hunger becomes acute,
they will be enraged
and curse their king and their gods.
They will turn their gaze upward,
22 or downward to the earth,
but they will behold only distress and anguish,
confusion and the gloom of darkness.
23 As the land of Zebulun[l] and the land of Naphtali were humbled in the past by the Lord, so in the future he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, the district of the Gentiles.
Chapter 9
The Prince of Peace[m]
1 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the shadow of death
a light has dawned.
2 You have enlarged the nation
and given them great joy;
they rejoice before you
as those who rejoice at the harvest,
as they exult when dividing spoils.
3 For the yoke that burdened them,
the bar across their shoulders,
and the rod of their oppressor
you have broken as on the day of Midian.[n]
4 For every boot of a warrior that tramped in battle
and every garment soaked in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
5 For a child has been born to us,
a son has been given to us.
Upon his shoulders dominion rests,
and this is the name he has been given:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
6 His dominion will grow continually,
and there will be endless peace
bestowed on David’s throne
and over his kingdom.
He will establish and sustain it
with justice and integrity
from this time onward and forevermore;
the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
Fall of the Northern Kingdom
7 The Lord has sent forth his word against Jacob,
and it has fallen on Israel.
8 [o]All the people were aware of this,
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
but they said in their arrogance and pride of heart,
9 “The bricks have fallen down,
but we will rebuild with dressed stones.
The sycamores have been cut down,
but we will replace them with cedars.”
10 In response the Lord raised up foes against them
and spurred on their enemies,
11 the Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west,
and they devoured Israel with gaping jaws.
Yet after all this his anger has not abated
and his hand is still outstretched.
12 But the people did not turn to him who struck them,
nor did they seek the Lord of hosts.
13 Therefore, the Lord cut off from Israel
head and tail, palm branch and reed,
in a single day.
14 [The elders and the nobles are the head;
the prophets who teach lies are the tail.]
15 For those who were leaders of the people led them astray,
and those who were led by them were swallowed up.
16 For this reason
the Lord did not show pity to their young people
or have compassion on their orphans and widows,
since all of them were godless evildoers
and every word they spoke was impious.
Yet after all this, his anger has not abated
and his hand is still outstretched.
17 For wickedness continued to burn like a fire,
consuming briers and thorns,
and setting ablaze the thickets of the forest
which rose upward in a column of smoke.
18 The land was set ablaze
by the wrath of the Lord of hosts,
and the people became like fuel for the fire;
no one spared his brother.
19 They gorged on the right but were still hungry;
they devoured on the left but were not satisfied;
many ate the flesh of their own offspring.
20 Manasseh devoured Ephraim,
and Ephraim devoured Manasseh;
together they turned against Judah.
21 Yet after all this, his anger has not abated
and his hand is still outstretched.
Chapter 10
Social Injustice
1 Woe to those who enact unjust laws
and enforce oppressive statutes,
2 thereby depriving the needy of justice,
and making it impossible for the poorest of my people
to have their rights upheld,
as they plunder the widow
and make the orphans their prey.
3 What will you do on the day of punishment
when disaster befalls you from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your riches,
4 so that you can avoid cowering among the captives
or falling among the slain?
Yet after all this, his wrath has not abated;
his hand is still outstretched.
The Lord Punishes the King of Assyria
5 [p]Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;
the club in their hands is my fury.
6 Against a godless people I send him forth,
against a nation who aroused my wrath,
commanding him to pillage and plunder
and to trample on them like mud in the street.
7 But this is not his intention,
nor does he have this in mind.
His only thought is complete destruction
and to liquidate as many nations as possible.
8 For he says,
“Are not my commanders all kings?
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus?[q]
10 My hand has overcome idolatrous kingdoms
that had more images than Jerusalem and Samaria.
11 As I did to Samaria and her idols,
shall I not also do to Jerusalem and her images?”
12 When the Lord has completed all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant boasts and his haughty demeanor, 13 because that king had said,
“By my own power I have accomplished all this,
and also by my wisdom, for I have great intelligence.
I have wiped out the boundaries of nations
and have plundered their treasures;
like a giant I have subjugated their inhabitants.
14 My hand has discovered a nest
in which the riches of the nation have been stored.
And as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned,
so I have collected the entire world;
not one fluttered a wing
or opened a beak to chirp.”
15 Does the ax consider itself more important
than the man who swings it,
or does the saw claim greater credit
than the man who uses it?
No sword can control the man who yields it,
nor can a club have power over the one who raises it.
16 Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
will afflict a debilitating illness on his sturdy warriors,
and beneath his glory a fever will be kindled
like the burning of fire.
17 The Light of Israel will become a fire
and its Holy One a flame
that in a single day
will burn up and consume
his thorns and his briers.
18 His splendid forests and orchards
will be totally destroyed, both body and soul,
as when an invalid wastes away.
19 What remains of the trees of the forest
will be so few
that any young child
will be able to record their number.
20 [r]When that day arrives,
the remnant of Israel
and the survivors of the house of Jacob
will cease to rely upon the one who struck them[s]
and will rather place their trust in the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
to the mighty God.
22 Although your people, O Israel,
may be as numerous as the sands of the sea,
only a remnant of them will return.
Destruction has been decreed
as righteousness and justice demand.
23 For throughout the entire land
the Lord God of hosts will enforce
the final destruction that has been decreed.
24 Therefore, the Lord God of hosts says this:
O my people who dwell in Zion,
do not be afraid of the Assyrians,
even when they beat you with a rod
and raise their staff against you
as the Egyptians did.
25 For it will be only a short time
until my wrath will subside
and I will direct my anger to their destruction.
26 Then the Lord of hosts will inflict his retribution
as he did when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb,
and he will raise his staff over the sea
as he did against Egypt.
27 On that day
his burden will be removed from your shoulder
and his yoke will be broken
and fall from your neck.
Sennacherib’s Assault[t]
Sennacherib and his army have come up from Rimmon,
28 and they have come to Aiath.
They have passed through Migron
and stored their supplies at Michmash.
29 Once they crossed the ravine,
they camped for the night at Geba.
Ramah is terrified,
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry out loudly, Bath-gallim!
Listen carefully, Laishah!
Answer her, Anathoth!
31 Madmenah is in flight;
the inhabitants of Gebim have sought cover.
32 This day Sennacherib will halt at Nob
and shake his fist
at the mount of daughter Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord God of hosts
will sever the boughs with frightening power.
The tallest trees will be cut down
and the lofty ones will be laid low.
34 The thickets of the forest he will demolish with an ax,
and Lebanon will fall at the onslaught of the Mighty One.
Chapter 11
A Reign of Justice and Peace[u]
1 A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch will grow from his roots.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him:
a Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a Spirit of counsel and power,
a Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord,
3 and his delight will be the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by outward appearances
or reach a verdict based on hearsay.
4 Rather, he will judge the poor with justice
and render fair decisions for the weak and the poor.
He will strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be the belt around his waist
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6 Then the wolf will live alongside the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down with the kid;
the calf and the young lion will browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze side by side;
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat hay like the ox.
8 The infant will play by the cobra’s den,
and the young child will lay his hand
on the viper’s nest.
9 No injury or harm will occur
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be filled with knowledge of the Lord
just as water covers the sea.
Ephraim and Judah United
10 On that day the root of Jesse
will be established as a signal to the nations.
They will come forth to unite under him,
and his dwelling will be glorious.
11 When that day comes,
the Lord will reach out his hand a second time
to recover the remnant of his people
from Assyria and Egypt,
from Patmos,[v] Ethiopia, and Elam,
from Shinar, Hamath, and the islands of the sea.
12 He will raise a signal to the nations
and assemble the outcasts of Israel.
He will also gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
13 The jealousy of Ephraim will cease
and the hostility of Judah will end.
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
nor will Judah have any hostility toward Ephraim.
14 Together they will swoop down
on the foothills of the Philistines to the west
and plunder the people of the east.
Edom and Moab will become subject to their rule,
and the Ammonites will obey them.[w]
15 The Lord will dry up a pathway
through the Sea of Egypt,
and he will wave his hand over the Euphrates
in his fierce anger,
splitting it into seven streams
so that it can be crossed on foot.
16 Thus there will be a highway
for the remnant of his people from Assyria,
as there was for the Israelites
when they came up from the land of Egypt.
Chapter 12
Thanksgiving for Salvation
1 On that day you will say:
I will give you thanks, O Lord.
Even though you were angry with me,
your anger has abated
and you have consoled me.
2 God truly is my salvation;
I will trust in him and be unafraid.
For the Lord is my strength and my source of courage;
he has been my salvation.
3 With joy you will draw water
from the fountain of salvation,
4 and you will say on that day:
Give thanks to the Lord,
invoke his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing praise to the Lord for his mighty deeds;
let this be known throughout the entire world.
6 Cry out and shout for joy,
all of you who dwell on Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 7:1 The “Book of Immanuel” records the major interventions of Isaiah in the politics of the kingdom of Judah, especially from 734–732 B.C., that is, at the time of the Syro-Ephraimite war which was on the point of dragging the throne of David down to destruction (see 2 Ki 16:5). In this period of uncertainty, a promise kindles a light: a boy child will be born and named Immanuel, that is, “God with us.” For Christians, this promise finds its complete fulfillment in the coming of Jesus. Some later oracles have been inserted into the Book of Immanuel.
- Isaiah 7:1 Assyrian expansion roused concern throughout the Near East, while the kingdom of Israel plotted to free themselves from the Assyrian yoke. Their intention was to bring the king of Jerusalem into this affair, by force if necessary. The undertaking was a dangerous one and could cost this king his throne and put an end to the house of David. The king of Judah, in order to escape from the pressure of his neighbors, was going to put himself under the protection of mighty Assyria and was ready to become its vassal. But Isaiah stood up to him: the king must trust in God alone.
- Isaiah 7:3 Shear-jashub: a symbolic name, signifying “a remnant will return” (see Isa 10:20-22). The pool was south of Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 7:6 Tabeel: a region across the Jordan. The two kings want to put someone not of Davidic descent on the throne of Judah.
- Isaiah 7:10 King Ahaz hesitates and does not know what to do with a sign from heaven. In God’s name Isaiah announces a solemn promise: a virgin will bear a son; his name, “God with us,” signifies salvation. The child’s nourishment recalls the great days of nomadic life and of the Exodus, the ideal period when Israel was poor and close to God. It foretells, along with a hereditary ruler, a different age, and a different Messiah, expectation of whom will never be erased from the Hebrew heart. Later on, the Greek tradition will specify that the “young woman” who is to give birth is a virgin (v. 14). Matthew and the Christian tradition will see this prediction as completely fulfilled in the coming of Jesus, the true Immanuel, born of the Virgin Mary by a supernatural intervention (Mt 1:23).
- Isaiah 7:17 Ephraim: though but one region, it stands here for the entire northern kingdom. The division of the two kingdoms went back to 931 B.C.
- Isaiah 7:20 The river is the Euphrates. Prisoners were shaved to disfigure and shame them.
- Isaiah 8:1 The prophet performs an action rich in symbolism: he sires a boy child whose name has been determined in advance; the name means “Quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil.” In this way, the prophet foretells the punishment in store for those who have formed a coalition against the kingdom of Judah. And in fact, Damascus and the provinces of northern Israel will fall into the hands of the Assyrians in 732 B.C.
- Isaiah 8:5 Jerusalem had but a single reservoir, the spring of Shiloah. Was this not perhaps a sign of the invisible protection of God? But when faced with the threat from Syria, the king and people sought a more obvious form of security. As a result, the flood waters of the Euphrates (the river, v. 7), that is, the hordes of the Assyrian invaders, will overwhelm Judah.
- Isaiah 8:12 The conspiracy is the league between Ahaz and Assyria; the conspiracy which the people fear is the Syro-Ephraimite coalition.
- Isaiah 8:14 Two houses of Israel: that is, the kingdoms of Judah and of Israel.
- Isaiah 8:23 Zebulun . . . Naphtali: Galilee.
- Isaiah 9:1 After the threats and predictions of sorrow, the prophet bursts into a song of hope and deliverance. He consoles the Galileans who have been deported by the king of Assyria in 732 B.C. (2 Ki 15:29). Another vision is given to the seer, and hope springs up in the hearts of believers: The Lord will set free the oppressed and will establish his people in peace. All power will be given to the mysterious child who is to be born of royal blood, the Immanuel who has already been foretold (Isa 7:14). This is an ideal passage for the Christmas liturgy and in fact, is prominent there.
- Isaiah 9:3 See the description of Gideon’s victory over the Midianites in Jdg 7:16-25.
- Isaiah 9:8 In all likelihood, this song goes back to about 739 B.C.; at that time Israel, now subject to the Assyrians, was assailed by its neighbors (2 Ki 15:19).
- Isaiah 10:5 We are now in a different period, perhaps 701 B.C. It is already twenty years since the northern kingdom was destroyed. Judah in turn is about to succumb (Isa 36–39).
- Isaiah 10:9 Some fortified cities of Syria are listed that have already been subdued by the Assyrians in earlier wars.
- Isaiah 10:20 The trial is a hard one, but the promise remains (see Isa 7:3 and the symbolic name of Isaiah’s elder son: Shear-jashub, which means “a remnant will return”).
- Isaiah 10:20 Who struck them: in 734 B.C., Ahaz had imprudently asked the Assyrians for help.
- Isaiah 10:27 The places listed were all north of Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 11:1 For the third time the prophet promises the people a king descended from David, the son of Jesse. In contrast to corrupt leaders, he will introduce justice; in contrast to rulers who brought war and destruction, he will inaugurate an era of peace. Filled with every gift (all the gifts which have become the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Christian tradition), he will be the perfect king, a new Solomon, a new David, and a new Moses. His reign will restore a golden age, as at the beginning of the world. Christians will immediately recognize Christ in this majestic figure, who represents an ideal in whom each individual can see realized the best aspirations of human beings.
- Isaiah 11:11 Patmos: the Hebrew has Pathros, which was in Upper Egypt. Ethiopia: Cush. Elam: Persia. Babylonia: Hebrew, Shinar. Hamath: in Syria.
- Isaiah 11:14 The peoples listed were Israel’s neighbors and traditional enemies.
