Isaiah 7:10-25

Again Lord YAHWEH spoke to Ahaz: “Go ahead—ask for a sign from YAHWEH, your God. Ask for something big, so miraculous that you will know only God did it!” Ahaz answered, “I will not ask. I won’t attempt to test the Lord YAHWEH.” So Isaiah said, “Pay attention, family of David. It’s bad enough to try the patience of a prophet but even worse when you try the patience of my God as well! The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold—the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will name him God Among Us. He will eat curdled milk and honey, and he will know enough to refuse the evil and choose the good. Yet even before that time comes for him to know good and evil, the lands of those two kings you dread will be deserted.” “The Lord YAHWEH is going to bring days of catastrophic trouble—on you, on your people, and on the whole royal court—not seen since the northern kingdom of Israel broke off from Judah. He is going to bring the king of Assyria with his great army!” In that day, the Lord YAHWEH will whistle and call for flies from Egypt’s lower streams. He will whistle for bees from the land of Assyria, and they will swarm down upon you and settle into the steep ravines, the crevices of the rocks, on every thorn bush and at every stagnant pool. In that day, the Lord will take his “razor,” the hired king of Assyria from beyond the Euphrates, and he will shave your head, your legs, and also your beard, leaving you ashamed and exposed! In that day, if a farmer keeps alive only one heifer and two goats, they will give so much milk that he will have more than he needs. And everyone left in the land will have all the milk and honey they desire. In that day, the fine vineyards, each with a thousand vines and worth a thousand pieces of silver, will be a wilderness overgrown with weeds, briars, and thorn bushes. People will hunt there with bow and arrow but will find nothing except thorn bushes and briars! The once-cultivated hillsides where vineyards used to grow will be completely overgrown with thorns so that people will be afraid to go there. It will become a place where cattle graze and sheep trample.