CHAPTER being terrified, is confirmed for his Message. He sheweth the A remnant shall bee saved. Ahaz, being the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the doore moved at the voyce of him that cryed, and the house was filled with smoke. Then sayd I: Woe is me; for I am undone, because I am a man of uncleane lippes, and I dwell in the midst of a people of uncleane lippes: for mine eyes have seene the king, the LORD of hostes. Then flew one of the Seraphims unto mee, having a livecole in his hand, which hee had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laide it upon my mouth, and sayd, Loe, this hath touched thy lippes, and thine iniquitie is taken away, and thy sinne purged. Also I heard the voyce of the Lord, saying; Whom shall Ì send, and who will goe for us? Then I saide; Heere am I, send me. And he sayd, Goe and tell this people; Heare yee indeede, but understand not: and see yee indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their eares heavy, and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes, and heare with their eares, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed. Then sayd I; Lord, how long? And hee answered, Untill the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the LORD have removed men farre away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in it shalbe a tenth, and it shall returne, and shall be eaten as a Teyle tree, and as an Oke whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seede shall be the substance thereof. AN CHAPTER VII ND it came to passe in the dayes of Ahaz the sonne of Iotham the sonne of Uzziah king of Iudah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah, the sonne of Remaliah king of Israel, went up towards Ierusalem to warre against it, but could not prevaile against it. And it was told the house of David, saying; Syria is confederate with Ephraim: and his heart was moved, and the heart of his people as the trees of the wood are mooved with the wind. Then sayd the LORD unto Isaiah; Goe forth now to meete Ahaz, thou, and Shear-iashub1 thy sonne, at the end of the conduit of the upper poole in the high way of the fullers field. And say unto him; Take heede and be quiet: feare not, neither be faint hearted for the two tailes of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the sonne of Remaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the sonne of Remaliah have taken evill counsell 1 That is, the remnant shal returne. against thee, saying; Let us goe up against Iudah and vexe it, and CHAPTER choose a signe, promised. Moreover the LORD spake againe unto Ahaz, saying; Aske thee Ahaz, having a signe of the LORD thy God; aske it either in the depth, or in the liberty to height above. But Ahaz sayd, I will not aske, neither will I tempt and refusing it, the LORD. And he sayd; Heare yee now, O house of David; Is it hath for a a small thing for you to wearie men, but will yee wearie my God signe, Christ also? Therefore the Lord himselfe shal give you a signe: Behold, a Virgine shall conceive and beare a Sonne, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and hony shall he eat, that hee may know to refuse the evill, and choose the good. For before the childe shall know to refuse the evill and choose the good; the land that thou abhorrest, shalbe forsaken of both her kings. The LORD shall bring upon thee and upon thy people, and upon His iudgement thy fathers house, dayes that have not come, from the day that is prophecied to come by Ephraim departed from Iudah; even the King of Assyria. And it Assyria. shall come to passe in that day, that the LORD shall hisse for the flie, that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the Bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rockes, and upon all thornes, and upon all bushes. In the same day shall the LORD shave with a rasor that is hired, namely by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the haire of the feet: and it shal also consume the beard. And it shall come to passe in that day, that a man shal nourish a yong cow and two sheepe. And it shall come to passe, for the abundance of milke that they shall give, he shal eate butter: for butter and hony shall every one eate, that is left in the land. And it shall come to passe in that day, that every place shalbe, where there were a thousand Vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thornes. With arrowes and with bowes shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briars and thornes. And on all hilles that shalbe digged with the mattocke, there shall not come thither the feare of briars and thornes: but it shall bee for the sending foorth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattell. 4: B 9 CHAPTER In Maher- Iudah likewise for their infidelitie. Gods iudgements shalbe unresistable. Comfort shalbe to them that feare God. M CHAPTER VIII OREOVER the LORD said unto mee, Take thee a great roule, and write in it with a mans penne, concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz.1 And I tooke unto mee faithfull witnesses to record, Uriah the Priest, and Zechariah the sonne of Ieberechiah. And I went unto the Prophetesse, and shee conceived and bare a sonne, then said the LORD to mee, Call his name Mahershalal-hash-baz. For before the childe shall have knowledge to cry, My father and my mother, the riches of Damascus, and the spoile of Samaria shalbe taken away before the king of Assyria. The LORD spake also unto me againe, saying, For so much as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that goe softly, and reioyce in Rezin, and Remaliahs sonne: now therefore behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and goe over all his bankes. And hee shall passe through Iudah, he shall overflow and goe over, he shall reach even to the necke; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel. Associate your selves, O ye people, and yee shalbe broken in pieces; and give eare all ye of farre countreys: gird your selves, and ye shalbe broken in pieces; gird your selves, and ye shalbe broken in pieces. Take counsell together, and it shall come to nought: speake the word, and it shall not stand; for God is with us. For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walke in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacie to all them, to whom this people shall say, A confederacie; neither feare yee their feare, nor be afraid. Sanctifie the LORD of hostes himselfe, and let him bee your feare, and let him be your dread. And he shalbe for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rocke of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a ginne, and for a snare to the inhabitants of Ierusalem. And many among them shall stumble and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. Binde up the Testimonie, seale the Law among my disciples. And I wil wait upon the LORD that hideth his face from the house of Iacob, and I will looke for him. Behold, I, and the children whom the LORD hath given me, are for signes, and for wonders in Israel: from the LORD of hostes, which dwelleth in mount Zion. And when they shall say unto you; Seeke unto them that have 1 Hebr. In making speed to the spoile, he hasteneth the pray. Or, make speed, etc. CHAPTER familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peepe and that mutter: should not a people seeke unto their God? for the living, to the dead? To the Law and to the Testimonie: if they speake not Great afflictions according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. to idolaters. And they shall passe through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to passe, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their King, and their God, and looke upward. And they shall looke unto the earth: and behold trouble and darkenesse, dimnesse of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkenesse. N CHAPTER IX EVERTHELESSE the dimnesse shall not be such as was in What ioy shall her vexation; when at the first he lightly afflicted the be in the midst of afflictions, land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, and afterward by the Kingdid more grievously afflict her by the way of the Sea, beyond dome and birth Iordan in Galile of the nations. The people that walked in dark- of Christ. nesse, have seene a great light: they that dwel in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the ioy: they ioy before thee, according to the ioy in harvest, and as men reioyce when they divide the spoile. For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staffe of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressour, as in the day of Midian. For every battell of the warriour is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fewell of fire. For unto us a child is borne, unto us a Sonne is given, and the government shalbe upon his shoulder: and his name shalbe called, Wonderfull, Counseller, The mightie God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdome, to order it, and to stablish it with iudgement and with iustice, from henceforth even for ever: the zeale of the LORD of hostes will performe this. The Lord sent a word into Iacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. The judgements And all the people shal know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant upon Israel for their pride, of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutnesse of heart; The brickes are fallen downe, but we will build with hewen stones: the Sycomores are cut downe, but we will change them into Cedars. Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and ioyne his enemies together. The Syrians before, and the Philistines behinde, and they shall devoure Israel with open mouth for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. CHAPTER IX For their hypocrisie, And for their impenitencie. The woe of tyrants. Assyria, the rodde of hypocrites, for his pride shall be broken. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither doe they seeke the LORD of hostes. Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and taile, branch and rush in one day. The ancient and honourable, hee is the head: and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the taile. For the leaders of this people cause them to erre, and they that are ledde of them, are destroyed. Therfore the Lord shall have no ioy in their yong men, neither shal have mercy on their fatherlesse and widowes: for every one is an hypocrite, and an evil doer, and every mouth speaketh folly: for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For wickednes burneth as the fire: it shall devoure the briers and thornes, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forrest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuell of the fire: no man shall spare his brother. And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry, and he shall eate on the left hand, and they shall not bee satisfied: they shall eate every man the flesh of his owne arme. Manasseh, Ephraim and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shalbe against Iudah for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. : CHAPTER X OE unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousnesse which they have prescribed: to turne aside the needy from iudgement, and to take away the right from the poore of my people, that widdowes may be their pray, and that they may robbe the fatherles. And what wil ye doe in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from farre? to whom wil ye flee for helpe? and where will yee leave your glory? Without mee they shall bowe downe under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slaine: for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staffe in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocriticall nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoile, and to take the praye, and to tread them downe like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart thinke so, but it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off nations not a few. For he saith, Are not my princes |