Isaiah 7:17-25

7:17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father’s family a time ¹  unlike any since Ephraim departed from Judah – the king of Assyria!” ² 

7:18 At that time ³  the Lord will whistle for flies from the distant streams of Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria. ⁴  7:19 All of them will come and make their home ⁵  in the ravines between the cliffs, and in the crevices of the cliffs, in all the thorn bushes, and in all the watering holes. ⁶  7:20 At that time ⁷  the sovereign master will use a razor hired from the banks of the Euphrates River, ⁸  the king of Assyria, to shave the head and the pubic hair; ⁹  it will also shave off the beard. 7:21 At that time ¹⁰  a man will keep alive a young cow from the herd and a couple of goats. 7:22 From the abundance of milk they produce, ¹¹  he will have sour milk for his meals. Indeed, everyone left in the heart of the land will eat sour milk and honey. 7:23 At that time ¹²  every place where there had been a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels will be overrun ¹³  with thorns and briers. 7:24 With bow and arrow ¹⁴  men will hunt ¹⁵  there, for the whole land will be covered ¹⁶  with thorns and briers. 7:25 They will stay away from all the hills that were cultivated, for fear of the thorns and briers. ¹⁷  Cattle will graze there and sheep will trample on them. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 8:7-8

8:7 So look, the sovereign master ¹⁹  is bringing up against them the turbulent and mighty waters of the Euphrates River ²⁰  – the king of Assyria and all his majestic power. It will reach flood stage and overflow its banks. ²¹  8:8 It will spill into Judah, flooding and engulfing, as it reaches to the necks of its victims. He will spread his wings out over your entire land, ²²  O Immanuel.” ²³ 

Isaiah 10:5

The Lord Turns on Arrogant Assyria

10:5 Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, ²⁴ 

a cudgel with which I angrily punish. ²⁵ 

Hosea 12:1-2

12:1 Ephraim continually feeds on the wind;

he chases the east wind all day;

he multiplies lies and violence.

They make treaties ²⁶  with Assyria,

and send olive oil as tribute ²⁷  to Egypt.

12:2 The Lord also has a covenant lawsuit ²⁸  against Judah;

he will punish Jacob according to his ways

and repay him according to his deeds.

[7:17]  ¹ tn Heb “days” (so KJV, NAB); NASB, NRSV “such days.”

[7:17]  ² sn Initially the prophecy appears to be a message of salvation. Immanuel seems to have a positive ring to it, sour milk and honey elsewhere symbolize prosperity and blessing (see Deut 32:13-14; Job 20:17), verse 16 announces the defeat of Judah’s enemies, and verse 17a could be taken as predicting a return to the glorious days of David and Solomon. However, the message turns sour in verses 17b-25. God will be with his people in judgment, as well as salvation. The curds and honey will be signs of deprivation, not prosperity, the relief announced in verse 16 will be short-lived, and the new era will be characterized by unprecedented humiliation, not a return to glory. Because of Ahaz’s refusal to trust the Lord, potential blessing would be transformed into a curse, just as Isaiah turns an apparent prophecy of salvation into a message of judgment. Because the words “the king of Assyria” are rather awkwardly tacked on to the end of the sentence, some regard them as a later addition. However, the very awkwardness facilitates the prophet’s rhetorical strategy here, as he suddenly turns what sounds like a positive message into a judgment speech. Actually, “the king of Assyria,” stands in apposition to the earlier object “days,” and specifies who the main character of these coming “days” will be.

[7:18]  ³ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[7:18]  ⁴ sn Swarming flies are irritating; bees are irritating and especially dangerous because of the pain they inflict with their sting (see Deut 1:44; Ps 118:12). The metaphors are well chosen, for the Assyrians (symbolized by the bees) were much more powerful and dangerous than the Egyptians (symbolized by the flies). Nevertheless both would put pressure on Judah, for Egypt wanted Judah as a buffer state against Assyrian aggression, while Assyrian wanted it as a base for operations against Egypt. Following the reference to sour milk and honey, the metaphor is especially apt, for flies are attracted to dairy products and bees can be found in the vicinity of honey.

[7:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “and shall rest” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NIV, NRSV “and settle.”

[7:19]  ⁶ tn The meaning of this word (נַהֲלֹל, nahalol) is uncertain; some understand this as referring to another type of thorn bush. For bibliography, see HALOT 676 s.v. I *נַהֲלֹל.

[7:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “in that day” (so ASV, NASB); KJV “In the same day.”

[7:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “the river” (so KJV); NASB “the Euphrates.” The name of the river has been supplied in the present translation for clarity.

[7:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “the hair of the feet.” The translation assumes that the word “feet” is used here as a euphemism for the genitals. See BDB 920 s.v. רֶגֶל.

[7:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in that day.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[7:22]  ¹¹ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated, see note on 2:2.

[7:23]  ¹² tn Heb “in that day.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[7:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “will become” (so NASB); NAB “shall be turned to.”

[7:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “with arrows and a bow.” The more common English idiom is “bow[s] and arrow[s].”

[7:24]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “go” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “go hunting.”

[7:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “will be” (so NASB, NRSV).

[7:25]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and all the hills which were hoed with a hoe, you will not go there [for] fear of the thorns and briers.”

[7:25]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and it will become a pasture for cattle and a trampling place for sheep.”

[8:7]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[8:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the mighty and abundant waters of the river.” The referent of “the river” here, the Euphrates River, has been specified in the translation for clarity. As the immediately following words indicate, these waters symbolize the Assyrian king and his armies which will, as it were, inundate the land.

[8:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “it will go up over all its stream beds and go over all its banks.”

[8:8]  ²² tn Heb “and the spreading out of his wings [will be over] the fullness of the breadth of your land.” The metaphor changes here from raging flood to predatory bird.

[8:8]  ²³ sn The appearance of the name Immanuel (“God is with us”) is ironic at this point, for God is present with his people in judgment. Immanuel is addressed here as if he has already been born and will see the judgment occur. This makes excellent sense if his birth has just been recorded. There are several reasons for considering Immanuel and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz one and the same. 8:3 is a birth account which could easily be understood as recording the fulfillment of the birth prophecy of 7:14. The presence of a formal record/witnesses (8:1-2) suggests a sign function for the child (cf. 7:14). As in 7:14-16, the removal of Judah’s enemies would take place before the child reached a specified age (cf. 8:4). Both 7:17-25 and 8:7-8 speak of an Assyrian invasion of Judah which would follow the defeat of Israel/Syria. The major objection to this view is the fact that different names appear, but such a phenomenon is not without parallel in the OT (cf. Gen 35:18). The name Immanuel may emphasize the basic fact of God’s presence, while the name Maher focuses on the specific nature of God’s involvement. In 7:14 the mother is viewed as naming the child, while in 8:3 Isaiah is instructed to give the child’s name, but one might again point to Gen 35:18 for a precedent. The sign child’s age appears to be different in 8:4 than in 7:15-16, but 7:15-16 pertains to the judgment on Judah, as well as the defeat of Israel/Syria (cf. vv. 17-25), while 8:4 deals only with the downfall of Israel/Syria. Some argue that the suffixed form “your land” in 8:8 points to a royal referent (a child of Ahaz or the Messiah), but usage elsewhere shows that the phrase does not need to be so restricted. While the suffix can refer to the king of a land (cf. Num 20:17; 21:22; Deut 2:27; Judg 11:17, 19; 2 Sam 24:13; 1 Kgs 11:22; Isa 14:20), it can also refer to one who is a native of a particular land (cf. Gen 12:1; 32:9; Jonah 1:8). (See also the use of “his land” in Isa 13:14 [where the suffix refers to a native of a land] and 37:7 [where it refers to a king].)

[10:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Woe [to] Assyria, the club of my anger.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[10:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “a cudgel is he, in their hand is my anger.” It seems likely that the final mem (ם) on בְיָדָם (bÿyadam) is not a pronominal suffix (“in their hand”), but an enclitic mem. If so, one can translate literally, “a cudgel is he in the hand of my anger.”

[12:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “a treaty” (so NIV, NRSV); KJV, NASB “a covenant”; NAB “comes to terms.”

[12:1]  ²⁷ tn The phrase “as tribute” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. NCV “send a gift of olive oil.”

[12:2]  ²⁸ tn The noun רִיב (riv, “dispute”) is used in two contexts: (1) nonlegal contexts: (a) “dispute” between individuals (e.g., Gen 13:7; Isa 58:1; Jer 15:10) or (b) “brawl, quarrel” between people (e.g., Exod 17:7; Deut 25:1); and (2) legal contexts: (a) “lawsuit, legal process” (e.g., Exod 23:3-6; Deut 19:17; 21:5; Ezek 44:24; Ps 35:23), (b) “lawsuit, legal case” (e.g., Deut 1:12; 17:8; Prov 18:17; 25:9), and (c) God’s “lawsuit” on behalf of a person or against his own people (Hos 4:1; 12:3; Mic 6:2; HALOT 1225-26 s.v. רִיב). The term in Hosea refers to a covenant lawsuit in which Yahweh, the suzerain, lodges a legal case against his disobedient vassal, accusing Israel and Judah of breach of covenant which will elicit the covenant curses. Cf. NLT “is bringing a lawsuit.”