25. even by the God of your father, who will help you;by the Almighty, who will bless you,with blessings of heaven above,blessings of the deep that lies below,blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.

26. The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of your ancestors,above the boundaries of the ancient hills.They will be on the head of Joseph,on the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers.

1. In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, 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.

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

3. Then 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.

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

5. Because 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 within it, even the son of Tabeel."

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

8. For 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;

9. and 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.'"

10. The 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."

12. But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, neither will I tempt The LORD."

13. He 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?

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

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

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

17. The 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.

18. It 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.

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

20. In 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.

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

22. and 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 within the land.

23. It 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.

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

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

18. For 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.

19. Through the LORD of Hosts' wrath, the land is burned up;and the people are the fuel for the fire.No one spares his brother.

20. One 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:

21. Manasseh, 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.

The envy also of EPHRAIM will depart, and those who persecute Judah will be cut off. EPHRAIM won't envy Judah, and Judah won't persecute EPHRAIM.

Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of EPHRAIM, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine!

1. "At that time," says The LORD, "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people."

2. The LORD says, "The people who survive the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest."

3. The LORD appeared of old to me, saying,"Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love.Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.

4. I will build you again,and you will be built, O virgin of Israel.You will again be adorned with your tambourines,and will go out in the dances of those who make merry.

5. Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria.The planters will plant,and will enjoy its fruit.

6. For there will be a day that the watchmen on the hills of EPHRAIM cry,'Arise, and let us go up to Zion to the LORD our God.'"

7. For the LORD says,"Sing with gladness for Jacob,and shout for the chief of the nations.Publish, praise, and say,'The LORD, save your people,the remnant of Israel!'

8. Behold, I will bring them from the north country,and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth,along with the blind and the lame,the woman with child and her who travails with child together.They will return as a great company.

9. They will come with weeping.I will lead them with petitions.I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters,in a straight way in which they won't stumble;for I am a father to Israel.EPHRAIM is my firstborn.

10. "Hear The LORD's word, you nations,and declare it in the distant islands. Say,'He who scattered Israel will gather him,and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.'

11. For the LORD has ransomed Jacob,and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.

12. They will come and sing in the height of Zion,and will flow to the goodness of The LORD,to the grain, to the new wine, to the oil,and to the young of the flock and of the herd.Their soul will be as a watered garden.They will not sorrow any more at all.

13. Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance;the young men and the old together;for I will turn their mourning into joy,and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

14. I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness,and my people will be satisfied with my goodness," says The LORD.

15. The LORD says:"A voice is heard in Ramah,lamentation and bitter weeping,Rachel weeping for her children.She refuses to be comforted for her children,because they are no more."

16. The LORD says:"Refrain your voice from weeping,and your eyes from tears;for your work will be rewarded," says The LORD."They will come again from the land of the enemy.

17. There is hope for your latter end," says The LORD."Your children will come again to their own territory.

18. "I have surely heard EPHRAIM grieving thus,'You have chastised me,and I was chastised, as an untrained calf.Turn me, and I will be turned;for you are the LORD my God.

19. Surely after that I was turned.I repented.After that I was instructed.I struck my thigh.I was ashamed, yes, even confounded,because I bore the reproach of my youth.'

20. Is EPHRAIM my dear son?Is he a darling child?For as often as I speak against him,I still earnestly remember him.therefore my heart yearns for him.I will surely have mercy on him," says The LORD.

21. "Set up road signs.Make guideposts.Set your heart toward the highway,even the way by which you went.Turn again, virgin of Israel.Turn again to these your cities.

22. How long will you go here and there,you backsliding daughter?For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth:a woman will encompass a man."

23. The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Yet again they will use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I reverse their captivity: 'The LORD bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.'

24. Judah and all its cities will dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks.

25. For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul."

26. On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.

27. "Behold, the days come," says The LORD, "that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of animal.

28. It will happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant," says The LORD.

29. "In those days they will say no more,"'The fathers have eaten sour grapes,and the children's teeth are set on edge.'

30. But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.

31. "Behold, the days come," says The LORD,"that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel,and with the house of Judah:

32. not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt;which covenant of mine they broke,although I was a husband to them," says The LORD.

33. "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,"says The LORD:I will put my law in their inward parts,and I will write it in their heart.I will be their God,and they shall be my people.

34. They will no longer each teach his neighbor,and every man teach his brother, saying, 'Know The LORD;'for they will all know me,from their least to their greatest," says The LORD:"for I will forgive their iniquity,and I will remember their sin no more."

35. The LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day,and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night,who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar;The LORD of Armies is his name, says:

36. "If these ordinances depart from before me," says The LORD,"then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever."

37. The LORD says: "If heaven above can be measured,and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath,then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done," says The LORD.

38. "Behold, the days come," says The LORD, "that the city will be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner.

39. The measuring line will go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and will turn toward Goah.

40. The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, will be holy to The LORD. It will not be plucked up or thrown down any more forever."

Therefore The LORD, the God of Armies says, "Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them.