Chapter Overview
Summary
Isaiah 7 contains THE IMMANUEL PROPHECY (v. 14) — one of the most-disputed and-most-cited OT-verses in Christian-tradition. The LXX renders the Hebrew almah ('young woman') as parthenos ('virgin') — the rendering Matthew 1:23 cites for the virgin-birth fulfillment. The historical-context: Ahaz of Judah faces invasion from Syria-and-Israel (the 'Syro-Ephraimite War,' c. 735 BCE); Isaiah offers him a sign of-divine-deliverance, and Ahaz refuses. Isaiah gives the IMMANUEL-SIGN unsolicited.
Notable Variants
7:14 'PARTHENOS / virgin' the LXX's most-consequential single-word rendering → Matthew 1:23 verbatim citation; the IMMANUEL ('God-with-us') name; 7:9 'if you will not believe, you will not be established' faith-Hebrew-wordplay (im-lo' tha'aminu, ki lo' the'amenu).
Structural Notes
MT Isaiah 7 = LXX Isaiah 7. 25 verses. THE IMMANUEL-PROPHECY chapter.
In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, marched against Jerusalem to attack it but could not overpower it.
'In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it' tracks MT. SYRO-EPHRAIMITE WAR — c. 735 BCE. Rezin (Syria) + Pekah (northern Israel) coalition against Judah. 2 Kings 16's narrative-parallel.
When the house of David was told, "Aram has allied with Ephraim," the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people trembled like trees of the forest swaying before the wind.
'When the house of David was told: Syria is in league with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind' tracks MT.
Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out to meet Ahaz — you and your son Shear-jashub — at the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the launderer's field."
'And the LORD said to Isaiah: Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field' tracks MT. SHEAR-JASHUB ('a-remnant-shall-return') — Isaiah's first-symbolic-named-son. // Isa 8:3's Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
and say to him: "Be careful and stay calm. Do not be afraid, and do not let your heart grow faint because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood — the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah."
'And say to him: Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands' tracks MT.
Because Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted evil against you, saying,
'Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you' tracks MT.
"Let us invade Judah and terrorize it, and let us break through to it and set up a king in it -- the son of Tabeal."
'Saying: Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it' tracks MT.
This is what the Lord GOD says: "It will not stand, and it will not come to pass."
'Thus says the Lord GOD: It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass' tracks MT.
For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered, no longer a people.
'For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people' tracks MT. 65-YEAR PROPHECY of-Ephraim's-end fulfilled in 722 BCE Assyrian-conquest.
And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in faith, you will not stand at all."
'And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all' tracks MT. 'IF-YOU-WILL-NOT-BELIEVE, YOU WILL-NOT-BE-ESTABLISHED' (im-lo' tha'aminu, ki lo' the'amenu) — famous-Hebrew-wordplay on the same root (aman) for-faith and-firm-establishment. Faith-equals-stability theology.
Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz:
'Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz' tracks MT.
"Ask a sign from the LORD your God. Make it as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven."
'Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven' tracks MT. ASK-A-SIGN — divine-offer of-confirmation.
But Ahaz said, "I will not ask. I will not test the LORD."
'But Ahaz said: I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test' tracks MT. AHAZ-REFUSES. False-piety covering-real-unbelief — Ahaz had-already chosen Assyrian-aid (2 Kings 16:7).
Then Isaiah said, "Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary human beings? Must you weary my God as well?"
'And he said: Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?' tracks MT.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Look -- the young woman is pregnant and is about to bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel.
Masoretic (WLC)
לָכֵן יִתֵּן אֲדֹנָי הוּא לָכֶם אוֹת הִנֵּה הָעַלְמָה הָרָה וְיֹלֶדֶת בֵּן וְקָרָאת שְׁמוֹ עִמָּנוּ אֵל
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel
Septuagint (LXX)
διὰ τοῦτο δώσει κύριος αὐτὸς ὑμῖν σημεῖον ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει καὶ τέξεται υἱόν καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Εμμανουηλ
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive in her womb and shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel
THE IMMANUEL-PROPHECY — THE LXX'S MOST-CONSEQUENTIAL SINGLE-WORD RENDERING. The Hebrew almah ('young woman of marriageable age, possibly virgin') — a term that does-not-strictly-require virginity but-does-not-exclude-it (the Hebrew technical-term for-virgin is bethulah). The LXX's choice of parthenos ('virgin') made-the-virgin-birth interpretation explicit-in-the-Greek-text c. 200 BCE — long-before-Christ.
MATTHEW 1:23 CITATION. Matthew 1:23 cites the LXX VERBATIM: 'BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE AND BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL (idou hē parthenos en gastri hexei kai texetai huion, kai kalesousin to onoma autou Emmanouēl), which means: God with us.' Matthew uses-the-LXX-wording rather than-the-Hebrew-wording — making-this verse-the-most-famous-LXX-vs-MT divergence in Christian-tradition. The fulfillment-formula ('to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet') Matthew applies four times in chapter 1–2.
IMMANUEL ('God-with-us'). Matthew explicates the name: 'meta hēmōn ho theos.' Christologically — Christ as God-with-us is-the-incarnation's-thesis. Matthew's-Gospel ends (28:20) with 'I am with you always' — bookending the Gospel with the IMMANUEL-theme.
DUAL-FULFILLMENT. Many-Christian-interpreters read this prophecy as having both a near-fulfillment (Isaiah's-own-day, perhaps Isaiah's-son or Hezekiah) and an ultimate-fulfillment in-Christ. The text-itself signals the-multi-layered-meaning.
He will eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse evil and choose good.
'He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good' tracks MT. CURDS-AND-HONEY — luxury-food. The age-of-discernment is-the-time-marker.
For before the boy knows how to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be abandoned.
'For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted' tracks MT. BEFORE-THE-BOY-KNOWS — short-term-fulfillment marker. The two-king-coalition (Syria + Ephraim) will-be-deserted within-the-child's-pre-discernment-years.
The LORD will bring upon you, upon your people, and upon your father's house days such as have not come since the day Ephraim broke away from Judah -- the king of Assyria.
'The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah — the king of Assyria' tracks MT. ASSYRIAN-INVASION judgment-prediction.
On that day the LORD will whistle for the fly from the distant streams of Egypt and for the bee from the land of Assyria.
'In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria' tracks MT. FLY-AND-BEE — Egypt-and-Assyria as foreign-instruments.
They will come and settle, all of them, in the steep ravines and in the clefts of the rocks, on every thornbush and at every water hole.
'And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures' tracks MT.
On that day the Lord will shave with a razor hired from beyond the River -- the king of Assyria -- the head, the hair of the legs, and it will also sweep away the beard.
'In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River — with the king of Assyria — the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also' tracks MT. SHAVE-WITH-HIRED-RAZOR — humiliation-imagery.
On that day a man will keep alive one young cow and two sheep.
'In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep' tracks MT.
And because of the abundance of milk they give, he will eat curds -- for everyone left in the land will eat curds and honey.
'And because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey' tracks MT.
On that day, every place where a thousand vines worth a thousand pieces of silver once grew will become thorns and briers.
'In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns' tracks MT. THORNS-AND-BRIERS post-conquest landscape.
People will go there only with bows and arrows, for the whole land will be thorns and briers.
'With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns' tracks MT.
As for all the hillsides once cultivated with a hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of thorns and briers. They will become places for turning out cattle and for the trampling of sheep.
'And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread' tracks MT. CLOSES with desolation-imagery.