Isaiah 7

Isaiah 7 is the seventh

The original text was written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 25 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008).^[1]

Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (3rd century BC or later):

• 1QIsa^a
  : complete
• 1QIsa^b: extant: verses 14‑16, 20‑25
• 4QIsa^f (4Q60): extant: verses 16‑18, 23‑25
• 4QIsa^h (4Q62): extant: verses 14‑15
• 4QIsa^l (4Q65): extant: verses 17‑20

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^S; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^Q; 6th century).^[2]

Parashot

The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.^[3] Isaiah 7 is a part of the Prophecies about Judah and Israel (Isaiah 1-12). {P}: open parashah; {S}: closed parashah.

{P} 7:1-2 {S} 7:3-6 {P} 7:7-9 {P} 7:10-17 {P} 7:18-20 {P} 7:21-22 {S} 7:23-25 {P}

Verse 1

Now it came to pass in the days of

king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but could not prevail against it.^[4]

Cross reference: 2 Kings 16:5; Matthew 1:9

The purpose of the war was to bring Judah into an anti-Assyrian coalition.^[5]

Verse 3

'Then the Lord said to Isaiah,

“Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son,

at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field,^[6]

• "
  Isaiah 8:3) serves "as a good omen for Ahaz."^[7]

According to the New Oxford Annotated Bible, the "upper pool" is the "reservoir south of Gihon Spring" (Isaiah 36:2).

Isaiah speaks God's word to Ahaz; apparently this is "received in silence, at any rate without acknowledgment".[9]

The place of meeting would witness another confrontation between

Ahaz said, “I will not ask [for a sign], nor will I test the Lord!”[11]

Ahaz, unwilling to commit to the faith in God which Isaiah has demanded, uses the edict of Deuteronomy 6:16, Do not put the Lord your God to the test (New International Version) as an excuse, "under a pretence of reverence".^[12]

Verse 14

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.^[13]

The Hebrew

לָכֵן יִתֵּן אֲדֹנָי הוּא לָכֶם אוֹת הִנֵּה הָעַלְמָה הָרָה וְיֹלֶדֶת בֵּן וְקָרָאת שְׁמוֹ עִמָּנוּאֵל‎

Transliteration

"lā·ḵên yitên ’ă·ḏō·nāy hū lā·ḵem o·wt: hinneh hā·‘al·māh hā·rāh wə·yō·le·ḏeṯ bên, wə·qā·rāṯ shem-o imanuel"

This verse is cited in Matthew 1:23.

Verse 15

Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.^[14]

• "Butter" (Hebrew: חמאה, chem'âh): could be rendered as "thick and curdled milk".^[15]

Verse 18

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss 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.^[16]

The Pulpit Commentary suggests that "the choice of the terms 'bee' and 'fly' to represent respectively the hosts of Assyria and Egypt, is not without significance. Egyptian armies were swarms, hastily levied, and very imperfectly disciplined. Assyrian were bodies of trained troops accustomed to war, and almost as well disciplined as the Romans."^[9]

Uses

Music

The King James Version of verse 14 from this chapter is cited as texts in the English-language oratorio "Messiah" by George Frideric Handel (HWV 56).^[17]

See also

References

Sources

• Coggins, R. (2007). "22. Isaiah". In
  ISBN 978-0199277186
  . Retrieved February 6, 2019.
• Motyer, J. Alec (2015). The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction & Commentary. InterVarsity Press.
  ISBN 9780830895243
  .
• ISBN 0-8028-0788-7
  . Retrieved January 26, 2019.

• Isaiah 7: Hebrew with Parallel English

Christian

• Isaiah 7 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate