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Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land burnt up: 1

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the people also are as the fuel of fire;

And one shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied:

No man spareth his brother,

they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm : 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.

10 1 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,
and to the writers that write perverseness: 3
To turn aside the needy from judgement,
and to take away the right of the poor,
That widows may be their spoil,

and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

And what will ye do in the day of visitation,

and in the desolation which shall come from far? To whom will ye flee for help?

and where will ye leave your glory?

They shall only bow down under the prisoners,
and shall fall under the slain.

For all this his anger is not turned away,

but his hand is stretched out still.

5 26 He will lift up an ensign to the nations from far,1
and will hiss for them from the end of the earth:
And, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

none shall be weary nor stumble among them;
Neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed,
nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
Whose arrows are sharp,

and all their bows bent;

Their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint,
and their wheels like a whirlwind :

AN ASSYRIAN KING, PROBABLY SARGON, IN CONFERENCE WITH HIS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF

Their roaring shall be like a lion,

they shall roar like young lions:

Yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey,

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and carry it away safe, and there shall be none to deliver.

THE FAINT-HEARTED KING

7 1 And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to 70 Jerusalem to war against it; but could not prevail 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 forest are moved with the wind.

3 Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet 75 Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the high way of the fuller's field; and say unto him,

Take heed, and be quiet;

Fear not, neither let thine heart be faint,

Because of these two tails of smoking firebrands,

For the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of
Remaliah.

Because Syria hath counselled evil against thee,

Ephraim, also, and the son of Remaliah, saying,

Let us go up against Judah, and vex it,

And let us make a breach therein for us,

And set up a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeel:

Thus saith the Lord GOD,

It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.

For the head of Syria is Damascus,

And the head of Damascus is Rezin :

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And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,

And the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son.

If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.

THE SIGN OF IMMANUEL

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7 10 And the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD. And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David ; is it a small thing for you to weary men, that ye will weary my 10c

God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, when he knoweth to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the 105 child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings thou abhorrest shall be forsaken.

INVASION THE PUNISHMENT

8 5 And the LORD spake unto me yet again, saying, Forasmuch as this people hath refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son; now therefore, behold, 110 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 go over all his banks: and he shall sweep onward into Judah; he shall overflow and pass through; he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching 115 out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.

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PRIDE GOES BEFORE A FALL

28 1 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 fat valley of them that are

overcome with wine!

Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one;

As a tempest of hail, a destroying storm,

As a tempest of mighty waters overflowing,
Shall he cast down to the earth with the hand.
The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim
Shall be trodden under foot:

And the fading flower of his glorious beauty.
Which is on the head of the fat valley,
Shall be as the firstripe fig before the summer;
Which when he that looketh upon it seeth,
While it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.