The Book of Mormon
~559–545 BC

2 Nephi 17

Syria and Israel threaten Jerusalem, but God sends Isaiah to King Ahaz promising these enemies will fail. A virgin will bear Immanuel as a sign. Before this child matures, the threatening lands will be abandoned. Yet Assyria will invade Judah like a flood.

Two Kings Attack Jerusalem

When Ahaz was king of Judah, two other kings tried to attack Jerusalem. These were Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel. But they could not win against Jerusalem. Someone told King David’s family that Syria had joined with Ephraim. The king and his people were scared. They shook like trees shaking in the wind.

Isaiah’s Message to King Ahaz

Then the Lord said to Isaiah: 'Go meet King Ahaz. Take your son Shearjashub with you. Meet him at the end of the water tunnel by the upper pool. It’s on the road to the laundry workers’ field.' 'Tell him to be careful and stay calm. Don’t be afraid. Don’t worry about those two angry kings, Rezin of Syria and Pekah. They are like two burned-out torches.' 'Syria, Ephraim, and Pekah have made evil plans against you. They said:' 'Let’s attack Judah. Let’s make trouble for them. Let’s break through their defenses. Then we’ll make Tabeal’s son their king.'

But this is what the Lord God says: 'It won’t happen. It won’t come true.' 'Damascus is the capital of Syria. Rezin is the ruler of Damascus. Within sixty-five years, Ephraim will be destroyed. It won’t be a nation anymore.' 'Samaria is the capital of Ephraim. Remaliah’s son is the ruler of Samaria. If you don’t believe, you won’t last.'

The Sign of Immanuel

The Lord spoke to Ahaz again. He said: 'Ask the Lord your God for a sign. Ask for it in the deepest places or in the highest heavens.' But Ahaz said: 'I won’t ask. I won’t test the Lord.'

Then Isaiah said: 'Listen, family of David! Isn’t it enough that you tire out people? Will you tire out my God too?' 'So the Lord himself will give you a sign. A virgin will have a baby. She will have a son. She will name him Immanuel.' 'He will eat butter and honey. By that time he will know right from wrong.' 'Before the child knows right from wrong, the land you fear will lose both its kings.'

Hard Times Are Coming

'The Lord will bring hard times on you and your people. These will be the worst days since Ephraim split from Judah. The king of Assyria will come.' 'When that day comes, the Lord will whistle for the flies from Egypt’s rivers. He will call for the bees from Assyria.' 'They will all come. They will settle in the empty valleys and rock caves. They will cover all the thorn bushes and plants.' 'On that day, the Lord will use the king of Assyria like a hired razor. He will shave your head and legs. He will even shave off your beard.'

'When that day comes, a person will keep alive one young cow and two sheep.' 'They will give so much milk that he will eat butter. Everyone left in the land will eat butter and honey.' 'When that day comes, every place that had a thousand grapevines worth a thousand silver coins will be full of thorns and weeds.' 'People will go there with bows and arrows. The whole land will be covered with thorns and weeds.' 'All the hills that used to be farmed won’t be farmed anymore. People will be afraid of the thorns and weeds. Only cattle and sheep will go there.'

Influences

  • 17:1 — Isaiah 7:1 (KJV)
    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 toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
  • 17:2 — Isaiah 7:2 (KJV)
    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 wood are moved with the wind.
  • 17:3 — Isaiah 7:3 (KJV)
    Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field;
  • 17:4 — Isaiah 7:4 (KJV)
    And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
  • 17:5 — Isaiah 7:5 (KJV)
    Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying,
  • 17:6 — Isaiah 7:6 (KJV)
    Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal:
  • 17:7 — Isaiah 7:7 (KJV)
    Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
  • 17:8 — Isaiah 7:8 (KJV)
    For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.
  • 17:9 — Isaiah 7:9 (KJV)
    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.
  • 17:10 — Isaiah 7:10 (KJV)
    Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying,
  • 17:11 — Isaiah 7:11 (KJV)
    Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.
  • 17:12 — Isaiah 7:12 (KJV)
    But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.
  • 17:13 — Isaiah 7:13 (KJV)
    And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?
  • 17:14 — Isaiah 7:14 (KJV)
    Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
  • 17:15 — Isaiah 7:15 (KJV)
    Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
  • 17:16 — Isaiah 7:16 (KJV)
    For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.
  • 17:17 — Isaiah 7:17 (KJV)
    The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.
  • 17:18 — Isaiah 7:18 (KJV)
    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.
  • 17:19 — Isaiah 7:19 (KJV)
    And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.
  • 17:20 — Isaiah 7:20 (KJV)
    In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.
  • 17:21 — Isaiah 7:21 (KJV)
    And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;
  • 17:22 — Isaiah 7:22 (KJV)
    And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.
  • 17:23 — Isaiah 7:23 (KJV)
    And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns.
  • 17:24 — Isaiah 7:24 (KJV)
    With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns.
  • 17:25 — Isaiah 7:25 (KJV)
    And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.
2 Nephi 162 Nephi 18