1. In the days of Ahaz (Jotham’s son and grandson of Judah’s King Uzziah), Aram’s King Rezin and Israel’s King Pekah (Remaliah’s son) came up to attack Jerusalem, but they couldn’t overpower it.
2. When the house of David was told that Aram had become allies with Ephraim, their hearts and the hearts of their people shook as the trees of a forest shake when there is a wind.
3. But the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the channel of the Upper Pool, by the road to the field where laundry is washed,
4. and say to him, ‘Be careful and stay calm. Don’t fear, and don’t lose heart over these two pieces of smoking torches, over the burning anger of Rezin, Aram, and Remaliah’s son.
5. Aram has planned evil against you with Ephraim and Remaliah’s son, saying,
6. “Let’s march up against Judah, tear it apart, capture it for ourselves, and install Tabeel’s son as its king.”
7. But the Lord God says: It won’t happen; it won’t take place.
8. The chief of Aram is Damascus; the chief of Damascus is Rezin (in sixty-five more years Ephraim will be shattered as a nation);
9. the chief of Ephraim is Samaria; and the chief of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you don’t believe this, you can’t be trusted.’”
10. Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz:
11. "Ask a sign from the Lord your God. Make it as deep as the grave or as high as heaven."
12. But Ahaz said, "I won’t ask; I won’t test the Lord."