Isa 7:1
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, {a}
    went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not
    prevail against it.

    (a) That is, the second time: for in the first battle Ahaz
        was overcome.

Isa 7:2
7:2 And it was told the house of {b} David, saying, Syria is
    confederate with {c} Ephraim.  And his heart was {d} moved,
    and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest are
    moved with the wind.

    (b) Meaning, the kings house.
    (c) That is, Israel, because that tribe was the greatest,
        Ge 48:19.
    (d) For fear.

Isa 7:3
7:3 Then said the LORD to Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz,
    thou, and {e} Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit
    of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field;

    (e) That is to say, the rest will return which name Isaiah
        gave his son, to signify that the rest of the people
        would return out of their captivity.

Isa 7:4
7:4 And say to him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither
    be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking {f}
    firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of
    the son of Remaliah.

    (f) Which have but a little smoke and will quickly be
        quenched.

Isa 7:6
7:6 Let us go up against Judah, and trouble it, and let us
    conquer it for ourselves and set a king in the midst of it,
    [even] the son of {g} Tabeal:

    (g) Who was an Israelite, and as it seems, enemy to the
        house of David.

Isa 7:8
7:8 For the head of Syria [is] Damascus, and the head of
    Damascus [is] Rezin; and within {h} sixty five years shall
    Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.

    (h) Counting from the 25 years of the reign of Uzziah, at
        which time Amos prophesied this thing, and now Isaiah
        confirms that the Israelites would be led into perpetual
        captivity, which came to pass 20 years after Isaiah gave
        this message.

Isa 7:11
7:11 Ask thee {i} a sign from the LORD thy God; ask it either in
     the depth, or in the height above.

     (i) For the confirmation of this thing that your enemies
         will be destroyed and you preserved.

Isa 7:12
7:12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I {k} tempt the
     LORD.

     (k) Not to believe God's word without a sign, is to tempt
         God, but to refuse a sign when God offers it for the
         aid and help of our infirmity is to rebel against him.

Isa 7:13
7:13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; [Is it] a small
     thing for you to weary {l} men, but will ye weary my God
     also?

     (l) You think you have to do with men when you contemn
         God's messengers but it is God against whom you bend
         yourselves.

Isa 7:14
7:14 Therefore the Lord {m} himself shall give you a sign;
     Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and
     shall call his name Immanuel.

     (m) Forasmuch as you are unworthy, the Lord for his own
         promise sake will give a sign which will be that Christ
         the Saviour of his Church and the effect of all signs
         and miracles will be revealed.

Isa 7:15
7:15 {n} Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to
     refuse the evil, and choose the good.

     (n) Meaning that Christ is not only God, but man also,
         because he will be nourished as other men until the age
         of discretion.

Isa 7:16
7:16 For before the {o} child shall know to refuse the evil, and
     choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be
     forsaken by both her kings.

     (o) Not meaning Christ, but any child: for before a child
         can come to the years of discretion, the kings of
         Samaria and Syria will be destroyed.

Isa 7:17
7:17 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 {p} Ephraim departed from Judah; [even] the king
     of {q} Assyria.

     (p) Since the time that the twelve tribes rebelled under
         Rehoboam.
     (q) In whom you have put your trust.

Isa 7:18
7:18 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the LORD
     shall hiss for the {r} fly that [is] in the uttermost part
     of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that [is] in the
     land of Assyria.

     (r) Meaning, the Egyptians: for since the country is hot
         and moist, it is full of flies, as Assyria is full of
         bees.

Isa 7:19
7:19 And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the
     desolate valleys, and in the clefts of the rocks, and upon
     all thorns, and upon all {s} bushes.

     (s) Signifying that no place will be free from them.

Isa 7:20
7:20 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 {t} feet: and it
     shall also consume the beard.

     {t} That is, that which is from the belly downward meaning
         that he would destroy both great and small.

Isa 7:21
7:21 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] a man shall
     {u} nourish a young cow, and two sheep;

     (u) He who before had a great number of cattle will be
         content with one cow and two sheep.

Isa 7:22
7:22 And it shall come to pass, for the {x} 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.

     (x) The number of men will be so small that a few beasts
         will be able to nourish all abundantly.

Isa 7:24
7:24 With arrows and with {y} bows shall [men] come there;
     because all the land shall become briers and thorns.

     (y) As they who go to seek wild beasts among the bushes.

Isa 7:25
7:25 And [on] {z} all hills that shall be dug with the mattock,
     there shall not come there the fear of briers and thorns:
     but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the
     treading of lesser cattle.

     (z) The mountains contrary to their will, will be tilled by
         such as shall flee to them for comfort.