1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2Above Him stood seraphim, each having six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3And they were calling out to one another:

4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke.

5 Then I said:

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7And with it he touched my mouth and said:

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:

And I said:

9 And He replied:

11 Then I asked:

And He replied:

1 Now in the days that Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, Rezin king of Aram marched up to wage war against Jerusalem. He was accompanied by Pekah son of Remaliah the king of Israel, but he could not overpower the city.

2 When it was reported to the house of David that Aram was in league with Ephraim, the hearts of Ahaz and his people trembled like trees in the forest shaken by the wind.

3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashub to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct that feeds the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field, 4and say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Do not be afraid or disheartened over these two smoldering stubs of firewood— over the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. 5For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted your ruin, saying: 6‘Let us invade Judah, terrorize it, and divide it among ourselves. Then we can install the son of Tabeal over it as king.’ 7But this is what the Lord GOD says:

10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11“Ask for a sign from the Lord your God, whether from the depths of Sheol or the heights of heaven.”

12 But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask; I will not test the Lord.”

13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God as well? 14Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel. 15By the time He knows enough to reject evil and choose good, He will be eating curds and honey. 16For before the boy knows enough to reject evil and choose good, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

17 The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since the day Ephraim separated from Judah— He will bring the king of Assyria.”

18 On that day the Lord will whistle to the flies at the farthest streams of the Nile and to the bees in the land of Assyria.

20 On that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates— the king of Assyria— to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to remove your beard as well. 21On that day a man will raise a young cow and two sheep, 22and from the abundance of milk they give, he will eat curds; for all who remain in the land will eat curds and honey.

23 And on that day, in every place that had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briers and thorns will be found. 24Men will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns. 25For fear of the briers and thorns, you will no longer traverse the hills once tilled by the hoe; they will become places for oxen to graze and sheep to trample.

16 I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. 17In this confident boasting of mine, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but as a fool. 18Since many are boasting according to the flesh, I too will boast. 19For you gladly put up with fools, since you are so wise. 20In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face. 21To my shame I concede that we were too weak for that!

Speaking as a fool, however, I can match what anyone else dares to boast about. 22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23Are they servants of Christ? (I am speaking as if I were out of my mind.) I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death. 24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.

26 In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers, 27in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.

28 Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?

30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is forever worthy of praise, knows that I am not lying. 32In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas secured the city of the Damascenes in order to arrest me. 33But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.