A Message for King Ahaz

¹When King Ahaz, the son of Jotham and grandson of Uzziah, ruled Judah, war broke out. Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, attacked Jerusalem, but were unable to capture it.

²When word reached the king of Judah that the armies of Syria were already in the territory of Israel, he and all his people were so terrified that they trembled like trees shaking in the wind.

³The Lord said to Isaiah, “Take your son Shear Jashub, and go to meet King Ahaz. You will find him on the road where the cloth makers work, at the end of the ditch that brings water from the upper pool.

⁴Tell him to keep alert, to stay calm, and not to be frightened or disturbed. The anger of King Rezin and his Syrians and of King Pekah is no more dangerous than the smoke from two smoldering sticks of wood.

⁵Syria, together with Israel and its king, has made a plot.

⁶They intend to invade Judah, terrify the people into joining their side, and then put Tabeel's son on the throne.

⁷“But I, the Lord, declare that this will never happen.

⁸Why? Because Syria is no stronger than Damascus, its capital city, and Damascus is no stronger than King Rezin. As for Israel, within sixty-five years it will be too shattered to survive as a nation.

⁹Israel is no stronger than Samaria, its capital city, and Samaria is no stronger than King Pekah. “If your faith is not enduring, you will not endure.”

The Sign of Immanuel

¹⁰The Lord sent another message to Ahaz:

¹¹“Ask the Lord your God to give you a sign. It can be from deep in the world of the dead or from high up in heaven.”

¹²Ahaz answered, “I will not ask for a sign. I refuse to put the Lord to the test.”

¹³To that Isaiah replied, “Listen, now, descendants of King David. It's bad enough for you to wear out the patience of people—do you have to wear out God's patience too?

¹⁴Well then, the Lord himself will give you a sign: a young woman who is pregnant will have a son and will name him ‘Immanuel.’

¹⁵By the time he is old enough to make his own decisions, people will be drinking milk and eating honey.

¹⁶Even before that time comes, the lands of those two kings who terrify you will be deserted.

¹⁷“The Lord is going to bring on you, on your people, and on the whole royal family, days of trouble worse than any that have come since the kingdom of Israel separated from Judah—he is going to bring the king of Assyria.

¹⁸“When that time comes, the Lord will whistle as a signal for the Egyptians to come like flies from the farthest branches of the Nile, and for the Assyrians to come from their land like bees.

¹⁹They will swarm in the rugged valleys and in the caves in the rocks, and they will cover every thorn bush and every pasture.

²⁰“When that time comes, the Lord will hire a barber from across the Euphrates—the emperor of Assyria!—and he will shave off your beards and the hair on your heads and your bodies.

²¹“When that time comes, even if a farmer has been able to save only one young cow and two goats,

²²they will give so much milk that he will have all he needs. Yes, the few survivors left in the land will have milk and honey to eat.

²³“When that time comes, the fine vineyards, each with a thousand vines and each worth a thousand pieces of silver, will be overgrown with thorn bushes and briers.

²⁴People will go hunting there with bows and arrows. Yes, the whole country will be full of briers and thorn bushes.

²⁵All the hills where crops were once planted will be so overgrown with thorns that no one will go there. It will be a place where cattle and sheep graze.”

Isaiah's Son as a Sign to the People

¹The Lord said to me, “Take a large piece of writing material and write on it in large letters: ‘Quick Loot, Fast Plunder.’

²Get two reliable men, the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah, to serve as witnesses.”

³Some time later my wife became pregnant. When our son was born, the Lord said to me, “Name him ‘Quick-Loot-Fast-Plunder.’

⁴Before the boy is old enough to say ‘Mamma’ and ‘Daddy,’ all the wealth of Damascus and all the loot of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”

The Emperor of Assyria Is Coming

⁵The Lord spoke to me again.

⁶He said, “Because these people have rejected the quiet waters of Shiloah Brook and tremble before King Rezin and King Pekah,

⁷I, the Lord, will bring the emperor of Assyria and all his forces to attack Judah. They will advance like the flood waters of the Euphrates River, overflowing all its banks.

⁸They will sweep through Judah in a flood, rising shoulder high and covering everything.” God is with us! His outspread wings protect the land.

⁹Gather together in fear, you nations! Listen, you distant parts of the earth. Get ready to fight, but be afraid! Yes, get ready, but be afraid!

¹⁰Make your plans! But they will never succeed. Talk all you want to! But it is all useless, because God is with us.

The Lord Warns the Prophet

¹¹With his great power the Lord warned me not to follow the road which the people were following. He said,

¹²“Do not join in the schemes of the people and do not be afraid of the things that they fear.

¹³Remember that I, the Lord Almighty, am holy; I am the one you must fear.

¹⁴Because of my awesome holiness I am like a stone that people stumble over; I am like a trap that will catch the people of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel and the people of Jerusalem.

¹⁵Many will stumble; they will fall and be crushed. They will be caught in a trap.”

Warning against Consulting the Dead

¹⁶You, my disciples, are to guard and preserve the messages that God has given me.

¹⁷The Lord has hidden himself from his people, but I trust him and place my hope in him.

¹⁸Here I am with the children the Lord has given me. The Lord Almighty, whose throne is on Mount Zion, has sent us as living messages to the people of Israel.

¹⁹But people will tell you to ask for messages from fortunetellers and mediums, who chirp and mutter. They will say, “After all, people should ask for messages from the spirits and consult the dead on behalf of the living.”

²⁰You are to answer them, “Listen to what the Lord is teaching you! Don't listen to mediums—what they tell you cannot keep trouble away.”

A Time of Trouble

²¹The people will wander through the land, discouraged and hungry. In their hunger and their anger they will curse their king and their God. They may look up to the sky

²²or stare at the ground, but they will see nothing but trouble and darkness, terrifying darkness into which they are being driven.

At Raguel's House

¹When Tobias and the angel Raphael had entered the city of Ecbatana, Tobias said, Azarias, my friend, take me to see Raguel as quickly as you can. The angel brought him to Raguel's house, where they found him sitting at the entrance to his courtyard. Raphael and Tobias greeted him first; then he replied, Come in, my friends. You are welcome in my home. Raguel brought them into his house

²and said to his wife Edna, Doesn't this young man look just like my cousin Tobit?

³Edna asked them, Where do you come from? We are Israelites of the tribe of Naphtali, Tobias and Raphael answered, but we are now living in exile in the city of Nineveh in Assyria.

⁴Edna said, Do you know our cousin Tobit? We certainly do know him, they answered. How is he? she asked.

⁵He is alive and well, they replied. Then Tobias added, Tobit is my father.

⁶At that Raguel got up, and with tears of joy in his eyes he kissed Tobias.

⁷Then he said, God bless you, my child. Your father is a good and noble man. What a terrible tragedy that such an honest and generous man should have lost his sight! He threw his arms around Tobias' neck and wept on his shoulder.

⁸His wife Edna and his daughter Sarah also wept for Tobit. Raguel gave Tobias and Raphael a warm welcome and had one of his rams slaughtered. After the guests had bathed and were about to sit down to eat, Tobias said to Raphael, Azarias, my friend, when are you going to ask Raguel to let me marry Sarah?

⁹But Raguel overheard the question and said to Tobias,

¹⁰Eat and drink something first and enjoy yourself this evening. You have the right to marry Sarah, and I cannot let anyone else marry her, because you are my closest relative. But I must tell you the truth, my son.

¹¹I have already given her to seven men, all of them relatives. Each one died on his wedding night, as soon as he entered the bedroom. But now, my son, have something to eat and drink. The Lord will take care of you both. Tobias replied, I won't eat or drink until you give me your word.

¹²Raguel agreed. Certainly I will, he said. I will give her to you just as the Law of Moses commands. God in heaven has arranged this marriage, so take her as your wife. From now on, you belong to each other. Sarah is yours today and forever. May the Lord of heaven keep both of you safe tonight. May he be merciful and kind to you.

The Marriage Ceremony

¹³Then Raguel called his daughter. When she came in, he took her by the hand and gave her to Tobias with his blessing, Take her to be your wife according to the teachings in the Law of Moses. Take her safely with you to your father's house. May the God of heaven give you a happy life together.

¹⁴Raguel asked his wife to bring him a blank scroll so that he could write out the marriage contract. Edna brought him the scroll, and Raguel wrote out the agreement, saying that Sarah was given to Tobias according to the teachings in the Law of Moses.

¹⁵After the ceremony they began the meal.

¹⁶Raguel called his wife and said, Get the spare room ready, my dear, and take Sarah there.

¹⁷Edna made up the bed as Raguel had told her. Then she took Sarah into the room with her, and Sarah began to cry. But Edna wiped away her tears and said,

¹⁸Don't worry, Sarah. I'm sure the Lord of heaven will make you happy this time and not sad. So cheer up, my dear. Then Edna left the room.

The Demon Is Expelled

¹When they had finished the meal, and it was time to go to bed, Sarah's parents led young Tobias to the bedroom.

²He remembered Raphael's instructions, so he took the fish's liver and heart out of the bag where he had been keeping them. Then he placed them on the burning incense.

³The smell drove the demon away from them, and he fled to Egypt. Raphael chased after him and caught him there. At once he bound him hand and foot.

The Prayer of Tobias

⁴When Tobias and Sarah were alone behind closed doors, Tobias got up from the bed and said to his wife, Get up, dear. Let's pray for the Lord to be merciful and to protect us.

⁵Sarah got up so that they could pray together and ask God for his protection. Then Tobias prayed: God of our ancestors, you are worthy of praise. May your name be honored forever and ever by all your creatures in heaven and on earth.

⁶You created Adam and gave him his wife Eve to be his helper and support. They became the parents of the whole human race. You said, It is not good for man to live alone. I will make a suitable helper for him.

⁷Lord, I have chosen Sarah because it is right, not because I lusted for her. Please be merciful to us and grant that we may grow old together.

⁸Then they both said Amen

Anxious Parents

⁹and went to bed for the night. Later that night, Raguel called his servants, and together they went out to dig a grave,

¹⁰because Raguel thought, Tobias will probably die too, and people will laugh and make fun of us.

¹¹When they finished digging the grave, Raguel went back into the house and said to his wife,

¹²Send one of the servant women to find out if Tobias is still alive. If he isn't, then we will bury him before anyone finds out.

¹³They then sent a servant woman to take a lamp and see if he was still alive. As she opened the door, she could see that both of them were sound asleep.

¹⁴So she went back and told Raguel and Edna that Tobias was alive and unharmed.

Raguel's Prayer

¹⁵Then Raguel praised the God of heaven: You are worthy of our praise, O God. May your people praise you forever, may they praise you with pure hearts.

¹⁶I praise you because you have made me glad; you have been merciful to us, and my worst fears did not come true.

¹⁷You deserve our praise, O Lord; you were merciful to this young couple, the only children of their parents. Now, grant them your mercy and protection. Let them live out their lives in happiness and love.

¹⁸Then Raguel ordered his servants to fill in the grave before dawn.

The Wedding Feast

¹⁹Raguel told his wife to bake enough bread for a big feast. Then he went out to the herd and brought back two oxen and four rams, which he ordered his servants to slaughter in preparation for the wedding feast.

²⁰He called for Tobias and vowed that he would not let him leave for two weeks. Stay, and we will eat and drink together, he said. It will do my daughter good after her terrible suffering.

²¹Then you may take half of what I own and go back to your parents safe and sound. You will inherit the other half when Edna and I die. Have no doubts about our love for you; from now on you are as much our son as Sarah is our daughter. You can be sure of that, my son.

The Journey to Rages

¹Then Tobias called Raphael and said to him,

²Azarias, take four of the servants with you, and two camels, and go to Gabael's house in the town of Rages. Give him the signed document, so that he will give you the money. Then bring him back with you for the wedding feast.

^3-4You know that my father is counting the days until I come home, and he will be very upset if I am even one day late. You know, too, how Raguel insists that I must stay, and I cannot disappoint him.

⁵So Raphael and the four servants went to Rages in Media, where they stayed at Gabael's house. Raphael gave him the signed document and told him that Tobit's son Tobias had recently married, and that Gabael was invited to the wedding feast. At once Gabael counted out the bags of money, which were still sealed, and they loaded them on the camels.

⁶Very early the next morning, they set out for the wedding feast. When Raphael and Gabael came to Raguel's house, they found Tobias at dinner. Tobias immediately got up and greeted Gabael. With tears in his eyes Gabael returned the greeting and added, You are just like your honest and generous father. May the Lord in heaven bless you and your wife, your mother-in-law, and your father. Praise God! He has let me live to see my cousin Tobias, who looks so much like his father.

⁵A sensible person gathers the crops when they are ready; it is a disgrace to sleep through the time of harvest.

⁶Good people will receive blessings. The words of the wicked hide a violent nature.

⁷Good people will be remembered as a blessing, but the wicked will soon be forgotten.

⁸Sensible people accept good advice. People who talk foolishly will come to ruin.