The Book of Isaiah
Isaiah Chapter Seven

The purpose of this work is to guide you in Spirit Filled interpretation of this "Selected Study". As necessary we will provide outlines, historical backgrounds, note the purpose and focus of the text, and also provide the original hebrew language definitions for the key words in the highlighted text. The English translation used is the King James (Authorized) Version, not because it is the best translation available, but because I just plain prefer it for study!

All Scripture text will be presented in normal cased lettering, and all notes within the text will be in TRUE TYPE FONT, as shown. This (I hope) will allow you to avoid confusion between God's Word and my notes. As I update this website, I will continue to embellish the text so that anyone using NETSCAPE 3.0 or MICROSOFT 3.0 or higher will be able to read the document easier.
 

An excellent site to study Biblical Hebrew is by Lee R. Martin, Biblical Hebrew. The following are excerpts from his Hebrew Dictionary (if you want more, go to his site):

ABSOLUTE: In Hebrew Greek grammar, a word is absolute when it stands independently and has no grammatical relation to other elements in the sentence. The most common instance in Greek is the genitive absolute.

ABSOLUTE STATE: The Hebrew absolute together with a word in the construct state expresses the genitive. Do not confuse with the infinitive absolute. Heb: king (absolute); horse of (construct) the king (absolute), i.e., the king's horse (genitive).

ACCIDENCE: That part of grammar that treats inflection; a subcategory of morphology.

ACCUSATIVE CASE: A substantive used as the direct object of a transitive verb is said to be in the accusative case. In Greek, the accusative is the case of extension. Heb: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). Gk: "He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

ACCUSATIVE ENDING: In Hebrew see DIRECTIVE h.

ACTIVE VOICE: In the active voice, the subject is the doer of the action that is expressed by the verb.

AKTIONSART: German for "kind of action."

ANARTHROUS: A word that appears without the article is anarthrous.

ARAMAIC: A branch of the northwest Semitic languages that is closely related to Hebrew. In the OT Masoretic text, Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; Dan. 2:4b-7:28; and Jer. 10:11 are in Aramaic rather than Hebrew. Aramaic had become the common language of the Jewish people by NT times.

CASE: Case shows the grammatical relation of inflected forms such as nouns and pronouns to other words (nominative, possessive, objective cases).

CAUSATIVE VERB: A transitive verb that can be said to cause the action depicted in a corresponding intransitive verb. Ex: lay ("cause to lie") is the causative of lie; raise, the causative of rise.

DIRECT OBJECT: The word, phrase, or clause that is the primary goal or result of the action of the verb (cf. accusative case); the person or thing is directly affected by the action of the verb. Heb: "God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). Gr: "He grabbed him and began to choke him" (Matt. 18:28).

GENITIVE: The case that expresses possession or specifies a relationship that can be expressed in English by "of." In Hebrew this is called a construct relationship. The Greek genitive is the specifying case answering the question "What kind?" Heb: "the expanse of the sky" (Gen. 1:21). Gk: "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Mark 1:4).

GUTTURALS: The mute consonants whose sounds are produced when the front of the tongue approaches the palate of the mouth. Four letters in Hebrew, a h j and [ are the guttural letters (r has some guttural characteristics). Hebrew gutturals cannot be doubled, prefer a-class vowels, and composite shevas. In Greek, the guttural letters are g k and c also called velars, laryngeals, or palatals.

HITHPAEL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses intensive or emphatic action (classified by some grammars as causative action) and reflexive voice. For this emphasis in Greek, middle voice. Heb: "A group of adventurers gathered around [lit., gathered themselves around] him" (Judg. 11:3).

HOPHAL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses causative action and passive voice. Heb: "Let seven of his male descendants be given [hophal] to us" (2 Sam. 21:6).

IMPERATIVE: A verb or verbal mood that expresses command or makes a request.

IMPERFECT: In Hebrew, the form of the verb used to express action that is incomplete or unfinished. Heb: "What if they do not believe me" (Exod. 4:1). The Greek imperfect tense expresses incomplete, linear action in past time. Gk: "People were eating and drinking..." (Luke 17:28). Other regular uses of the tense include iterative, frequentative, inceptive, and conative.

INFINITIVE: A verbal noun that has characteristics of both verbs and nouns. In English usually introduced by to. Hebrew has both infinitive absolute and infinitive construct forms. Heb: "I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land" (Gen. 15:7). The Greek infinitive is used as a substantive, in subordinate clauses, with prepositions, and in epexegesis. Gk: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21).

INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE: A form of the Hebrew infinitive that may function in a number of ways: to express certainty or intensification ("you will surely die," Gen. 2:17); to express repeated or continued action ("Be ever hearing," Isa. 6:9); as a finite verb ("They...broke the jars," Judg. 7:19); to express an emphatic imperative ("Remember the Sabbath day," Exod. 20:8).

MASORETIC TEXT: The vocalized text of the Hebrew Bible, prepared by a group of Jewish scholars around A.D. 700 to preserve the oral pronunciation of the Hebrew words.

MOOD: Mood indicates the manner in which the action is conceived (or its relation to reality). Moods are indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and optative. Mood may be expressed by finite verbs in Greek and by various means (form, words, or context) in Hebrew. Mode.

NIPHAL: A verbal form (stem) in Hebrew that expresses simple action and passive or reflexive voice. Heb: "She was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah" (1 Sam. 18:19).

OPTATIVE MOOD: The mood of possibility and more doubtful assertion that expresses wish or desire. See also jussive and cohortative. Heb: "If only we had died in Egypt!" (Num. 14:2). Gk: "Maythe Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance" (2 Thess. 3:5).

PARTICIPLE: A verbal form that has characteristics of both noun and verb. In Hebrew it represents characteristic, continual, uninterrupted action. Heb: "The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters" (Gen. 1:2). The Greek participle is widely used as a substantive, adjective, and adverb in phrases and clauses. Gk:"...in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him" (1 Peter 1:21).

PARTICLE: A unit of speech that is ranked as an uninflected word but expresses some kind of syntactical relationship or some general aspect of meaning. Some grammarians classify all conjunctions, prepositions, and negatives as particles.

PASSIVE VOICE: A voice form of the verb that represents the subject as receiver of the action. Heb: "This land was given to us as our possession" (Ezek. 11:15). Gk: "You were marked in him with a seal" (Eph. 1:13).

PERFECT/PERFECT TENSE: In Hebrew, this form of the verb is used to express completed action, whether in reality or in the thought of the speaker or writer. Heb: rm'v; is a perfect form of the verb and would be translated "he guarded." The Greek perfect tense, by contrast, represents a state of completion with abiding results and is often translated as a present perfect. Gk: The perfect leluke would be rendered "he has released."

PIEL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses intensive or emphatic action and active voice. Heb: "They destroyed the high places and the altars" (2 Chron. 31:1).

PREPOSITION: A word that shows relationships between its object and some other word in the sentence. Some common English prepositions are in, to, from, with, above, for, by.

PRETERITE: A Latin name for the past tense; it is the equivalent of the perfect in Hebrew and the aorist indicative in Greek.

PUAL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses intensive or emphatic action and passive voice. Heb: "There was Baal's altar, demolished" (Judg. 6:28).

QAL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses simple action and active voice; it is sometimes spelled Kal. Ex:"Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew" (Gen.25:34).

REFLEXIVE VOICE: Denotes an action that is directed back upon the agent or subject; expressed in Hebrew by the niphal and the hithpael, in Greek by the middle voice.Heb: "I have...kept myself from sin" (Ps. 18:23). Gk: "Then he went away and hanged himself" (Matt. 27:5).

ROOT: That part of a word left when all affixes are removed; the morpheme that carries the minimal unit of meaning in a word and can be common to several different words. The three consonants in Hebrew that ordinarily compose the basic uninflected spelling of a word are called the root letters. Occasionally a Hebrew word may have two or four root letters. Gk: the root dik- is common to dikaio", "righteous," dikh, "justice," and dikaiow, "to acquit." Also called "Lexeme."

STATIVE VERB, STATIC VERB: A stative verb is one that indicates a state of being or relationship rather than action. In Hebrew, its vowel pattern is different from that of verbs of action or motion. Greek statives include eijmi, ginomai, and uJparcw. Heb: "the hands...will be strengthened (2 Sam. 16:21). Gk: "Who, being in very nature God" (Phil. 2:6).

STEM: The noun or verb base formed by the addition of derivational affixes to the root. Thus, in Greek, doro- is the stem of the noun doron, "gift"; do- is the root, ro is the affix (in this case, a suffix). Also called base in recent grammars. In Hebrew, the term is used to designate verb forms that express certain kinds of action and voice; the major Hebrew verbal stems are qal, niphal, piel, pual, hithpael, hiphil, and hophal.

STRONG VERB: In Hebrew, the regular verb whose stem consonants do not change, i.e., remain unmodified in conjugation, in contrast to the weak verb. In Greek, a tense stem formed from the verb stem or root itself by vowel gradation.

VOICE: Voice is a modification of a verb that tells whether the subject of the verb acts or is acted upon. There are three voices in English, Hebrew, and Greek: active, passive, and reflexive.

WEAK VERB: In Hebrew, the verbs with gutturals or weak letters ( n in first root position, y and w in first or second root position, identical second and third root letters) as radicals, which produce modifications in the conjugation, in contrast to the strong verb. In Greek, a tense stem formed by adding a suffix to the verb stem or root.

If you discover obvious errors (as I am human, and do make mistakes), please let me know. Do not contact me to argue about the doctrinal differences that you may have with my teaching. I do not argue Theology with anyone, so all Legalists, cultists, and others with extremist views, please save your (and my) time. If you want to discuss your doctrinal differences, or share a viewpoint, please contact me at Didaskalos Ministries. I am not so arrogant as to think I know it all, or even 1% of what the scripture teaches.

Isaiah 7:1

And it came to pass in the days of (an evil King, the twelfth King of S. Israel/ Judah - see 2 Kings 16; 2 Chron 27. During his reign Syria and Ephraim (N. Israel) tried to wipe out the nation, though Isaiah prophesied its failure, but Ahaz had no faith. He robbed the Temple and bribed the King of Assyria to defeat Syria and Ephraim. After Assyria did this, Assyria demanded yearly tribute from Judah. Ahaz agreed, and also picked up the idolatry prevalent in Assyria and brought it into Judah) 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, (Refers to N. Israel or Ephraim)

went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.

Isaiah 7:2

And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, (nuwa`, to be frightened or shake)

and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.

Isaiah 7:3

Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now (yatsa', Kal Imperative = get up now, go right now)

to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub (Name means "a remnant shall return")

thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool (`elyown berekah, an aqueduct. Ahaz was to make sure that the water pipes were unblocked for the coming war)

in the highway of the fuller's (kabac, trampling place. Literally, this referred to the ancient laundry area)

field;

Isaiah 7:4

And say unto him, Take heed, (shamar, Niphal Imperative = you take a look at yourself)

and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails (zanab, tail, by extension a thing that is short and stubby, just about to burn out. In other words, these people are all flash and no bash)

of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. (N. Israel)

Isaiah 7:5

Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying,

Isaiah 7:6

Let us go up against Judah, and vex (quwts, to make weary, besiege)

it, and let us make a breach therein (literally = break apart and divide it up)

for us, and set a king in the midst of it, [even] the son of Tabeal: (see 2 Chron 28.6-7)

Isaiah 7:7

Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.

Isaiah 7:8

For the head of Syria [is] Damascus, and the head of Damascus [is] Rezin; (Damascus is the capital of Syria, Rezim the King of Damascus)

and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people. (This prophecy was given in 735 BC. Two years later Tiglathpileser king of Assyria {see 2 Kings 15.29-30} invaded Ephraim - N. Israel, but the nation was not totally destroyed. In 721 BC Samaria fell to Shalmaneser king of Assyria {see 2 Kings 17}, but it was not until 670 BC that Esarhaddon king of Assur {Ezra 4.2} totally conquered Ephraim- N. Israel)

Isaiah 7:9

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.

Isaiah 7:10

Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying,

Isaiah 7:11

Ask thee a sign ('owth, a miraculous event wherein a Divine promise is verified. Only the weak believer needs a sign from God - the strong believer believes God because He said it)

of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, (`amaq, the deepest. Isaiah promises God can show the sign in the depth of the aqueduct)

or in the height (gabahh, Hophal Imperative = a miracle caused up high, above the reservoir)

above.

Isaiah 7:12

But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.

Isaiah 7:13

And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; (Ahaz was being called by His family name, 'House of David')

[Is it] a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?

Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin (ha `almah, the virgin {per ancient Hebrew}. Modern Hebrew means "a young woman", but this would not be a miracle or sign - young women conceive all the time)

shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Name means "God with us". See Genesis 3.15; Isa 9.6)

Isaiah 7:15

Butter and honey shall he eat, (idiomatic = Jesus would have a normal childhood)

that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. (He would refuse evil once He reached the age of accountability)

Isaiah 7:16

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.

Isaiah 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 Ephraim departed from Judah; [even] the king of Assyria.

Isaiah 7:18

And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the LORD shall hiss (sharaq, whistle)

for the fly that [is] in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, (Two Pharaoh's shall attack Judah: Tirhakah king of Ethiopia {Ethiopian dynasty - see also Isa 37.9} and Pharaoh Nekko, 26th Dynasty. These "flies" attack from 700-598 BC)

and for the bee that [is] in the land of Assyria. (Sennacherib's and Esarhaddon attack from 701-680 BC)

Isaiah 7:19

And they shall come, and shall rest (nuwach, relax, settle down)

all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.

Isaiah 7:20

In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor (ta`ar, Ahaz hires Tiglathpileser king of Assyria)

that is hired, [namely], by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, (refers to Damascus {Syria})

and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard. (both N. Israel and Judah will be attacked by the hired razor)

Isaiah 7:21

And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] a man shall nourish (chayah, preserve or feed. Sense = it will all a man can do to keep a poor man's herd alive)

a young cow, and two sheep;

Isaiah 7:22

And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk [that] they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey (all shall be reduced to eating baby food)

shall every one eat that is left in the land.

Isaiah 7:23

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.

Isaiah 7:24

With arrows and with bows shall [men] come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns.

Isaiah 7:25

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.

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