maria. These things I have foretold you from God, O ye men of Jerusalem: if ye will not give credit unto them, the fault and the punishment shall be yours; ye shall fail of that protection and stability, which you expect.

VII. 12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.

I will demand no sign; for why should I, since I do already believe the promise of God made to me? And why should I tempt God, by urging him to give proof and evidence of that, whereof I am sufficiently assured?

VII. 13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Hear me now, O ye of the house of my dear and faithful servant David; whose sin is therefore aggravated by the holiness of your forefathers: Is it a small thing for you, to reject and contemn me, that am a man like yourselves, but ye will, with your hypocrisy and disobedience, provoke and abuse my God also, whose message I bear? Are ye not ashamed and afraid, under a pretence of piety to refuse the gracious offer and command of God that sent me?

VII. 14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Therefore, the Lord shall, without your will or assent, give you a sign; which shall be no other, than that ancient engagement of his to his Church. Behold, in the fulness of time, a virgin shall miraculously conceive, and bear a son; and she shall, by the appointment of God himself, call his name, God with us.

VII. 15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

He shall have a true human body; and shall be sustained with that ordinary nourishment, wherewith children are wont to be fed; and shall grow up in experimental knowledge, as well as in stature; and shall thus enable himself, like us, to refuse the evil and choose the good.

VII. 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.

But, because you may plead that it will be long ere this promise be effected, behold, before this child of mine, Shear-jashub, shall come to the age of discretion, this land of Israel and of Syria shall be forsaken of both these kings, Rezin and Pekah; for they shall both, ere long, be swept away by an untimely death.

VII. 17 From the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.

It was a heavy day to you, when the ten tribes departed away from Judah; but this judgment, which I will bring upon you, shall be rather worse than that, even the sword of the king of Assyria.

VII. 18 That the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee tha is in the land of Assyria.

The Lord shall call for and excite mighty enemies against thee, out from the further coasts of the river of Nilus, and out of Assyria; even Ethiopians, Edomites, and other puissant nations, which shall come, as thick as swarms of flies or bees.

VII. 20 In the same day shall the Lord shave with a rasor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the

beard.

In that day, the Lord shall, by the hand of the Assyrians and their associates, make utter strip and waste of Judah, by the cruelty of those hired forces, which they shall bring up; even as if a man should be hired, with his rasor to shave off all the hair of the head and the whole body, even to the very stumps, so as there shall be no mention where it grew.

VII. 21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;

And it shall come to pass in those days, that a man, which had formerly wont to keep whole flocks and droves, shall now be glad to take up with one young cow and two sheep;

VII. 22 And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give that he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.

And, though this proportion be very small, yet it shall be answerable to the persons, which shall be left alive to spend it; who shall be so few, that this poor stock of cattle shall be able to feed them: a small quantity of butter and honey shall be enough to sustain that small remainder of men.

VII. 24 With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns.

So desolate shall the country be, that where before were towns inhabited and fields tilled, there shall be now solitary deserts, the dens of wild beasts; so as the hunters shall come thither with arrows and bows, to pursue their ganie:

VII. 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.

And men shall be glad to betake themselves into waste wildernesses, for their hiding places; and there shall be glad to plant themselves, and employ their husbandry upon the desert mountains; which they shall dig with their mattocks, instead of ploughing; insomuch as there shall be no place for briers and thorns to grow in those desolate hills, but they shall be improved to the use of their oxen and lesser cattle.

VIII. 1 Take thee a great roll, and write in it with man's pen concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

Take thee a large roll, and write therein with large text letters, that word of threatened judgment, which thou shalt take for the name of thy son; even, Maher-shalal-hash-baz: those four words

compounded in one shall be enough to fill thy scroll, and the hearts of the people, with an expectation of the destruction menaced. VIII. 2 And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, &c.

And I took unto me faithful witnesses, both of this act that I did, in fastening this roll upon the doors of the temple, and of the name given to my said son, in his circumcision; even Uriah the priest, &c.

VIII. 3 And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Maher-sha

lal-hash-baz. For I had conversed with my wife the prophetess, and she had conceived and borne a son; and the Lord had appointed me to call his name, Make speed to the spoil, Hasten to the prey; in a sign and denunciation of that judgment, which the Assyrians shall bring upon Jerusalem.

VIII. 4 For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.

For, ere the child shall come to the age of speech and discretion, to distinguish his parents from strangers, the general of the king of Assyria shall spoil the countries of Israel and Syria; whereof the chief cities are Damascus and Samaria.

VIII. 6 Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloak that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son. Forasmuch as this people have not rested themselves upon the gracious promises of God's protection, but, being disheartened with their own paucity and weakness, have sought to other helps, and depended upon Rezin and Pekah, the kings of Syria and Israel. VIII. 8 And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel. The power of the king of Assyria shall spread itself over the whole land of Judah, to destroy it; even over that holy land, which is consecrated to thy name, O thou Saviour of thy Church, God and Man; which yet, because it so nearly pertaineth unto thee, shall at last find the benefit of thy protection. Ŏ

VIII. 9 Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces.

Go to then, O ye enemies of God's people; band yourselves together; join your hearts, and heads, and hands in one; yet ye shall, in spite of all your power, be crushed and broken in pieces, &c.

VIII. 11 For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,

For the Lord did not only speak to me, but with his mighty hand guided and directed me, that I should not yield myself to a conformity with the sins of this people, and give way to their infidelity and obstinacy, saying,

VIII. 12 Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.

Say ye not, out of your distrust, Let us make a confederacy with the Assyrians, without whose aid we cannot stand against our enemies; neither be ye dejected with this cowardly fear of them, that rise up against you.

VIII. 13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

Give ye glory to God, in the confidence and praise of his Almighty power, whereby he subdueth all things: let your holy and awful fear be only bent upon him, who can deliver, or destroy you, at pleasure.

VIII. 14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

He shall be a rock of sure defence, to those, that fear him; but a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, to those, that distrust and disobey him, even of both the houses of Judah and Ephraim; and for a snare, to those, that are godless and rebellious, even in Jerusalem itself.

VIII. 16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. Give full assurance to my people of the certainty of this prophecy, and seal it up as a law that shall not be reversed.

VIII. 17 And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

For my part, however others entertain these words of God, I will make account of their assured performance; and depend upon the good providence of that just God, who deservedly withdraws his favour from the rebellious house of Jacob.

VIII. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.

Behold, I, and those faithful disciples, whom the Lord hath by my means converted unto him, are made a gazing stock and wonderment to the children of Israel; and this is a judgment, that is justly come upon them from the Lord of Hosts, which hath, with so small effect, graciously manifested himself in his temple on mount Zion.

VIII. 19 And when they shall say unto you, Seck unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?

What a madness is it in you, not to cleave fast unto the Lord, your true and only God? For if the profane heathen shall think they have reason to persuade you to depend upon magicians and wizards, that use devilish inchantments, is it not a shame, that you should not find cause to seek and cleave unto your only true God? Should we be so foolish, as to seek in the case of the living to the dead?

VIII. 20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

No; far be that from us: let us have recourse to the law and to the testimony that is it, which God hath given us for our infallible direction; and if any man speak either without or against this word, it is because he hath not the true light of grace or understanding in him.

VIII. 21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.

And whereas they hoped to have been fixed in this good land for ever, they shall now only pass through it as fugitives, being hardly bestead and pinched with hunger; and then, they shall fret and gall themselves with late and vain indignation, and shall curse their idol and their king, whose confidence hath misled them; and when they are thus thoroughly distressed, they shall begin to look upward, to the hand of that God, by whom they are punished.

VIII. 22 And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.

Neither can they expect comfort any other way; for if they look unto the earth, there is nothing but misery and affliction; yea even extremity of anguish so as that sorrow and distress, whereunto they shall be plunged, shall drive them forcibly to look up to heaven for succour.

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IX. 1 Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the

nations.

Yet, though this calamity shall be exceeding great, yet it shall not be utterly so extreme and disconsolate, as that former, which the land of Israel shall endure, when Tiglath Pileser, king of Assyriashall have miserably afflicted it, and when it was conquered and wasted by Shalmaneser; and those maritime parts thereof, which were beyond Jordan, bordering upon Tyre and Sidon, were utterly wasted.

IX. 2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light : they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

There is a comfortable assurance of delivery in this miserable captivity; for, behold, the Messiah shall certainly come, and by his doctrine and Spirit shall enlighten those, that sit in darkness, and that abide in the shadow of death, beginning his blessed Gospel in those utmost skirts of Galilee.

IX. 3 Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.