Yesaya 7:21-25

7:21 At that time ¹  a man will keep alive a young cow from the herd and a couple of goats. 7:22 From the abundance of milk they produce, ²  he will have sour milk for his meals. Indeed, everyone left in the heart of the land will eat sour milk and honey. 7:23 At that time ³  every place where there had been a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels will be overrun ⁴  with thorns and briers. 7:24 With bow and arrow ⁵  men will hunt ⁶  there, for the whole land will be covered ⁷  with thorns and briers. 7:25 They will stay away from all the hills that were cultivated, for fear of the thorns and briers. ⁸  Cattle will graze there and sheep will trample on them. ⁹ 

Imamat 25:4-5

25:4 but in the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath of complete rest ¹⁰  – a Sabbath to the Lord. You must not sow your field or ¹¹  prune your vineyard. 25:5 You must not gather in the aftergrowth of your harvest and you must not pick the grapes of your unpruned ¹²  vines; the land must have a year of complete rest.

Imamat 25:20-22

25:20 If you say, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow and gather our produce?’ 25:21 I will command my blessing for you in the sixth year so that it may yield ¹³  the produce ¹⁴  for three years, 25:22 and you may sow the eighth year and eat from that sixth year’s produce ¹⁵  – old produce. Until you bring in the ninth year’s produce, ¹⁶  you may eat old produce.

[7:21]  ¹ tn Heb “in that day.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[7:22]  ² tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated, see note on 2:2.

[7:23]  ³ tn Heb “in that day.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[7:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “will become” (so NASB); NAB “shall be turned to.”

[7:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “with arrows and a bow.” The more common English idiom is “bow[s] and arrow[s].”

[7:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “go” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “go hunting.”

[7:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “will be” (so NASB, NRSV).

[7:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “and all the hills which were hoed with a hoe, you will not go there [for] fear of the thorns and briers.”

[7:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “and it will become a pasture for cattle and a trampling place for sheep.”

[7:25]  sn At this point one is able to summarize the content of the “sign” (vv. 14-15) as follows: A young woman known to be present when Isaiah delivered this message to Ahaz (perhaps a member of the royal family or the prophetess mentioned in 8:3) would soon give birth to a boy whom the mother would name Immanuel, “God is with us.” Eventually Immanuel would be forced to eat sour milk and honey, which would enable him to make correct moral decisions. How would this situation come about and how would it constitute a sign? Before this situation developed, the Israelites and Syrians would be defeated. But then the Lord would usher in a period of time unlike any since the division of the kingdom almost 200 years before. The Assyrians would overrun the land, destroy the crops, and force the people to subsist on goats’ milk and honey. At that time, as the people saw Immanuel eating his sour milk and honey, the Davidic family would be forced to acknowledge that God was indeed with them. He was present with them in the Syrian-Israelite crisis, fully capable of rescuing them; but he was also present with them in judgment, disciplining them for their lack of trust. The moral of the story is quite clear: Failure to appropriate God’s promises by faith can turn potential blessing into disciplinary judgment.

[25:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and in the seventh year a Sabbath of complete rest shall be to the land.” The expression “a Sabbath of complete rest” is superlative, emphasizing the full and all inclusive rest of the seventh year of the sabbatical cycle. Cf. ASV “a sabbath of solemn rest”; NAB “a complete rest.”

[25:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and.” Here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has an alternative sense (“or”).

[25:5]  ¹² tn Heb “consecrated, devoted, forbidden” (נָזִיר, nazir). The same term is used for the “consecration” of the “Nazirite” (and his hair, Num 6:2, 18, etc.), a designation which, in turn, derives from the very same root.

[25:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “and it [i.e., the land] shall make the produce.” The Hebrew term וְעָשָׂת (vÿ’asat, “and it shall make”) is probably an older third feminine singular form of the verb (GKC 210 §75.m). Smr has the normal form.

[25:21]  ¹⁴ tn Smr and LXX have “its produce” (cf. 25:3, 7, etc.) rather than “the produce.”

[25:22]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the produce,” referring to “the produce” of the sixth year of v. 21. The words “sixth year” are supplied for clarity.

[25:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “until the ninth year, until bringing [in] its produce.”