Bible Strands
Isaiah 7:17
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.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Isaiah delivers this oracle to Ahaz of Judah during the Syro-Ephraimite crisis, warning that a unprecedented invasion will strike the king, his nation, and his royal lineage.
The words — The Hebrew יָבִיא (ya.Vi') means “he will bring,” paired with יְהוָה (Yah.weh) as the subject who initiates the coming calamity.
The thread — This judgment motif recurs in Isaiah 8:7, where the king of Assyria arrives as floodwaters, and Isaiah 10:5, where Assyria functions as the instrument of divine wrath. The schism behind “the house of your father” echoes the northern rebellion recorded in 1 Kings 12:16.
Why it lands — The text states that Yahweh alone controls the rise of foreign empires to execute covenant consequences. It demands recognition that political survival depends on aligning with divine timing rather than human alliances.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 8:7 the Lord will surely bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—the king of Assyria and all his pomp. It will overflow its channels and overrun its banks.
- Isaiah 10:5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.
- 1 Kings 12:16 When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David!” So the Israelites went home,
- 2 Kings 18:1 In the third year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah.
- 2 Chronicles 10:16 When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David!” So all the Israelites went home,
- 2 Chronicles 28:19 For the LORD humbled Judah because Ahaz king of Israel had thrown off restraint in Judah and had been most unfaithful to the LORD.
- 2 Chronicles 32:1 After all these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, intending to conquer them for himself.
- 2 Chronicles 33:11 So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
- 2 Chronicles 36:6 Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jehoiakim and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.
- Nehemiah 9:32 So now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God who keeps His gracious covenant, do not view lightly all the hardship that has come upon us, and upon our kings and leaders, our priests and prophets, our ancestors and all Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.