Isaiah - 7:5



5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have plotted evil against you, saying,

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Isaiah 7:5.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying,
Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have purposed evil against thee, saying,
Because Syria hath taken counsel against thee, unto the evil of Ephraim and the son of Romelia, saying:
Inasmuch as Syria hath taken evil counsel against thee, Ephraim also and the son of Remaliah, saying,
Because Syria hath counselled evil against thee, Ephraim also, and the son of Remaliah, saying,
Because that Aram counselled against thee evil, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying:
Because Aram has made evil designs against you, saying,
Because Aram hath counselled evil against thee, Ephraim also, and the son of Remaliah, saying:
For Syria has undertaken a plan against you, with the evil of Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying:
Eo quod consilium contra te iniit Syrus malignum cum Ephraim et filio Romeliae, dicendo:

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

The king of Syria hath taken evil counsel against thee. Though he foretold that empty would be the threats, and vain the attempts of the enemies of the people of God, yet he does not conceal that their devices are cruel, if the Lord do not restrain them. By evil counsel he means destructive counsel, for these two kings had leagued together to destroy Judea. To express it more fully, and to place it as it were before their eyes, he relates their very words.

Because - Remaliah - All these words are omitted by one MS. and the Syriac; a part of them also by the Septuagint.

Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah,.... Not that there were three parties in the counsel and confederacy against Judah, only two, the kingdoms of Syria and Ephraim, or Israel; the king of the former is not mentioned at all, and the latter only as if he was the son of a private person, which is purposely done by way of contempt:
have taken evil counsel against thee: which is expressed in the next verse;
saying; as follows.

"Because Aram hath determined evil over thee, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah (Remalyahu), saying, We will march against Judah, and terrify it, and conquer it for ourselves, and make the son of Tâb'êl king in the midst of it: thus saith the Lord Jehovah, It will not be brought about, and will not take place." The inference drawn by Caspari (Krieg, p. 98), that at the time when Isaiah said this, Judaea was not yet heathen or conquered, is at any rate not conclusive. The promise given to Ahaz was founded upon the wicked design, with which the war had been commenced. How far the allies had already gone towards this last goal, the overthrow of the Davidic sovereignty, it does not say. But we know from 2-Kings 15:37 that the invasion had begun before Ahaz ascended the throne; and we may see from Isaiah 7:16 of Isaiah's prophecy, that the "terrifying" (nekı̄tzennah, from kūtz, taedere, pavere) had actually taken place; so that the "conquering" (hibkia‛, i.e., splitting, forcing of the passes and fortifications, 2-Kings 25:4; Ezekiel 30:16; 2-Chronicles 21:17; 2-Chronicles 32:1) must also have been a thing belonging to the past. For history says nothing about a successful resistance on the part of Judah in this war. Only Jerusalem had not yet fallen, and, as the expression "king in the midst of it" shows, it is to this that the term "Judah" especially refers; just as in Isaiah 23:13 Asshur is to be understood as signifying Nineveh. There they determined to enthrone a man named Tâb'êl (vid., Ezra 4:7; it is written Tâb'al here in pause, although this change does not occur in other words (e.g., Israel) in pause - a name resembling the Syrian name Tab-rimmon),
(Note: The Hauran inscriptions contain several such composite names formed like Tâb'êl with el: see Wetzstein, Ausgewhlte griechische und lateinische Inschriften, pp. 343-4, 361-363). By the transformation into Tab'al, as Luzzatto says, the name is changed from Bonus Deus to Bonus minime.)
a man who is otherwise unknown; but it never went beyond the determination, never was even on the way towards being realized, to say nothing of being fully accomplished. The allies would not succeed in altering the course of history as it had been appointed by the Lord.

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