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Isa.8:1. Take yourself a scroll... large and write in it with human scripture, they are in a hurry to create captivity for their own gain. Write not in styles that are difficult to read, but in separate letters that are easy to read. Write... in human scripture, so that it is obvious and clear to everyone. But just as the birth of Emmanuel was a sign of the removal of wars, for it was predicted that at the birth of the Virgin Mary the universe would enjoy peace, so the one born by the prophetess served as a sign of the approach of war. Isa.8:3. Nartsy's name for him is: "soon to be captured, brazenly plundered." The difference between the one and the other is visible not only in birth, but also in signification; in birth - because the Virgin will give birth to one, and the other - a prophetess; in the sign, because Isa.8:4. before you know how to call your father or mother, Before the son of Isaiah was able to name his father or mother, Tiglath-pileser would come and kill Racine, king of Damascus, and take Samaria captive, which happened soon after, during the reign of Pekah. Isa.8:6. Because the people did not desire these waters of Siloamli flowing this way, that is, the calm and gentle dominion of the house of David, which seemed heavy and intolerable to the ten tribes. Therefore, when they despised the quiet dominion of the house of David, the prophet threatens them with the heavy dominion of the Assyrians. Isa.8:7. The Lord will bring up water upon them... in abundance. The prophet calls Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser and Sennacherib, the kings of Assyria, many waters. Isaiah compares them and their troops to water: both in terms of their numbers and because the Assyrians lived by the waters. And he will lead them over all their streams, that is, he will bring in a multitude of Assyrians who will enslave and plunder the land of Judah and all its cities, drink and dry up the waters of the wells and their springs. The flood will overflow and reach your neck. This indicates that the grave disasters that befell the Jews will even reach Jerusalem, the head of the land of Judea. Isa.8:8. ...And his army will be able to fill the entire width of Your country, Emmanuel, that is, the whole land of Judea under Sennacherib will be filled with Assyrians. Isa.8:9. Tremble, O peoples, and repent... If you take counsel, the Lord will destroy you, - that is, the Lord will reveal the folly of your plans, - Isa.8:10. and the word which ye speak, shall not abide. You pronounce decrees, but your decrees will not be fulfilled: Emmanuel the Lord, the guardian of our land, will destroy them. Isa.8:11. This is what the Lord says to me, as if taking me by the hand and teaching me not to walk in the way of these people. These words refer to the tribe of Judah, which God promises to turn away from walking in the way of the house of Israel, that is, from its lusts. Isa.8:13. Lord of hosts, sanctify Him, and He will be your sanctification, that is, it will be a house of refuge and a helper for you, the house of Judah. Isa.8:14. It will be... a stumbling block and a stumbling block for both the house of Israel, that is, to all the Ephraimites and those of the Jews who rejoiced at the coming of Racine. Isa.8:16. Make a date and seal the law, that is, seal the testimony that I have spoken until the day when what I said comes true, when the word is confirmed by deed and the prophecy is justified by fulfillment. The Prophet mysteriously points to the day of the Messiah. Isa.8:17. And I, holding on to my teaching, will wait for God, that is, I will be firm in my thoughts, awaiting the fulfillment of what I predicted. He turned His face away from the house of Jacob. Righteous judgment was pronounced against the house of Jacob by the Lord, Whom the Israelites had angered with the multitude of their atrocities. Isa.8:18. Behold, I and the children whom God gave unto me... as signs, that is, I and my sons, given to me by God, serve as a sign, and one of my sons foreshadows in his name the Son of the Virgin, with whose coming the earth will be pacified, and the other announces in his name that a certain time is approaching the end, and the Assyrian captivity will soon come 3. Isa.8:19. And if they say to you, Seek out the magicians of the stomach, and those who proclaim from the earth, those who are vainglorious, who from the womb proclaim, they are not the Lord’s people, who test the dead for the living. The Israelites became like nations who inquire about the bones of the dead about their living brothers, so let them know that they are no longer God’s people. Isa.8:21. He will pass through the earth and upset her, that is, the Lord will strike the land of His people with famine. And when you are hungry, you will mourn and speak evil to your king. The people, tormented by hunger, will curse both the king and their God for not delivering them from the disaster. Isa.8:22. And they will look... woe. The prophet points to the repentant tribe of Judah, therefore he says: “he will not oppress the oppressed,” that is, he will no longer oppress the oppressed and sorrow-filled house of Judah. With such an explanation by the Monk Ephraim of these words of the prophet, as in other similar cases, one should take into account one of the main principles that he adhered to when interpreting the Old Testament Scriptures, clearly expressed in the interpretation of chapters 25, 27, 28 of the book of the prophet Isaiah (Is. 25: 7, 27: 1, 8, 28:16). A general note about the direction he followed in explaining the prophetic writings is set out in the appendices to the ed. Works of the Holy Fathers: “The Life of St. Ephraim the Syrian”, part 1, p. 69–72. You might be interested in: