Isaiah 7:6

6 “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.”

Isaiah 7:6 in Other Translations

6 Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal:

6 "Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,"

6 ‘We will attack Judah and capture it for ourselves. Then we will install the son of Tabeel as Judah’s king.’

6 'Let's go to war against Judah, dismember it, take it for ourselves, and set the son of Tabeel up as a puppet king over it.'

6 Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set up a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeel;

6 'Let's march against Judah, tear it apart, divide it among ourselves, and set up Tabeel's son as its king.'

6 Let us go up against Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it for ourselves. Then we can install Tabeel's son as king in it."

6 "Let's march into Judah and attack it. Let's tear everything down. Then we can share the land among ourselves. And we can make Tabeel's son king over it."

Isaiah 7:6 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 7:6

Let us go up against Judah, and vex it
By besieging or distressing it; or "stir it up" to war, as Jarchi interprets it: and let us make a breach therein for us;
in the walls of the city of Jerusalem, and enter in at it; the Targum is,

``let us join, and put it to us;''

and so Jarchi, let us level it with us, as this valley, which is even: the sense may be, let us make a breach and division among them, and then part the kingdom between us ^F3; or if we cannot agree on that, let us set up a king of our own, as follows: and set a king in the midst of it, [even] the son of Tabeal;
which Jarchi, by a situation of the alphabet the Jews call "albam", makes it to be the same with Remala, that is, Remaliah; and so supposes, that the intention was to set Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, over Judah; but it is not reasonable to think that the king of Syria should join in such a design; and besides, the method of interpretation, Aben Ezra says, is mere vanity; and whose sense of the words is much preferable, taking Tabeal to be the name of some great prince, either of Israel or of Syria; and so Kimchi thinks that he was a man of the children of Ephraim, whom they thought to make king in Jerusalem. The Targum understands not any particular person, but anyone that should be thought proper; and paraphrases it thus,

``let us appoint a king in the midst of it, who is right for us,''

or pleases us; the name seems to be Syriac, see ( Ezra 4:7 ) ( 1 Kings 15:18 ) . Dr. Lightfoot thinks it is the same with Tabrimmon, the name of some famous family in Syria. One signifies "good God": and the other "good Rimmon", which was the name of the idol of the Syrians, ( 2 Kings 5:18 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 So Noldius, Elr. Concord. Part. p. 62. renders its "let us divide it among us".

Isaiah 7:6 In-Context

4 Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.

5 Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying,

6 “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.”

7 Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “ ‘It will not take place, it will not happen,

8 for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.