People are afraid and confused. Say to those people, “Be strong! Don’t be afraid!” Look, your God will come and punish your enemies. He will come and give you your reward. The Lord will save you.
“Tell Ahaz, ‘Be careful, but be calm. Don’t be afraid. Don’t let those two men, Rezin and Remaliah’s son, {\cf2\super [78]} scare you! Those men are like two burnt sticks. In the past they were burning hot. But now they are only smoke. Rezin, Aram, and Remaliah’s son are angry.
So don’t turn against the Lord! Don’t be afraid of the people in that land. We can defeat them. They have no protection, nothing to keep them safe. But we have the Lord with us. So don’t be afraid!”
So now, give me the hill country that the Lord promised me that day long ago. At that time, you heard that the strong Anakite people [56] lived there. And the cities were very big and well protected. But now, maybe the Lord will be with me, and I will take that land like the Lord said.”
Jonathan said to his young helper who carried his weapons, “Come on, let’s go to the camp of those foreigners. [129] Maybe the Lord will use us to defeat these people! Nothing can stop the Lord—it doesn’t matter if we have many soldiers or just a few soldiers.”
One of the servants said, “There is a man named Jesse living in Bethlehem. I saw Jesse’s son. He knows how to play the harp. He is also a brave man and fights well. He is smart and handsome. And the Lord is with him.”