Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Isaiah 7:16 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 16. 16For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
The narrated sign and its political setting supplies a stated reason through “For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou…” at Isaiah 7:16 in “The Immanuel Sign Addresses Ahaz's Immediate Crisis.”
Ahaz is offered a sign as deep as sheol or high as heaven, and he refuses
This verse is one part of that explanation in Isaiah 7:10–16. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Isaiah 7:10–16
Read Isaiah 7:16 with 7:10–16. By itself, “For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou…” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, historical horizon, poetic movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: Ahaz refuses a sign, yet a young woman, a child called Immanuel, curds and honey, and the near removal of the two feared kings answer the eighth-century danger.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within the same chapter, this unit advances from “Isaiah Calls Ahaz to Quiet Trust during the Coalition Crisis” into “The Immanuel Sign Addresses Ahaz's Immediate Crisis.” Its non-interchangeable movement is: Ahaz refuses a sign, yet a young woman, a child called Immanuel, curds and honey, and the near removal of the two feared kings answer the eighth-century danger. This verse's placement is specific: The narrated sign and its political setting supplies a stated reason through “For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou…” at Isaiah 7:16 in “The Immanuel Sign Addresses Ahaz's Immediate Crisis.”
Follow the Context
- The unit opens at 7:10 with the address, scene, poem, sign, question, or action named in its title.
- Ahaz refuses a sign, yet a young woman, a child called Immanuel, curds and honey, and the near removal of the two feared kings answer the eighth-century danger.
- By 7:16 the movement reaches its warning, promise, answer, response, or transition before the next unit begins.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
The child's near-term age marker does not support an indefinitely delayed fulfillment that ignores the two kings Ahaz feared.
What Remains True
Signs serve a stated message and audience; they do not cancel context or make every later analogy a prediction. In Isaiah 7:16, that bounded truth is carried through this verse's role: The narrated sign and its political setting supplies a stated reason through “For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou…” at Isaiah 7:16 in “The Immanuel Sign Addresses Ahaz's Immediate Crisis.”
Teach It Back
Explain Isaiah 7:16's precise role in Isaiah 7:10–16. Include “For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou…,” state the unit's historical or literary limit, give one proportionate truth and action, and explicitly reject one harmful use.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Isaiah 7:10–16 — The Immanuel Sign Addresses Ahaz's Immediate CrisisSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Responsible readings differ over date, composition, speaker, historical reconstruction, rhetoric, textual details, and later reception. The preferred reading follows the complete unit and its received-book placement while preserving this limit: The sign does not bypass its Syro-Ephraimite horizon, prove the KJV term “virgin” settles every Hebrew question, or justify condemning Jewish readers who do not begin with Matthew.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Isaiah 7:10–16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Isaiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 7:10–16 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked
Open the fixed Hebrew Isaiah file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Isaiah
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2016; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, poetry, older KJV language, chronology, names, textual issues, and material translation alternatives.
Exact location: Official NET Isaiah PDF, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Isaiah 7:10–16 in the complete 205-page book PDF
Open the official NET Isaiah PDF ↗open university study guide series
First Isaiah study-guide course
John J. Collins and Joel S. Baden
Yale Bible Study, 2020; current public course
Supports: Eighth-century Assyrian setting, Isaiah traditions, later growth, justice, Zion, signs, royal language, nations, and policy, with proposals kept visible.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, First Isaiah course, Isaiah's Call Vision and Immanuel guides; applied to Isaiah 7:10–16
Open the Yale First Isaiah course ↗modern scholarly book course
Isaiah course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, themes, and reception
Fred Gaiser; revised by Michael Chan
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised August 2024
Supports: Whole-book historical, literary, theological, ethical, and reception synthesis across Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and postexilic horizons.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Isaiah course, Summary, Background, Introductory Issues, Outline Book 1A, and Theological Themes; applied to Isaiah 7:10–16
Open the Enter the Bible Isaiah course ↗scholarly ethical reception guidance
Anti-Judaism in Christian Teaching and Preaching
Matt Skinner
Working Preacher, Luther Seminary, 2008
Supports: Controls against caricaturing Judaism, Torah-as-legalism claims, blanket condemnation, Gentile boasting, and supersessionist misuse.
Exact location: Skinner, 'Anti-Judaism in Christian Teaching and Preaching,' Working Preacher (2008), complete essay categories and guidance; applied to the reception risks in Isaiah 7:10–16
Open Skinner's anti-Judaism guidance ↗