Single lesson
Isaiah Meets King Ahaz
Isaiah 7:1–25
This lesson helps children follow Isaiah 7:1–25 in order, notice the fear around King Ahaz, and see how God spoke through Isaiah about trust, a sign, and coming trouble.
Before you teach
In this passage, Syria and Israel come against Jerusalem, and Ahaz and his people tremble with fear. God sends Isaiah to meet Ahaz with a message: do not fear, believe God’s word, and hear the sign God gives. The passage then describes both relief from the two kings and later trouble involving Assyria.
Students will be able to retell the main parts of Isaiah 7:1–25 and identify that God told Ahaz to trust his word rather than fear the two kings.
Welcome: What do people do when they are afraid?
4 minBegin by naming the people in the passage: Ahaz, Isaiah, Shearjashub, Rezin, and Pekah. Explain that Jerusalem is under threat, and the king and people are shaking with fear. Tell children they will listen for what God says to frightened people and what Ahaz does with that message.
Isaiah 7:1, Isaiah 7:2, Isaiah 7:3
Read and explain: God sends Isaiah to Ahaz
8 minRead verses 1–9 slowly. Explain that Syria and Ephraim planned to attack Judah and set up another king, but God said, “It shall not stand.” Point out God’s command, “Be careful, and keep calm. Don’t be afraid.” Explain simply that Ephraim is named in the passage as part of the threat against Judah.
Isaiah 7:1, Isaiah 7:4, Isaiah 7:5, Isaiah 7:6, Isaiah 7:7, Isaiah 7:9
Discuss: The sign and Ahaz's choice
6 minRead verses 10–16. Explain that God invited Ahaz to ask for a sign, but Ahaz refused. Then God said he himself would give a sign: a child called Immanuel. Help children observe what the passage actually says: before the child knows to refuse evil and choose good, the land of the two kings Ahaz fears will be forsaken.
Isaiah 7:10, Isaiah 7:11, Isaiah 7:12, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 7:15, Isaiah 7:16
Make and respond: Sequence cards for the story
8 minChildren make simple sequence cards showing the passage in order: attack and fear, Isaiah meets Ahaz, God says do not fear, Ahaz will not ask for a sign, God gives a sign, Assyria brings trouble, and the land becomes overgrown. As they place the cards, ask them to match each scene to a verse.
Isaiah 7:2, Isaiah 7:3, Isaiah 7:4, Isaiah 7:12, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 7:17, Isaiah 7:23, Isaiah 7:25
Closing: Outcomes in the passage
4 minRead verses 17–25 and summarise carefully. God says difficult days are coming through the king of Assyria. The pictures of flies, bees, shaving, briers, thorns, and changed farmland show hardship in the land. Finish by reviewing the sequence and repeating God’s words, “Don’t be afraid,” and “If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.”
Isaiah 7:17, Isaiah 7:18, Isaiah 7:20, Isaiah 7:23, Isaiah 7:24, Isaiah 7:25, Isaiah 7:4, Isaiah 7:9
Questions to explore
What made Ahaz and his people tremble at the start of the passage?
Look at who was allied together and how the people reacted when they heard the news.
Isaiah 7:1, Isaiah 7:2
What message did God send to Ahaz through Isaiah about the two kings?
Find the commands about fear and calm, and the sentence saying their plan would not stand.
Isaiah 7:4, Isaiah 7:7
What happened after Ahaz refused to ask for a sign?
Read the next verses to see that God gave a sign himself and then spoke about future trouble from Assyria.
Isaiah 7:12, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 7:17
Make, think or respond
Isaiah 7 Sequence Cards
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pencils or markers
- Bible
- scissors
- optional tape
Try it together
- Write or draw seven moments from the passage on separate cards: attack, fear, Isaiah meets Ahaz, do not fear, Ahaz refuses, God gives a sign, Assyria and the thorny land.
- Read the passage sections aloud and let children place the cards in order.
- Ask children to add a verse reference to each card with help from the group.
- Review the order together and ask which card shows God's instruction and which cards show outcomes.
This activity helps children follow Isaiah 7:1–25 in order and notice the choices, message, and outcomes named in the passage.
Adapt for your group
- For younger children, prepare the card titles in advance and let them focus on placing pictures in order while you read the verses aloud.
- For older or confident readers, ask them to add short captions from the passage, such as “Don’t be afraid” or “It shall not stand,” with verse references.
An optional closing prayer
“God, thank you that you spoke to Ahaz through Isaiah. Please help us listen carefully to your word and remember not to be ruled by fear. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Isaiah 7
1 In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
2 David’s house was told, “Syria is allied with Ephraim.” His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.
3 Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller’s field.
4 Tell him, ‘Be careful, and keep calm. Don’t be afraid, neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking torches, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have plotted evil against you, saying,
6 “Let’s go up against Judah, and tear it apart, and let’s divide it among ourselves, and set up a king within it, even the son of Tabeel.”
7 This is what the Lord Yahweh says: “It shall not stand, neither shall it happen.”
8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.’ ”
10 Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying,
11 “Ask a sign of Yahweh your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.”
12 But Ahaz said, “I won’t ask. I won’t tempt Yahweh.”
13 He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also?
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
15 He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil and choose the good.
16 For before the child knows to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken.
17 Yahweh will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, even the king of Assyria.
18 It will happen in that day that Yahweh will whistle for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
19 They shall come, and shall all rest in the desolate valleys, in the clefts of the rocks, on all thorn hedges, and on all pastures.
20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.
21 It shall happen in that day that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep.
22 It shall happen, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter, for everyone will eat butter and honey that is left within the land.
23 It will happen in that day that every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, will be for briers and thorns.
24 People will go there with arrows and with bow, because all the land will be briers and thorns.
25 All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending out of oxen, and for sheep to tread on.”
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.