17 But also be warned: God will bring on you and your people and your government a judgment worse than anything since the time the kingdom split, when Ephraim left Judah. The king of Assyria is coming!" 18 That's when God will whistle for the flies at the headwaters of Egypt's Nile, and whistle for the bees in the land of Assyria. 19 They'll come and infest every nook and cranny of this country. There'll be no getting away from them. 20 And that's when the Master will take the razor rented from across the Euphrates - the king of Assyria no less! - and shave the hair off your heads and genitals, leaving you shamed, exposed, and denuded. He'll shave off your beards while he's at it. 21 It will be a time when survivors will count themselves lucky to have a cow and a couple of sheep. 22 At least they'll have plenty of milk! Whoever's left in the land will learn to make do with the simplest foods - curds, say, and honey. 23 But that's not the end of it. This country that used to be covered with fine vineyards - thousands of them, worth millions! - will revert to a weed patch. 24 Weeds and thorn bushes everywhere! Good for nothing except, perhaps, hunting rabbits. 25 Cattle and sheep will forage as best they can in the fields of weeds - but there won't be a trace of all those fertile and well-tended gardens and fields.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Isaiah 7:17-25
Commentary on Isaiah 7:17-25
(Read Isaiah 7:17-25)
Let those who will not believe the promises of God, expect to hear the alarms of his threatenings; for who can resist or escape his judgments? The Lord shall sweep all away; and whomsoever he employs in any service for him, he will pay. All speaks a sad change of the face of that pleasant land. But what melancholy change is there, which sin will not make with a people? Agriculture would cease. Sorrows of every kind will come upon all who neglect the great salvation. If we remain unfruitful under the means of grace, the Lord will say, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for ever.