Isaiah 7:1–2 tells how the kings of Ephraim and Syria attack Jerusalem when Ahaz refuses to join them in their anti-Assyrian alliance. Ahaz wishes to ask Assyria for help, but Isaiah, at God's command, takes his son Shear-jashub (a symbolic name meaning "a remnant shall return") and assures Ahaz that the two enemy kings will not succeed (Isaiah 7:3–9). Isaiah tells Ahaz of the apparent sign by which he will know that this is a true prophecy: a young woman will give birth to a child whom she will name Immanuel (another symbolic name, meaning "God is with us"), and the lands of the "two kings you dread" will be laid waste before the child is old enough to "reject the wrong and choose the right" (Isaiah 7:13–16).