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The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning
Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and
Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for
the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have
rebelled against me.
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s
crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Ah
sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children
that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy
One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the
whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
From the sole of the foot
even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds,
and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound
up, neither mollified with ointment.
Your country is desolate,
your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in
your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge
in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Except the LORD of hosts
had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom,
and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of
our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
To what purpose is the
multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt
offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood
of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
When ye come to appear before
me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
Bring no
more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and
sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is
iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
Your new moons and your appointed
feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear
them.
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine
eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands
are full of blood.
Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before
mine eyes; cease to do evil;
Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve
the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Come now, and
let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool.
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for
the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment;
righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
Thy silver is become
dross, thy wine mixed with water:
Thy princes are rebellious,
and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after
rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow
come unto them.
Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty
One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine
enemies:
And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and
take away all thy tin:
And I will restore thy judges as at the first,
and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The
city of righteousness, the faithful city.
Zion shall be redeemed with
judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall
be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
For
they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be
confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
For ye shall be as an
oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
And the
strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both
burn together, and none shall quench them.
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem.
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the
mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow
unto it.
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to
the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach
us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth
the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
And he shall judge
among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their
swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not
lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
O
house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they
be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the
Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.
Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any
end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is
there any end of their chariots:
Their land also is full of idols;
they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have
made:
And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself:
therefore forgive them not.
Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD,
and for the glory of his majesty.
The lofty looks of man shall be
humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone
shall be exalted in that day.
For the day of the LORD of hosts
shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon
every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
And
upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon
all the oaks of Bashan,
And upon all the high mountains, and upon all
the hills that are lifted up,
And upon every high tower, and
upon every fenced wall,
And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon
all pleasant pictures.
And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be
exalted in that day.
And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
And
they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth,
for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to
shake terribly the earth.
In that day a man shall cast his idols of
silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself
to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
To go into the clefts of the
rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for
the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein
is he to be accounted of?
For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from
Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and
the whole stay of water,
The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge,
and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
The captain of fifty,
and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and
the eloquent orator.
And I will give children to be their
princes, and babes shall rule over them.
And the people shall be
oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child
shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the
honourable.
When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of
his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and
let this ruin be under thy hand:
In that day shall he
swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither
bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.
For Jerusalem is
ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings
are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they
declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul!
for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
Say ye to the righteous,
that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit
of their doings.
Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with
him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
As for my people, children are their oppressors, and
women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to
err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
The LORD standeth up to plead,
and standeth to judge the people.
The LORD will enter into judgment
with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten
up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
What
mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the
poor? saith the LORD GOD of hosts.
Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and
walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing
as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:
Therefore
the LORD will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of
Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts.
In that day the
Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about
their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like
the moon,
The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,
The
bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets,
and the earrings,
The rings, and nose jewels,
The changeable
suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins,
The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.
And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there
shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair
baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and
burning instead of beauty.
Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy
mighty in the war.
And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she
being desolate shall sit upon the ground.
And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We
will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by
thy name, to take away our reproach.
In that day shall the branch of the
LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be
excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
And it shall
come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that
remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is
written among the living in Jerusalem:
When the Lord shall have washed
away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of
Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit
of burning.
And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount
Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a
flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.
And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the
heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from
rain.
Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his
vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
And he
fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the
choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a
winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it
brought forth wild grapes.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men
of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
What could have
been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I
looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will
take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down
the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
And I will lay it waste:
it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and
thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but
behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field,
till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of
the earth!
In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many
houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an
homer shall yield an ephah.
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may
follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame
them!
And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are
in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider
the operation of his hands.
Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have
no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their
multitude dried up with thirst.
Therefore hell hath enlarged herself,
and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude,
and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
And the
mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the
eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
But the LORD of hosts shall be
exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in
righteousness.
Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the
waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
Woe unto them that
draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may
see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come,
that we may know it!
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness
for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for
bitter!
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and
prudent in their own sight!
Woe unto them that are mighty to
drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
Which justify
the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from
him!
Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame
consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their
blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD
of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore is
the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth
his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and
their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this
his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss
unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed
swiftly:
None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber
nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet
of their shoes be broken:
Whose arrows are sharp, and all their
bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels
like a whirlwind:
Their roaring shall be like a lion, they
shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey,
and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of
the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and
sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon
a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Above it
stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face,
and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one
cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts:
the whole earth is full of his glory.
And the posts of the door
moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a
man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips:
for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Then flew one of
the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had
taken with the tongs from off the altar:
And he laid it upon my
mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken
away, and thy sin purged.
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying,
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I;
send me.
And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand
not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people
fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their
eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert,
and be healed.
Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the
cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land
be utterly desolate,
And the LORD have removed men far away, and
there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return,
and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in
them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be
the substance thereof.
And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son
of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the
son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it,
but could not prevail against it.
And it was told the house of David,
saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the
heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.
Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and
Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the
highway of the fuller’s field;
And say unto him, Take heed, and be
quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking
firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of
Remaliah.
Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken
evil counsel against thee, saying,
Let us go up against Judah, and vex
it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of
it, even the son of Tabeal:
Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall
not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
For the head of Syria
is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within
threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.
And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria
is Remaliah’s son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be
established.
Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying,
Ask thee a sign
of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.
But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.
And
he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you
to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?
Therefore the Lord himself
shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and
shall call his name Immanuel.
Butter and honey shall he eat, that he
may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
For 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.
The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy
father’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed
from Judah; even the king of Assyria.
And it shall come to pass
in that day, that the LORD shall hiss 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.
And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in
the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and
upon all bushes.
In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that
is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria,
the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish
a young cow, and two sheep;
And it shall come to pass, for the
abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for
butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.
And it
shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where
there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even
be for briers and thorns.
With arrows and with bows shall men
come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns.
And
on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not
come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending
forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.
Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write
in it with a man’s pen concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
And I took unto
me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of
Jeberechiah.
And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare
a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my
mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away
before the king of Assyria.
The LORD spake also unto me again, saying,
Forasmuch as this people
refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and
Remaliah’s son;
Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them
the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria,
and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over
all his banks:
And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go
over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his
wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and
give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in
pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.
Take counsel
together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not
stand: for God is with us.
For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me
that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,
Say ye not, A
confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A
confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.
Sanctify the
LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and
let him be your dread.
And he shall be for a sanctuary;
but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of
Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And
many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be
taken.
Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of
Jacob, and I will look for him.
Behold, I and the children whom the
LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the
LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.
And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar
spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people
seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?
To the law and to the
testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because
there is no light in them.
And they shall pass through it,
hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be
hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and
look upward.
And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and
darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to
darkness.
Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as
was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land
of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously
afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the
nations.
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:
they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light
shined.
Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the
joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as
men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
For thou hast broken the
yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor,
as in the day of Midian.
For every battle of the warrior is with
confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with
burning and fuel of fire.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a
son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name
shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon
his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice
from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform
this.
The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.
And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant
of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
The bricks
are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut
down, but we will change them into cedars.
Therefore the LORD
shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies
together;
The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they
shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned
away, but his hand is stretched out still.
For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they
seek the LORD of hosts.
Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel
head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
The ancient and honourable,
he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the
tail.
For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and
they that are led of them are destroyed.
Therefore the
Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their
fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and
every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but
his hand is stretched out still.
For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and
thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount
up like the lifting up of smoke.
Through the wrath of the LORD
of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the
fire: no man shall spare his brother.
And he shall snatch on the right
hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be
satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:
Manasseh,
Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be
against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand
is stretched out still.
Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write
grievousness which they have prescribed;
To turn aside the needy
from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that
widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation
which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where
will ye leave your glory?
Without me they shall bow down under the
prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not
turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine
indignation.
I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against
the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to
take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it
is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.
For he
saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?
Is not Calno
as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as
Damascus?
As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose
graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;
Shall I not,
as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath
performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the
fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high
looks.
For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the
people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants
like a valiant man:
And my hand hath found as a nest the riches
of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I
gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the
mouth, or peeped.
Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth
therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh
it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up,
or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no
wood.
Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat
ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning
of a fire.
And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy
One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in
one day;
And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful
field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer
fainteth.
And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a
child may write them.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of
Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again
stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of
Israel, in truth.
The remnant shall return, even the remnant of
Jacob, unto the mighty God.
For though thy people Israel be as the sand
of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption
decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
For the Lord GOD of hosts
shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest
in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and
shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.
For
yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in
their destruction.
And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for
him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as
his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of
Egypt.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden
shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck,
and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
He is come to
Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:
They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at
Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
Lift up thy voice, O
daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to
flee.
As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand
against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror:
and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty
shall be humbled.
And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with
iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a
Branch shall grow out of his roots:
And the spirit of the LORD shall
rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel
and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
And
shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall
not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of
his ears:
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove
with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the
rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the
girdle of his reins.
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the
leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the
fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
And the cow and
the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion
shall eat straw like the ox.
And the sucking child shall play on the
hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’
den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the
earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the
sea.
And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for
an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be
glorious.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord
shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his
people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros,
and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the
islands of the sea.
And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and
shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of
Judah from the four corners of the earth.
The envy also of Ephraim
shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall
not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
But they shall fly
upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them
of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the
children of Ammon shall obey them.
And the LORD shall utterly destroy
the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his
hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make
men go over dryshod.
And there shall be an highway for the
remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to
Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though
thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid:
for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is
become my salvation.
Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the
wells of salvation.
And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call
upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his
name is exalted.
Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things:
this is known in all the earth.
Cry out and shout, thou
inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst
of thee.
The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them,
shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
I have
commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine
anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
The noise of a
multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of
the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the
host of the battle.
They come from a far country, from the end of
heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy
the whole land.
Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a
destruction from the Almighty.
Therefore shall all hands be faint, and
every man’s heart shall melt:
And they shall be afraid: pangs and
sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that
travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be
as flames.
Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath
and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners
thereof out of it.
For the stars of heaven and the constellations
thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going
forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
And I will
punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity;
and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the
haughtiness of the terrible.
I will make a man more precious than fine
gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Therefore I will shake
the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the
LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
And it shall be as
the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man
turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.
Every one
that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto
them shall fall by the sword.
Their children also shall be dashed
to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives
ravished.
Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall
not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they
shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare
children.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’
excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
It shall
never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to
generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the
shepherds make their fold there.
But wild beasts of the desert shall
lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls
shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
And the wild beasts of
the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their
pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall
not be prolonged.
For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel,
and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them,
and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.
And the people shall take
them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess
them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take
them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their
oppressors.
And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall
give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage
wherein thou wast made to serve,
That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and
say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
The LORD
hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.
He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled
the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.
The
whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.
Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon,
saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.
Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming:
it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the
earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as
we? art thou become like unto us?
Thy pomp is brought down to the
grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and
the worms cover thee.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son
of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst
weaken the nations!
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend
into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also
upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider
thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that
did shake kingdoms;
That made the world as a wilderness, and
destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his
prisoners?
All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie
in glory, every one in his own house.
But thou art cast out of thy
grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are
slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as
a carcase trodden under feet.
Thou shalt not be joined with them in
burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people:
the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.
Prepare slaughter for
his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor
possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
For I
will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon
the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.
I will also
make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it
with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.
The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so
shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread
him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden
depart from off their shoulders.
This is the purpose that is
purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched
out upon all the nations.
For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who
shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who
shall turn it back?
In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.
Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote
thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice,
and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
And the
firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and
I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.
Howl,
O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there
shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his
appointed times.
What shall one then answer the messengers of
the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall
trust in it.
The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste,
and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid
waste, and brought to silence;
He is gone up to Bajith, and to
Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba:
on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut
off.
In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on the
tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping
abundantly.
And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh: their voice shall be
heard even unto Jahaz: therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry
out; his life shall be grievous unto him.
My heart shall cry out for
Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years
old: for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up; for
in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.
For the
waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass
faileth, there is no green thing.
Therefore the abundance they have
gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook
of the willows.
For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; the
howling thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim.
For
the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will bring more upon Dimon,
lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.
Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the
wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.
For it shall be,
that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of
Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.
Take counsel, execute judgment;
make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts;
bewray not him that wandereth.
Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab;
be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is
at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.
And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it
in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and
hasting righteousness.
We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud:
even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but
his lies shall not be so.
Therefore shall Moab howl for
Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye
mourn; surely they are stricken.
For the fields of Heshbon
languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have
broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto
Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are
stretched out, they are gone over the sea.
Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I
will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for
thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.
And gladness is taken
away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be
no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no
wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to
cease.
Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine
inward parts for Kir-haresh.
And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the
high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not
prevail.
This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning
Moab since that time.
But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within
three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be
contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be
very small and feeble.
The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from
being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
The cities of
Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down,
and none shall make them afraid.
The fortress also shall cease
from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they
shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.
And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob
shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.
And it
shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with
his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of
Rephaim.
Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive
tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four
or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God
of Israel.
At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall
have respect to the Holy One of Israel.
And he shall not look to the
altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his
fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.
In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an
uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and
there shall be desolation.
Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy
salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore
shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:
In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt
thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a
heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like
the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a
rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
The nations shall rush like
the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall
flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the
wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
And behold at
eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This
is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob
us.
Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the
rivers of Ethiopia:
That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels
of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a
nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning
hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have
spoiled!
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see
ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a
trumpet, hear ye.
For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and
I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs,
and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
For afore the
harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the
flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruninghooks, and take away
and cut down the branches.
They shall be left together unto the
fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall
summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a
people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning
hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers
have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount
Zion.
The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud,
and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his
presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
And I
will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one
against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city,
and kingdom against kingdom.
And the spirit of Egypt shall fail
in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall
seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar
spirits, and to the wizards.
And the Egyptians will I give over into the
hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord,
the LORD of hosts.
And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river
shall be wasted and dried up.
And they shall turn the rivers far away;
and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds
and flags shall wither.
The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of
the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away,
and be no more.
The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that
cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the
waters shall languish.
Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they
that weave networks, shall be confounded.
And they shall be broken in
the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.
Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise
counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I
am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
Where
are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell
thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived;
they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the
tribes thereof.
The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst
thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a
drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
Neither shall there be
any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.
In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and
fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he
shaketh over it.
And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt,
every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of
the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.
In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language
of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of
destruction.
In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the
midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.
And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in
the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the
oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall
deliver them.
And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians
shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea,
they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.
And the
LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall
return even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall
heal them.
In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the
Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the
Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
In that day shall Israel be
the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst
of the land:
Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed
be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine
inheritance.
In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of
Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;
At the same
time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the
sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did
so, walking naked and barefoot.
And the LORD said, Like as my servant
Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and
wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;
So shall the king of Assyria lead
away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old,
naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame
of Egypt.
And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their
expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
And the inhabitant of this isle
shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we
flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we
escape?
The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south
pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.
A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth
treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all
the sighing thereof have I made to cease.
Therefore are my loins filled
with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that
travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at
the seeing of it.
My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me:
the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.
Prepare the
table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and
anoint the shield.
For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a
watchman, let him declare what he seeth.
And he saw a chariot
with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot
of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed:
And he cried, A
lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I
am set in my ward whole nights:
And, behold, here cometh a chariot of
men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is
fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto
the ground.
O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have
heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.
The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of
the night? Watchman, what of the night?
The watchman said, The morning
cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.
The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye
travelling companies of Dedanim.
The inhabitants of the land of Tema
brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him
that fled.
For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and
from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.
For thus hath the
Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and
all the glory of Kedar shall fail:
And the residue of the number of
archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for
the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it.
The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that
thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?
Thou that art full of stirs, a
tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the
sword, nor dead in battle.
All thy rulers are fled together, they are
bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together,
which have fled from far.
Therefore said I, Look away from me; I
will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the
daughter of my people.
For it is a day of trouble, and of
treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of
vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.
And
Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir
uncovered the shield.
And it shall come to pass, that thy
choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set
themselves in array at the gate.
And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day
to the armour of the house of the forest.
Ye have seen also the breaches
of the city of David, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters
of the lower pool.
And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and
the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.
Ye made also a
ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not
looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it
long ago.
And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping,
and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
And
behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and
drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.
And it
was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall
not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
Thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer,
even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say,
What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed
thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on
high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?
Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will
surely cover thee.
He will surely violently turn and toss thee
like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the
chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house.
And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he
pull thee down.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant
Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:
And I will clothe him with thy robe, and
strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his
hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the
house of Judah.
And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his
shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none
shall open.
And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he
shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.
And they shall
hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the
issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all
the vessels of flagons.
In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the
nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and
fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD
hath spoken it.
The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid
waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it
is revealed to them.
Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the
merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
And by
great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her
revenue; and she is a mart of nations.
Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the
sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not,
nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor
bring up virgins.
As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall
they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.
Pass ye over to Tarshish;
howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.
Is this your joyous
city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall
carry her afar off to sojourn.
Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre,
the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose
traffickers are the honourable of the earth?
The LORD of hosts
hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into
contempt all the honourable of the earth.
Pass through thy land as a
river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength.
He
stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD hath
given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong
holds thereof.
And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou
oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also
shalt thou have no rest.
Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people
was not, til the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the
wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces
thereof; and he brought it to ruin.
Howl, ye ships of Tarshish:
for your strength is laid waste.
And it shall come to pass in that day,
that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one
king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
Take
an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet
melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD
will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication
with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
And her
merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be
treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell
before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.
Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and
turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the
servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with
the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as
with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.
The land
shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this
word.
The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth
and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they
have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting
covenant.
Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that
dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are
burned, and few men left.
The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth,
all the merryhearted do sigh.
The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of
them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.
They shall not
drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no
man may come in.
There is a crying for wine in the streets; all
joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
In the city is left
desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people,
there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the
gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.
They shall lift up their
voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from
the sea.
Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the
name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.
From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even
glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!
the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous
dealers have dealt very treacherously.
Fear, and the pit, and the
snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
And it shall
come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall
fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be
taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the
foundations of the earth do shake.
The earth is utterly broken down,
the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
The earth
shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage;
and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and
not rise again.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the
LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the
kings of the earth upon the earth.
And they shall be gathered together,
as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the
prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
Then the moon shall
be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in
mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise
thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old
are faithfulness and truth.
For thou hast made of a city
an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no
city; it shall never be built.
Therefore shall the strong people glorify
thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
For thou hast
been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a
refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible
ones is as a storm against the wall.
Thou shalt bring
down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the
heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be
brought low.
And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a
feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of
marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
And he will destroy in this
mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is
spread over all nations.
He will swallow up death in victory; and the
Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his
people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken
it.
And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we
have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have
waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
For in
this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down
under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.
And he shall
spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth
forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together
with the spoils of their hands.
And the fortress of the high fort of
thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground,
even to the dust.
In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have
a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and
bulwarks.
Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the
truth may enter in.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in
thee.
Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is
everlasting strength:
For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth
it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it
even to the dust.
The foot shall tread it down, even the
feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.
The way of the
just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the
just.
Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee;
the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance
of thee.
With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my
spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are
in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn
righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not
behold the majesty of the LORD.
LORD, when thy hand is lifted
up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for
their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour
them.
LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our
works in us.
O LORD our God, other lords besides thee have had
dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.
They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased,
they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made
all their memory to perish.
Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD,
thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed
it far unto all the ends of the earth.
LORD, in trouble
have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening
was upon them.
Like as a woman with child, that draweth
near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her
pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD.
We have been with child,
we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not
wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the
world fallen.
Thy dead men shall live, together with my
dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy
dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about
thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be
overpast.
For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the
inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose
her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword
shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked
serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
In
that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.
I the LORD do keep
it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it
night and day.
Fury is not in me: who would set the briers
and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would
burn them together.
Or let him take hold of my strength, that he
may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.
He
shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and
bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he
slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?
In
measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his
rough wind in the day of the east wind.
By this therefore shall the
iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin;
when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in
sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.
Yet the defenced city
shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like
a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and
consume the branches thereof.
When the boughs thereof are withered,
they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for
it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will
not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat
off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be
gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.
And it shall come to pass
in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall
come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in
the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at
Jerusalem.
Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose
glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat
valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
Behold, the Lord hath a
mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a
destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to
the earth with the hand.
The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim,
shall be trodden under feet:
And the glorious beauty, which is on the
head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty
fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth,
while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.
In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a
diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
And for a spirit of
judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn
the battle to the gate.
But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out
of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they
are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they
err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
For all tables are full
of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place
clean.
Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand
doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from
the breasts.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon
precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a
little:
For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to
this people.
To whom he said, This is the rest
wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the
refreshing: yet they would not hear.
But the word of the LORD was unto
them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon
line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall
backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this
people which is in Jerusalem.
Because ye have said, We have
made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the
overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we
have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a
foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure
foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
Judgment also will
I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement
with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through,
then ye shall be trodden down by it.
From the time that it goeth forth
it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by
night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
For
the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it:
and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be
wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his
strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
Now therefore
be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the
Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
Doth
the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his
ground?
When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast
abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat
and the appointed barley and rie in their place?
For his God doth
instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.
For the fitches
are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned
about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the
cummin with a rod.
Bread corn is bruised; because he will not
ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor
bruise it with his horsemen.
This also cometh forth from the
LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent
in working.
Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye
year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
Yet I will distress Ariel, and
there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.
And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against
thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.
And thou shalt
be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech
shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a
familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the
dust.
Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust,
and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth
away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
Thou shalt be visited of
the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with
storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.
And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all
that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a
dream of a night vision.
It shall even be as when an hungry man
dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or
as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh,
and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the
multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
Stay
yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with
wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
For the LORD hath poured
out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the
prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.
And the vision of
all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which
men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee:
and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
And the book is
delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he
saith, I am not learned.
Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me
with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their
heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this
people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their
wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent
men shall be hid.
Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their
counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who
seeth us? and who knoweth us?
Surely your turning of things upside down
shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that
made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it,
He had no understanding?
Is it not yet a very little while, and
Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall
be esteemed as a forest?
And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes
of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.
The meek
also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men
shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
For the terrible one is
brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for
iniquity are cut off:
That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a
snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing
of nought.
Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham,
concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall
his face now wax pale.
But when he seeth his children, the work of mine
hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the
Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.
They also that
erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall
learn doctrine.
Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel,
but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that
they may add sin to sin:
That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not
asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and
to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh
be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.
They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them,
nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
The burden
of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence
come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they
will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their
treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not
profit them.
For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no
purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to
sit still.
Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it
may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
That this is a
rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the
law of the LORD:
Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets,
Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy
deceits:
Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the
Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
Wherefore thus saith the
Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and
perverseness, and stay thereon:
Therefore this iniquity shall be to you
as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh
suddenly at an instant.
And he shall break it as the breaking of the
potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there
shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the
hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
For thus saith
the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be
saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would
not.
But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye
flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you
be swift.
One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the
rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a
mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.
And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and
therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD
is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no
more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he
shall hear it, he will answer thee.
And though the Lord give
you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy
teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy
teachers:
And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This
is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when
ye turn to the left.
Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven
images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt
cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.
Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground
withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and
plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.
The
oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean
provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill,
rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when
the towers fall.
Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light
of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of
seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and
healeth the stroke of their wound.
Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his
anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of
indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
And his breath, as an
overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations
with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of
the people, causing them to err.
Ye shall have a song, as in
the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as
when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the
mighty One of Israel.
And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be
heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of
his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire,
with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.
For through the
voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with
a rod.
And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass,
which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and
harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
For Tophet
is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made
it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much
wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses,
and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen,
because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel,
neither seek the LORD!
Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil,
and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the
evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.
Now the
Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not
spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall
fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail
together.
For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and
the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called
forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase
himself for the noise of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight
for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.
As birds flying, so will the
LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it;
and passing over he will preserve it.
Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have
deeply revolted.
For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of
silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you
for a sin.
Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and
the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the
sword, and his young men shall be discomfited.
And he shall pass over to
his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign,
saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in
Jerusalem.
Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall
rule in judgment.
And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind,
and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the
shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
And the eyes of them that see
shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.
The
heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the
stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.
The vile person shall be no
more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.
For the
vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise
hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the
hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
The
instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to
destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.
But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he
stand.
Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless
daughters; give ear unto my speech.
Many days and years shall ye be
troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall
not come.
Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless
ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon
your loins.
They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant
fields, for the fruitful vine.
Upon the land of my people shall come up
thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the
joyous city:
Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of
the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a
joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
Until the spirit be poured upon
us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful
field be counted for a forest.
Then judgment shall dwell in the
wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
And the
work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness
quietness and assurance for ever.
And my people shall dwell in a
peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;
When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be
low in a low place.
Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters,
that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and
dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou
shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make
an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
O
LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every
morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.
At the noise of the
tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were
scattered.
And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering
of the caterpiller: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon
them.
The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion
with judgment and righteousness.
And wisdom and knowledge shall be the
stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the
LORD is his treasure.
Behold, their valiant ones shall cry
without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
The highways lie
waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath
despised the cities, he regardeth no man.
The earth mourneth and
languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a
wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.
Now
will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up
myself.
Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your
breath, as fire, shall devour you.
And the people shall be as
the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the
fire.
Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that
are near, acknowledge my might.
The sinners in Zion are afraid;
fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the
devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
He
that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain
of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth
his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the
munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be
sure.
Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold
the land that is very far off.
Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where
is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he
that counted the towers?
Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people
of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that
thou canst not understand.
Look upon Zion, the city of our
solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle
that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall
ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.
But
there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers
and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall
gallant ship pass thereby.
For the LORD is our judge, the LORD
is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.
Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast,
they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided;
the lame take the prey.
And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick:
the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their
iniquity.
Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the
earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come
forth of it.
For the indignation of the LORD is upon all
nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly
destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.
Their slain
also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases,
and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
And all the host of
heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a
scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the
vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.
For my sword shall
be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the
people of my curse, to judgment.
The sword of the LORD is filled with
blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and
goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in
Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
And the unicorns
shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land
shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
For
it is the day of the LORD’S vengeance, and the year of
recompences for the controversy of Zion.
And the streams thereof shall
be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land
thereof shall become burning pitch.
It shall not be quenched night nor
day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it
shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
But the
cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall
dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the
stones of emptiness.
They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom,
but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the
fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a
court for owls.
The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the
wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech
owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.
There
shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her
shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her
mate.
Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall
fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his
spirit it hath gathered them.
And he hath cast the lot for them, and
his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever,
from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.
The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and
the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
It shall blossom
abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall
be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the
glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.
Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
Say to
them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your
God will come with vengeance, even God with a
recompence; he will come and save you.
Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the
lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the
wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
And the
parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in
the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds
and rushes.
And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be
called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it
shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err
therein.
No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast
shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk
there:
And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to
Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy
and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah,
that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced
cities of Judah, and took them.
And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh
from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood
by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field.
Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, which was over the
house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph’s son, the recorder.
And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the
great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou
trustest?
I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain
words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou
trust, that thou rebellest against me?
Lo, thou trustest in the staff of
this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand,
and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not
he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to
Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?
Now
therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I
will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders
upon them.
How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the
least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and
for horsemen?
And am I now come up without the LORD against this land
to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy
it.
Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray
thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it:
and speak not to us in the Jews’ language, in the ears of the people that
are on the wall.
But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to
speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit
upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss
with you?
Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the
Jews’ language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of
Assyria.
Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he
shall not be able to deliver you.
Neither let Hezekiah make you trust
in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be
delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Hearken not to
Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with
me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his
vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his
own cistern;
Until I come and take you away to a land like your own
land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will
deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the
hand of the king of Assyria?
Where are the gods of Hamath and
Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered
Samaria out of my hand?
Who are they among all the gods of
these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD
should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
But they held their peace, and
answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him
not.
Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the
household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder,
to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of
Rabshakeh.
And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he
rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house
of the LORD.
And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household,
and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth,
unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
And they said unto him, Thus
saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of
blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not
strength to bring forth.
It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words
of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the
living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard:
wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.
So
the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus
saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith
the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
Behold, I will
send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own
land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against
Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
And he heard
say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with
thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God,
in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given
into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Behold, thou hast heard what the
kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt
thou be delivered?
Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my
fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the
children of Eden which were in Telassar?
Where is the
king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of
Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?
And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and
read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it
before the LORD.
And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying,
O
LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims,
thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the
earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.
Incline thine ear, O LORD, and
hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of
Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.
Of a truth,
LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their
countries,
And have cast their gods into the fire: for they
were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore
they have destroyed them.
Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from
his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art
the LORD, even thou only.
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the
LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king
of Assyria:
This is the word which the LORD hath spoken
concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee,
and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her
head at thee.
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against
whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high?
even against the Holy One of Israel.
By thy servants hast thou
reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come
up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut
down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I
will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his
Carmel.
I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet
have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.
Hast thou not
heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times,
that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be
to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
Therefore
their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and
confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the
green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn
blasted before it be grown up.
But I know thy abode, and thy going out,
and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
Because thy rage against
me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook
in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way
by which thou camest.
And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye
shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year
that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and
plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
And the remnant that is
escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit
upward:
For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that
escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.
Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall
not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with
shields, nor cast a bank against it.
By the way that he came, by the
same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my
servant David’s sake.
Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote
in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and
when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead
corpses.
So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and
dwelt at Nineveh.
And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the
house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him
with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esar-haddon
his son reigned in his stead.
In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet
the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set
thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.
Then Hezekiah
turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD,
And said,
Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth
and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy
sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,
Go, and say to
Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy
prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen
years.
And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king
of Assyria: and I will defend this city.
And this shall be a
sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath
spoken;
Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is
gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned
ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.
The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was
recovered of his sickness:
I said in the cutting off of my days, I
shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of
the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent: I
have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness:
from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
I reckoned
till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from
day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
Like a crane
or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail
with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.
What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done
it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.
O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things
is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.
Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my
soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all
my sins behind thy back.
For the grave cannot praise thee, death can
not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for
thy truth.
The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I
do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.
The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs
to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the
LORD.
For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay
it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.
Hezekiah
also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of
the LORD?
At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of
Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had
been sick, and was recovered.
And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed
them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the
spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all
that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all
his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.
Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What
said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They
are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon.
Then
said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that
is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures
that I have not shewed them.
Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word
of the LORD of hosts:
Behold, the days come, that all that is in
thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until
this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.
And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget,
shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of
Babylon.
Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the
LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and
truth in my days.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye
comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand
double for all her sins.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of
the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every
valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and
the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
And the
glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it
together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
The voice
said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all
the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
The grass
withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it:
surely the people is grass.
The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength;
lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your
God!
Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his
arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work
before him.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather
the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and
shall gently lead those that are with young.
Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out
heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure,
and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
Who
hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath
taught him?
With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him,
and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed
to him the way of understanding?
Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold,
he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
And Lebanon is
not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt
offering.
All nations before him are as nothing; and they are
counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto
him?
The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it
over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
He that is so
impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not
rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image,
that shall not be moved.
Have ye not known? have ye not heard?
hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the
foundations of the earth?
It is he that sitteth upon the circle
of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that
stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to
dwell in:
That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of
the earth as vanity.
Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall
not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall
also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them
away as stubble.
To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal?
saith the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath
created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he
calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he
is strong in power; not one faileth.
Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and
speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed
over from my God?
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting
God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is
weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
He giveth
power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth
strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men
shall utterly fall:
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew
their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall
run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew
their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come
near together to judgment.
Who raised up the righteous man from
the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made
him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword,
and as driven stubble to his bow.
He pursued them, and
passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his
feet.
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from
the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid,
drew near, and came.
They helped every one his neighbour; and every
one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
So the carpenter
encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the
hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he
fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
But thou,
Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham
my friend.
Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou
art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I
am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I
will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Behold, all
they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they
shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.
Thou
shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended
with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of
nought.
For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto
thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
Fear not, thou worm Jacob,
and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy
redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Behold, I will make thee a new sharp
threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat
them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Thou shalt fan
them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter
them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy
One of Israel.
When the poor and needy seek water, and
there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the
LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the
valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs
of water.
I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree,
and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree,
and the pine, and the box tree together:
That they may see, and
know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath
done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
Produce your
cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the
King of Jacob.
Let them bring them forth, and shew us what
shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we
may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for
to come.
Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know
that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed,
and behold it together.
Behold, ye are of nothing, and
your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.
I
have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising
of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as
upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay.
Who hath declared
from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He
is righteous? yea, there is none that sheweth, yea, there
is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your
words.
The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I
will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
For I beheld,
and there was no man; even among them, and there was no
counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
Behold,
they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten
images are wind and confusion.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my
soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles.
He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to
be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the
smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the
earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them
out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that
giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand,
and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light
of the Gentiles;
To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from
the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not
give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
Behold, the former
things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring
forth I tell you of them.
Sing unto the LORD a new song, and
his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all
that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
Let the
wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages
that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let
them shout from the top of the mountains.
Let them give glory unto the
LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.
The LORD shall go forth as
a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea,
roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.
I have long time holden my
peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I
cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
I will
make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make
the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
And I will bring the
blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths
that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and
crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake
them.
They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in
graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.
Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
Who
is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I
sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the
LORD’S servant?
Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the
ears, but he heareth not.
The LORD is well pleased for his
righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.
But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all
of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a
prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.
Who
among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the
time to come?
Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers?
did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in
his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
Therefore he hath
poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it
hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he
laid it not to heart.
But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he
that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called
thee by thy name; thou art mine.
When thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not
be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
For I am
the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt
for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
Since thou wast
precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee:
therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.
Fear not:
for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather
thee from the west;
I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south,
Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the
earth;
Even every one that is called by my name: for I have
created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have
ears.
Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be
assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let
them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them
hear, and say, It is truth.
Ye are my witnesses, saith
the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me,
and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed,
neither shall there be after me.
I, even I, am the
LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
I have declared, and
have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god
among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I
am God.
Yea, before the day was I am he; and
there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who
shall let it?
Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your
sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the
Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.
I am the LORD,
your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.
Thus saith the LORD,
which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;
Which
bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie
down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as
tow.
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not
know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the
desert.
The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the
owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the
desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.
This people have I
formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.
But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of
me, O Israel.
Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt
offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not
caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.
Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled
me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy
sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.
I, even I,
am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and
will not remember thy sins.
Put me in remembrance: let us plead
together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.
Thy first father
hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.
Therefore I
have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the
curse, and Israel to reproaches.
Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:
Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb,
which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou,
Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
For I will pour water upon him that is
thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed,
and my blessing upon thine offspring:
And they shall spring up as among
the grass, as willows by the water courses.
One shall say, I am
the LORD’S; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and
another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname
himself by the name of Israel.
Thus saith the LORD the King of
Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I
am the last; and beside me there is no God.
And who, as
I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I
appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come,
let them shew unto them.
Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told
thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my
witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not
any.
They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and
their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own
witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.
Who hath
formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for
nothing?
Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen,
they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand
up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.
The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it
with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is
hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.
The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a
line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and
maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that
it may remain in the house.
He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the
cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of
the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.
Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and
warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a
god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth
down thereto.
He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he
eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth
himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
And
the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he
falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and
saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
They have not known nor
understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and
their hearts, that they cannot understand.
And none considereth in his
heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have
burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals
thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the
residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he
cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right
hand?
Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I
have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be
forgotten of me.
I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy
transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have
redeemed thee.
Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it:
shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O
forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and
glorified himself in Israel.
Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he
that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all
things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth
abroad the earth by myself;
That frustrateth the tokens of the liars,
and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh
their knowledge foolish;
That confirmeth the word of his servant, and
performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt
be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise
up the decayed places thereof:
That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I
will dry up thy rivers:
That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd,
and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be
built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I
have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of
kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be
shut;
I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I
will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of
secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call
thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
For Jacob my
servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I
have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is
no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
That
they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there
is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I
the LORD do all these things.
Drop down, ye heavens, from above,
and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them
bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD
have created it.
Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let
the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay
say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no
hands?
Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest
thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?
Thus saith the
LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come
concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my
hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways:
he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor
reward, saith the LORD of hosts.
Thus saith the LORD, The labour of
Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall
come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in
chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall
make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee;
and there is none else, there is no God.
Verily thou
art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go
to confusion together that are makers of idols.
But
Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not
be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
For thus saith the LORD
that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he
hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited:
I am the LORD; and there is none else.
I have not
spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of
Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things
that are right.
Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are
escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their
graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
Tell ye,
and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath
declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time?
have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a
just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
Look unto me,
and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and
there is none else.
I have sworn by myself, the word is gone
out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me
every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
Surely, shall
one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even
to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be
ashamed.
In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and
shall glory.
Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts,
and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they
are a burden to the weary beast.
They stoop, they bow down
together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into
captivity.
Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the
house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are
carried from the womb:
And even to your old age I
am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I
have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me,
that we may be like?
They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver
in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they
fall down, yea, they worship.
They bear him upon the shoulder, they
carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he
not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor
save him out of his trouble.
Remember this, and shew yourselves men:
bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
Remember the former things
of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am
God, and there is none like me,
Declaring the end from the
beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet
done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my
counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring
it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from
righteousness:
I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off,
and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for
Israel my glory.
Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit
on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for
thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
Take the millstones,
and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass
over the rivers.
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall
be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.
As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the
Holy One of Israel.
Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O
daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of
kingdoms.
I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given
them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast
thou very heavily laid thy yoke.
And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst
not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter
end of it.
Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to
pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I
am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow,
neither shall I know the loss of children:
But these two things
shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and
widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of
thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.
For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me.
Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in
thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.
Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it
riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put if
off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt
not know.
Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of
thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt
be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
Thou art wearied in
the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the
monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things
that shall come upon thee.
Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire
shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the
flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire
to sit before it.
Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast
laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every
one to his quarter; none shall save thee.
Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of
Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the
name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in
truth, nor in righteousness.
For they call themselves of the holy city,
and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his
name.
I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they
went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly,
and they came to pass.
Because I knew that thou art obstinate,
and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
I have even
from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I
shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them,
and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
Thou hast
heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee
new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.
They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day
when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time
that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal
very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.
For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I
refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
Behold, I have refined thee,
but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do
it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give
my glory unto another.
Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I
am the first, I also am the last.
Mine hand also hath
laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens:
when I call unto them, they stand up together.
All ye, assemble
yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things?
The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm
shall be on the Chaldeans.
I, even I, have spoken; yea,
I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way
prosperous.
Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from
the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the
Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.
Thus saith the LORD, thy
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which
teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou
shouldest go.
O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had
thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels
like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed
from before me.
Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of
singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth;
say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
And they thirsted not
when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow
out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The
LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made
mention of my name.
And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the
shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his
quiver hath he hid me;
And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
Then I said, I have laboured in
vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my
judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.
And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his
servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet
shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.
And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to
raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will
also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation
unto the end of the earth.
Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel,
and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation
abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also
shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One
of Israel, and he shall choose thee.
Thus saith the LORD, In an
acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped
thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people,
to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
That
thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in
darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures
shall be in all high places.
They shall not hunger nor thirst;
neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them
shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
And
I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and
from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing,
O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon
his afflicted.
But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord
hath forgotten me.
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she
should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet
will I not forget thee.
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of
my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Thy
children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall
go forth of thee.
Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves
together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou
shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them
on thee, as a bride doeth.
For thy waste and thy
desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too
narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be
far away.
The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the
other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me:
give place to me that I may dwell.
Then shalt thou say in thine heart,
Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate,
a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I
was left alone; these, where had they been?
Thus saith
the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my
standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms,
and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
And
kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers:
they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and
lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD:
for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive
delivered?
But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty
shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I
will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy
children.
And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh;
and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all
flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the
mighty One of Jacob.
Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s
divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to
whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves,
and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
Wherefore, when I
came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to
answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no
power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a
wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth
for thirst.
I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth
their covering.
The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned,
that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is
weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the
learned.
The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither
turned away back.
I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them
that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded:
therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be
ashamed.
He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with
me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near
to me.
Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that
shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat
them up.
Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice
of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him
trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
Behold, all ye
that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk
in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled.
This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.
Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek
the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of
the pit whence ye are digged.
Look unto Abraham your father, and
unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him,
and increased him.
For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all
her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert
like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein,
thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law
shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the
people.
My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth,
and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on
mine arm shall they trust.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look
upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the
earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in
like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall
not be abolished.
Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart
is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of
their revilings.
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the
worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my
salvation from generation to generation.
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the
ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath
cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
Art thou not it
which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the
depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
Therefore the
redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and
everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness
and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
I,
even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that
thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of
man which shall be made as grass;
And forgettest the LORD thy
maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the
earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the
oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of
the oppressor?
The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and
that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.
But
I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The
LORD of hosts is his name.
And I have put my words in thy
mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant
the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou
art my people.
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of
the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of
trembling, and wrung them out.
There is none to
guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither
is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that
she hath brought up.
These two things are come unto thee; who
shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the
sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?
Thy sons have fainted, they lie at
the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the
fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.
Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with
wine:
Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth
the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of
trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more
drink it again:
But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict
thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou
hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went
over.
Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful
garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come
into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.
Shake thyself from the
dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands
of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
For thus saith the LORD, Ye
have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to
sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
Now
therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for
nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my
name continually every day is blasphemed.
Therefore my people shall know
my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he
that doth speak: behold, it is I.
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good
tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that
publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
Thy
watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing:
for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion.
Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for
the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
The
LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the
ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean
thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the
vessels of the LORD.
For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by
flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will
be your rereward.
Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and
extolled, and be very high.
As many were astonied at thee; his visage
was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at
him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and
that which they had not heard shall they consider.
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD
revealed?
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a
root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall
see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is
despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we
esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:
the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we
are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one
to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He
was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is
brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is
dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
He was taken from prison and from
judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the
land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death;
because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his
mouth.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to
grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see
his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the
LORD shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his
soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore
will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the
spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he
was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors.
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into
singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for
more are the children of the desolate than the children of the
married wife, saith the LORD.
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let
them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy
cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
For thou shalt break forth on the
right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make
the desolate cities to be inhabited.
Fear not; for thou shalt not be
ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for
thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach
of thy widowhood any more.
For thy Maker is thine husband; the
LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel;
The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
For the LORD hath called
thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when
thou wast refused, saith thy God.
For a small moment have I forsaken
thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
In a little wrath I hid
my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have
mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
For this is as the
waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth
with thee, nor rebuke thee.
For the mountains shall depart, and the
hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall
the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on
thee.
O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted,
behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with
sapphires.
And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of
carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
And all thy
children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the
peace of thy children.
In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou
shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for
it shall not come near thee.
Behold, they shall surely gather together,
but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall
fall for thy sake.
Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the
coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I
have created the waster to destroy.
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue
that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This
is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness
is of me, saith the LORD.
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that
hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price.
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which
is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?
hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let
your soul delight itself in fatness.
Incline your ear, and come unto me:
hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with
you, even the sure mercies of David.
Behold, I have given him
for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and
nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD
thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is
near:
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him;
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
ways my ways, saith the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your
thoughts.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and
bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
So
shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto
me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper
in the thing whereto I sent it.
For ye shall go out with joy,
and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth
before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap
their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree,
and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to
the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut
off.
Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my
salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man
that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it,
and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the
LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people:
neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
For thus
saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the
things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
Even unto them
will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than
of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall
not be cut off.
Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to
the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants,
every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my
covenant;
Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them
joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an
house of prayer for all people.
The Lord GOD which gathereth the
outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside
those that are gathered unto him.
All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts
in the forest.
His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant,
they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down,
loving to slumber.
Yea, they are greedy dogs which can
never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot
understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his
quarter.
Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill
ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and
much more abundant.
The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart:
and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous
is taken away from the evil to come.
He shall enter into peace:
they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his
uprightness.
But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the
adulterer and the whore.
Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against
whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye
not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood,
Enflaming yourselves
with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under
the clifts of the rocks?
Among the smooth stones of the stream
is thy portion; they, they are thy lot: even to them hast
thou poured a drink offering, thou hast offered a meat offering. Should I
receive comfort in these?
Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set
thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.
Behind the
doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance: for thou hast
discovered thyself to another than me, and art gone up; thou hast
enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them; thou lovedst
their bed where thou sawest it.
And thou wentest to the king
with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers
far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell.
Thou art
wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no
hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not
grieved.
And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast
lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not
I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not?
I will declare
thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee.
When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall
carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that putteth his
trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain;
And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the
stumblingblock out of the way of my people.
For thus saith the high and
lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in
the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the
heart of the contrite ones.
For I will not contend for ever, neither
will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls
which I have made.
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I
wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in
the way of his heart.
I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will
lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.
I
create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off,
and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him.
But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest,
whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
There is no peace, saith my
God, to the wicked.
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew
my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet
they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did
righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the
ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not?
wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?
Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of
wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice
to be heard on high.
Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a
man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and
to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast,
and an acceptable day to the LORD?
Is not this the fast that I
have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and
to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Is
it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that
are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him;
and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall
spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory
of the LORD shall be thy rereward.
Then shalt thou call, and the LORD
shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou
take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger,
and speaking vanity;
And if thou draw out thy soul to the
hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in
obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
And the LORD
shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat
thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of
water, whose waters fail not.
And they that shall be of thee
shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many
generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The
restorer of paths to dwell in.
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy
pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the
LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding
thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Then shalt
thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high
places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for
the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
But your iniquities have
separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face
from you, that he will not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath
muttered perverseness.
None calleth for justice, nor any
pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive
mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and
weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is
crushed breaketh out into a viper.
Their webs shall not become garments,
neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are
works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood:
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction
are in their paths.
The way of peace they know not; and
there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked
paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we
wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in
darkness.
We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if
we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are
in desolate places as dead men.
We roar all like bears, and
mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for
salvation, but it is far off from us.
For our transgressions
are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our
transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we
know them;
In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing
away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering
from the heart words of falsehood.
And judgment is turned away
backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street,
and equity cannot enter.
Yea, truth faileth; and he that
departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and
it displeased him that there was no judgment.
And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there
was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his
righteousness, it sustained him.
For he put on righteousness as a
breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the
garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a
cloke.
According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay,
fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will
repay recompence.
So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the
west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in
like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from
transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
As for me, this is my
covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and
my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth,
nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed,
saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is
risen upon thee.
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and
gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory
shall be seen upon thee.
And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and
kings to the brightness of thy rising.
Lift up thine eyes round about,
and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons
shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.
Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and
be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee,
the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.
The multitude of camels
shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba
shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the
praises of the LORD.
All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together
unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up
with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.
Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to
their windows?
Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of
Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with
them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel,
because he hath glorified thee.
And the sons of strangers shall build
up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I
smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
Therefore thy
gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that
men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that
their kings may be brought.
For the nation and kingdom that
will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly
wasted.
The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the
pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I
will make the place of my feet glorious.
The sons also of them that
afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee
shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee,
The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
Whereas thou
hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I
will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
Thou
shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings:
and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer,
the mighty One of Jacob.
For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I
will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make
thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.
Violence shall no
more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but
thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.
The sun
shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give
light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and
thy God thy glory.
Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy
moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the
days of thy mourning shall be ended.
Thy people also shall be
all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my
planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
A little one
shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will
hasten it in his time.
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD
hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to
bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the
opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the
acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort
all that mourn;
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto
them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for
the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former
desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many
generations.
And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the
sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call
you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in
their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion
they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall
possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.
For I the LORD
love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their
work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
And
their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the
people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the
seed which the LORD hath blessed.
I will greatly rejoice in the
LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the
garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as
a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth
herself with her jewels.
For as the earth bringeth forth her
bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring
forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth
before all the nations.
For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake
I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and
the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
And the Gentiles
shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be
called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.
Thou shalt
also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the
hand of thy God.
Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall
thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah,
and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be
married.
For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons
marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride,
so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
I have set watchmen upon thy
walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night:
ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,
And give him no
rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength,
Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and
the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast
laboured:
But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the
LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of
my holiness.
Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people;
cast up, cast up the highways; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for
the people.
Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world,
Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his
reward is with him, and his work before him.
And they shall
call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be
called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.
Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from
Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the
greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.
Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like
him that treadeth in the winefat?
I have trodden the winepress alone;
and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in
mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled
upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.
For the day of
vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.
And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that
there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation
unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.
And I will tread down the people in
mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their
strength to the earth.
I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, and the praises
of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the
great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them
according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his
lovingkindnesses.
For he said, Surely they are my people,
children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour.
In all
their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them:
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried
them all the days of old.
But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned
to be their enemy, and he fought against them.
Then he
remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying,
Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of
his flock? where is he that put his holy Spirit within him?
That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm,
dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name?
That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness,
that they should not stumble?
As a beast goeth down into the
valley, the Spirit of the LORD caused him to rest: so didst thou lead thy
people, to make thyself a glorious name.
Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness
and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of
thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?
Doubtless
thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel
acknowledge us not: thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy
name is from everlasting.
O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and
hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes
of thine inheritance.
The people of thy holiness have possessed
it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy
sanctuary.
We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they
were not called by thy name.
Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come
down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
As
when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil,
to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may
tremble at thy presence!
When thou didst terrible things which
we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy
presence.
For since the beginning of the world men have not
heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside
thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.
Thou
meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that
remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in
those is continuance, and we shall be saved.
But we are all as an
unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have
taken us away.
And there is none that calleth upon thy name,
that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face
from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
But now, O
LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our
potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever:
behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.
Thy holy
cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is
burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
Wilt
thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy
peace, and afflict us very sore?
I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am
found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto
a nation that was not called by my name.
I have spread out my
hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that
was not good, after their own thoughts;
A people that provoketh me
to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth
incense upon altars of brick;
Which remain among the graves, and lodge
in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things
is in their vessels;
Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to
me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire
that burneth all the day.
Behold, it is written before me: I
will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,
Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the
LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon
the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.
Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and
one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I
do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
And I will
bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my
mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell
there.
And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a
place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy
mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink
offering unto that number.
Therefore will I number you to the sword,
and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not
answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did
choose that wherein I delighted not.
Therefore thus saith the
Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my
servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall
rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:
Behold, my servants shall sing for
joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for
vexation of spirit.
And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my
chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another
name:
That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in
the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of
truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid
from mine eyes.
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall
not be remembered, nor come into mind.
But be ye glad and rejoice for
ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a
rejoicing, and her people a joy.
And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and
joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor
the voice of crying.
There shall be no more thence an infant of days,
nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an
hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be
accursed.
And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and
they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
They shall not
build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the
days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long
enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labour in vain, nor bring
forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD,
and their offspring with them.
And it shall come to pass, that before
they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw
like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall
not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the
earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto
me? and where is the place of my rest?
For all those
things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been,
saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him
that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
He
that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a
lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation,
as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as
if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their
soul delighteth in their abominations.
I also will choose their
delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none
did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine
eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.
Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; your brethren
that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be
glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
A
voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD
that rendereth recompence to his enemies.
Before she travailed, she
brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth
be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once?
for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
Shall I
bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I
cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.
Rejoice
ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for
joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:
That ye may suck, and be
satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be
delighted with the abundance of her glory.
For thus saith the LORD,
Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the
Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon
her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.
As one whom
his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in
Jerusalem.
And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and
your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be
known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.
For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a
whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and
the slain of the LORD shall be many.
They that sanctify themselves, and
purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating
swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed
together, saith the LORD.
For I know their works and their
thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they
shall come, and see my glory.
And I will set a sign among them, and I
will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish,
Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the
isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and
they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.
And they shall bring
all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations
upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift
beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of
Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.
And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith
the LORD.
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make,
shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name
remain.
And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to
another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship
before me, saith the LORD.
And they shall go forth, and look upon the
carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall
not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring
unto all flesh.
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