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 Chapter 1
1 The vision which Esaias the son of
Amos saw, which he saw against Juda, and against Jerusalem, in the reign of
Ozias, and Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezekias, who reigned over Judea.
2 Hear, O heaven, and hearken, O earth:
for the Lord has spoken, saying, I have begotten and reared up children,
but they have rebelled against me. 3
The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel
does not know me, and the people has not regarded me.
4 Ah sinful nation, a people full of
sins, an evil seed, lawless children: ye have forsaken the Lord, and provoked
the Holy One of Israel. 5 Why should
ye be smitten any more, transgressing more and more? the whole head is
pained, and the whole heart sad. 6
From the feet to the head, there is no soundness in them; neither wound, nor
bruise, nor festering ulcer are healed: it is not possible to apply a
plaister, nor oil, nor bandages. 7
Your land is desolate, your cities burned with fire: your land, strangers devour
it in your presence, and it is made desolate, overthrown by strange nations.
8 The daughter of Sion shall be
deserted as a tent in a vineyard, and as a storehouse of fruits in a garden of
cucumbers, as a besieged city. 9 And
if the Lord of Sabaoth had not left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom, and
we should have been made like Gomorrha.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers
of Sodoma; attend to the law of God, thou people of Gomorrha.
11 Of what value to me is the
abundance of your sacrifices? saith the Lord: I am full of whole-burnt-offerings
of rams; and I delight not in the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and
goats: 12 neither shall ye come
with these to appear before me; for who has required these things at your
hands? Ye shall no more tread my court. 13
Though ye bring fine flour, it is vain; incense is an
abomination to me; I cannot bear your new moons, and your sabbaths, and the
great day; 14 your fasting,
and rest from work, your new moons also, and your feasts my soul hates: ye have
become loathsome to me; I will no more pardon your sins.
15 When ye stretch forth your hands, I will turn away mine
eyes from you: and though ye make many supplications, I will not hearken to you;
for your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash you, be clean; remove your
iniquities from your souls before mine eyes; cease from your iniquities;
17 learn to do well; diligently seek
judgment, deliver him that is suffering wrong, plead for the orphan, and obtain
justice for the widow. 18 And come,
let us reason together, saith the Lord: and though your sins be as purple, I
will make them white as snow; and though they be as scarlet, I will make them
white as wool. 19 And if ye be
willing, and hearken to me, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20 but if ye be not willing, nor hearken to
me, a sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.
21 How has the faithful city Sion,
once full of judgment, become a harlot! wherein righteousness lodged, but
now murderers. 22 Your silver is
worthless, thy wine merchants mix the wine with water. 23
Thy princes are rebellious, companions of thieves, loving
bribes, seeking after rewards; not pleading for orphans, and not heeding the
cause of widows.
24 Therefore thus saith the Lord, the
Lord of hosts, Woe to the mighty men of Israel; for my wrath shall not
cease against mine adversaries, and I will execute judgment on mine enemies.
25 And I will bring my hand upon
thee, and purge thee completely, and I will destroy the rebellious, and will
take away from thee all transgressors. 26
And I will establish thy judges as before, and thy counsellors as
at the beginning: and afterward thou shalt be called the city of righteousness,
the faithful mother-city of Sion. 27
For her captives shall be saved with judgment, and with mercy.
28 And the transgressors and the
sinners shall be crushed together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be
utterly consumed. 29 For they shall
be ashamed of their idols, which they delighted in, and they are made ashamed of
the gardens which they coveted. 30
For they shall be as a turpentine tree that has cast its leaves, and as a garden
that has no water. 31 And their
strength shall be as a thread of tow, and their works as sparks, and the
transgressors and the sinners shall be burnt up together, and there shall be
none to quench them.
Chapter 2
2:1 The word which came to Esaias the
son of Amos concerning Judea, and concerning Jerusalem.
2 For in the last days the mountain of
the Lord shall be glorious, and the house of God shall be on the top of
the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall
come to it. 3 And many nations shall
go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house
of the God of Jacob; and he will tell us his way, and we will walk in it: for
out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the
nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into
plow-shares, and their spears into sickles: and nation shall not take up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn to war any more.
5 And now, O house of Jacob, come,
and let us walk in the light of the Lord. 6
For he has forsaken his people the house of Israel, because their
land is filled as at the beginning with divinations, as the land of the
Philistines, and many strange children were born to them.
7 For their land is filled with silver and gold, and there
was no number of their treasures; their land also is filled with horses, and
there was no number of chariots. 8
And the land is filled with abominations, even the works of their hands;
and they have worshipped the works which their fingers made.
9 And the mean man bowed down, and the
great man was humbled: and I will not pardon them.
10 Now therefore enter ye into the
rocks, and hide yourselves in the earth, for fear of the Lord, and by reason of
the glory of his might, when he shall arise to strike terribly the earth.
11 For the eyes of the Lord are high, but
man is low; and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone
shall be exalted in that day.
12 For the day of the Lord of hosts
shall be upon every one that is proud and haughty, and upon every one that is
high and towering, and they shall be brought down; 13
and upon every cedar of Libanus, of them that are high and
towering, and upon every oak of Basan, 14
and upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill,
15 and upon every high tower, and upon
every high wall, 16 and upon every
ship of the sea, and upon every display of fine ships. 17
And every man shall be brought low, and the pride of men
shall fall: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
18 And they shall hide all idols
made with hands, 19 having carried
them into the caves, and into the clefts of the rocks, and into the
caverns of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and by reason of the glory of his
might, when he shall arise to strike terribly the earth.
20 For in that day a man shall cast forth his silver and
gold abominations, which they made in order to worship vanities and bats;
21 to enter into the caverns of the
solid rock, and into the clefts of the rocks, for fear of the Lord, and by
reason of the glory of his might, when he shall arise to strike terribly the
earth.
Chapter 3
3:1 Behold now, the Lord, the Lord of
hosts, will take away from Jerusalem and from Judea the mighty man and mighty
woman, the strength of bread, and the strength of water, 2
the great and mighty man, the warrior and the judge, and
the prophet, and the counsellor, and the elder, 3
the captain of fifty also, and the honourable counsellor, and the
wise artificer, and the intelligent hearer. 4
And I will make youths their princes, and mockers shall have
dominion over them. 5 And the people
shall fall, man upon man, and every man upon his neighbor: the child
shall insult the elder man, and the base the honourable. 6
For a man shall lay hold of his brother, as one of his
father’s household, saying, Thou hast raiment, be thou our ruler, and let my
meat be under thee. 7 And he shall
answer in that day, and say, I will not be thy ruler; for I have no bread in my
house, nor raiment: I will not be the ruler of this people.
8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judea has
fallen, and their tongues have spoken with iniquity, disobedient as
they are towards the Lord. 9
Wherefore now their glory has been brought low, and the shame of their
countenance has withstood them, and they have proclaimed their sin as Sodom, and
made it manifest. 10 Woe to their
soul, for they have devised an evil counsel against themselves, saying against
themselves, Let us bind the just, for he is burdensome to us: therefore shall
they eat the fruits of their works. 11
Woe to the transgressor! evils shall happen to him according to
the works of his hands. 12 O my
people, your exactors strip you, and extortioners rule over you: O my people,
they that pronounce you blesses lead you astray, and pervert the path of your
feet.
13 But now the Lord will stand up for
judgment, and will enter into judgment with his people.
14 The Lord himself shall enter into judgment with the
elders of the people, and with their rulers: but why have ye set my vineyard on
fire, and why is the spoil of the poor in your houses?
15 Why do ye wrong my people, and shame the
face of the poor?
16 Thus saith the Lord, Because the
daughters of Sion are haughty, and have walked with an outstretched neck, and
with winking of the eyes, and motion of the feet, at the same time drawing their
garments in trains, and at the same time sporting with their feet:
17 therefore the Lord will humble the chief
daughters of Sion, and the Lord will expose their form in that day;
18 and the Lord will take away the glory of
their raiment, the curls and the fringes, and the crescents,
19 and the chains, and the ornaments of
their faces, 20 and the array of
glorious ornaments, and the armlets, and the bracelets, and the wreathed work,
and the finger-rings, and the ornaments for the right hand,
21 22 23 and the ear-rings, and the
garments with scarlet borders, and the garments with purple grounds, and the
shawls to be worn in the house, and the Spartan transparent dresses, and those
made of fine linen, and the purple ones, and the scarlet ones, and
the fine linen, interwoven with gold and purple, and the light coverings for
couches. 24 And there shall be
instead of a sweet smell, dust; and instead of a girdle, thou shalt gird thyself
with a rope; and instead of a golden ornament for the head, thou shalt have
baldness on account of thy works; and instead of a tunic with a scarlet ground,
thou shalt gird thyself with sackcloth. 25
And thy most beautiful son whom thou lovest shall fall by the
sword; and your mighty men shall fall by the sword, and shall be brought low.
26 And the stores of your ornaments
shall mourn, and thou shalt be left alone, and shalt be levelled with the
ground.
Chapter 4
4:1 And seven women shall take hold of
one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own raiment: only let
thy name be called upon us, and take away our reproach.
2 And in that day God shall shine
gloriously in counsel on the earth, to exalt and glorify the remnant of Israel.
3 And it shall be, that the
remnant left in Sion, and the remnant left in Jerusalem, even all that
are appointed to life in Jerusalem, shall be called holy.
4 For the Lord shall wash away the filth of the sons and
daughters of Sion, and shall purge out the blood from the midst of them, with
the spirit of judgment, and the spirit of burning. 5
And he shall come, and it shall be with regard to every
place of mount Sion, yea, all the region round about it shall a cloud overshadow
by day, and there shall be as it were the smoke and light of fire burning
by night: and upon all the glory shall be a defence. 6
And it shall be for a shadow from the heat, and as a
shelter and a hiding place from inclemency of weather and from rain.
Chapter 5
5:1 Now I will sing to my beloved
a song of my beloved concerning my vineyard.
My beloved had a vineyard on a high hill in a fertile
place. 2 And I made a hedge round
it, and dug a trench, and planted a choice vine, and built a tower in the midst
of it, and dug a place for the wine-vat in it: and I waited for it to
bring forth grapes, and it brought forth thorns. 3
And now, ye dwellers in Jerusalem, and every man of Juda,
judge between me and my vineyard. 4
What shall I do any more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it? Whereas I
expected it to bring forth grapes, but it has brought forth thorns.
5 And now I will tell you what I
will do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be for a spoil;
and I will pull down its walls, and it shall be left to be trodden down.
6 And I will forsake my vineyard;
and it shall not be pruned, nor dug, and thorns shall come up upon it as on
barren land; and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is
the house of Israel, and the men of Juda his beloved plant: I expected
it to bring forth judgment, and it brought forth iniquity; and not
righteousness, but a cry.
8 Woe to them that join house to
house, and add field to field, that they may take away something of their
neighbor’s: will ye dwell alone upon the land? 9
For these things have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts: for
though many houses should be built, many and fair houses shall be desolate, and
there shall be no inhabitants in them. 10
For where ten yoke of oxen plough the land shall yield one
jar-full, and he that sows six homers shall produce three measures.
11 Woe to them that rise up in
the morning, and follow strong drink; who wait at it till evening: for
the wine shall inflame them. 12 For
they drink wine with harp, and psaltery, and drums, and pipes: but they regard
not the works of the Lord, and consider not the works of his hands.
13 Therefore my people have been taken
captive, because they know not the Lord: and there has been a multitude of dead
bodies, because of hunger and of thirst for water.
14 Therefore hell has enlarged its desire and opened its
mouth without ceasing: and her glorious and great, and her rich and her
pestilent men shall go down into it. 15
And the mean man shall be brought low, and the great man shall be
disgraced, and the lofty eyes shall be brought low. 16
But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and
the holy God shall be glorified in righteousness. 17
And they that were spoiled shall be fed as bulls, and
lambs shall feed on the waste places of them that are taken away.
18 Woe to them that draw sins to
them as with a long rope, and iniquities as with a thong of the heifer’s yoke:
19 who say, Let him speedily hasten
what he will do, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One
of Israel come, that we may know it. 20
Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil; who make
darkness light, and light darkness; who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter.
21 Woe to them that are wise
in their own conceit, and knowing in their own sight. 22
Woe to the strong ones of you that drink wine, and
the mighty ones that mingle strong drink: 23
who justify the ungodly for rewards, and take away the
righteousness of the righteous.
24 Therefore as stubble shall be burnt
by a coal of fire, and shall be consumed by a violent flame, their root shall be
as chaff, and their flower shall go up as dust: for they rejected the law of the
Lord of hosts, and insulted the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the Lord of hosts was greatly
angered against his people, and he reached forth his hand upon them, and smote
them: and the mountains were troubled, and their carcasses were as dung in the
midst of the way: yet for all this his anger has not been turned away, but his
hand is yet raised.
26 Therefore shall he lift up a signal
to the nations that are afar, and shall hiss for them from the end of the earth;
and, behold, they are coming very quickly. 27
They shall not hunger nor be weary, neither shall they slumber
nor sleep; neither shall they loose their girdles from their loins, neither
shall their shoe-latchets be broken. 28
Whose arrows are sharp, and their bows bent; their horses’ hoofs
are counted as solid rock: their chariot-wheels are as a storm.
29 They rage as lions, and draw nigh as a
lion’s whelps: and he shall seize, and roar as a wild beast, and he shall cast
them forth, and there shall be none to deliver them.
30 And he shall roar on account of them in
that day, as the sound of the swelling sea; and they shall look to the land,
and, behold, there shall be thick darkness in their perplexity.
Chapter 6
6:1 And it came to pass in the year in
which king Ozias died, that I saw the Lord sitting on a high and exalted
throne, and the house was full of his glory. 2
And seraphs stood round about him: each one had six wings: and
with two they covered their face, and with two they covered their
feet, and with two they flew. 3 And
one cried to the other, and they said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the lintel shook at the voice they
uttered, and the house was filled with smoke. 5
And I said, Woe is me, for I am pricked to the heart; for being a
man, and having unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean
lips; and I have seen with mine eyes the King, the Lord of hosts.
6 And there was sent to me one of the
seraphs, and he had in his hand a coal, which he had taken off the altar with
the tongs: 7 and he touched my
mouth, and said, Behold, this has touched thy lips, and will take away thine
iniquities, and will purge off thy sins.
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord,
saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people? And I said, behold, I
am here, send me. And he said, Go, and say to this people,
9 Ye shall hear indeed, but ye shall not
understand; and ye shall see indeed, but ye shall not perceive.
10 For the heart of this people has become
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest
they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. 11
And I said, How long, O Lord? And he said, Until cities be
deserted by reason of their not being inhabited, and the houses by reason of
there being no men, and the land shall be left desolate.
12 And after this God shall remove the men far off, and
they that are left upon the land shall be multiplied. 13
And yet there shall be a tenth upon it, and again it shall
be for a spoil, as a turpentine tree, and as an acorn when it falls out of its
husk.
Chapter 7
7:1 And it came to pass in the days of
Achaz the son of Joatham, the son of Ozias, king of Juda, there came up
Rasim king of Aram, and Phakee son of Romelias, king of Israel, against
Jerusalem to war against it, but they could not take it. 2
And a message was brought to the house of David, saying,
Aram has conspired with Ephraim. And his soul was amazed, and the soul of his
people, as in a wood a tree is moved by the wind. 3
And the Lord said to Esaias, Go forth to meet Achaz, thou, and
thy son Jasub who is left, to the pool of the upper way of the fuller’s field.
4 And thou shalt say to him, Take
care to be quiet, and fear not, neither let thy soul be disheartened because of
these two smoking firebrands: for when my fierce anger is over, I will heal
again. 5 And as for the son
of Aram, and the son of Romelias, forasmuch as they have devised an evil
counsel, saying, 6 We will go
up against Judea, and having conferred with them we will turn them away to our
side, and we will make the son of Tabeel king of it; 7
thus saith the Lord of hosts, This counsel shall not
abide, nor come to pass. 8 But the
head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus, Rasim; and yet within sixty
and five years the kingdom of Ephraim shall cease from being a people.
9 And the head of Ephraim is Somoron,
and the head of Somoron the son of Romelias: but if ye believe not, neither will
ye at all understand.
10 And the Lord again spoke to Achaz,
saying, 11 Ask for thyself a sign of
the Lord thy God, in the depth or in the height. 12
And Achaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.
13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house
of David; is it a little thing for you to contend with men? and how do ye
contend against the Lord? 14
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall
conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Emmanuel. 15 Butter and honey shall
he eat, before he knows either to prefer evil or choose the good.
16 For before the child shall know good or
evil, he refuses evil, to choose the good; and the land shall be forsaken which
thou art afraid of because of the two kings.
17 But God shall bring upon thee, and
upon thy people, and upon the house of thy father, days which have never come,
from the day that Ephraim took away from Juda the king of the Assyrians.
18 And it shall come to pass in that day
that the Lord shall hiss for the flies, which insect shall rule over a
part of the river of Egypt, and for the bee which is in the land of the
Assyrians. 19 And they all shall
enter into the clefts of the land, and into the holes of the rocks, and into the
caves, and into every ravine. 20 In
that day the Lord shall shave with the hired razor of the king of Assyria beyond
the river the head, and the hairs of the feet, and will remove the beard.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day,
that a man shall rear a heifer, and two sheep. 22
And it shall come to pass from their drinking an abundance
of milk, that every one that is left on the land shall eat butter and
honey.
23 And it shall come to pass in that
day, for every place where there shall be a thousand vines at a thousand
shekels, they shall become barren land and thorns. 24
Men shall enter thither with arrow and bow; for all
the land shall be barren ground and thorns. 25
And every mountain shall be certainly ploughed: there
shall no fear come thither: for there shall be from among the barren
ground and thorns that whereon cattle shall feed and oxen shall tread.
Chapter 8
8:1 And the Lord said to me, Take to
thyself a volume of a great new book, and write in it with a man’s pen
concerning the making a rapid plunder of spoils; for it is near at hand.
2 And make me witnesses of faithful
men, Urias, and Zacharias the son of Barachias. 3
And I went in to the prophetess; and she conceived, and bore a
son. And the Lord said to me, Call his name, Spoil quickly, plunder speedily.
4 For before the child shall know
how to call his father or his mother, one shall take
the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria before the king of the
Assyrians.
5 And the Lord spoke to me yet again,
saying, 6 Because this people
chooses not the water of Siloam that goes softly, but wills to have Rassin, and
the son of Romelias to be king over you; 7
therefore, behold, the Lord brings up upon you the water of the
river, strong and abundant, even the king of the Assyrians, and his
glory: and he shall come up over every valley of yours, and shall walk over
every wall of yours: 8 and he shall
take away from Juda every man who shall be able to lift up his head,
and every one able to accomplish anything; and his camp shall fill the
breadth of thy land, O God with us.
9 Know, ye Gentiles, and be conquered;
hearken ye, even to the extremity of the earth: be conquered, after ye
strengthened yourselves; for even if ye should again strengthen yourselves, ye
shall again be conquered. 10 And
whatsoever counsel ye shall take, the Lord shall bring it to nought; and
whatsoever word ye shall speak, it shall not stand among you: for God is with
us. 11 Thus saith the Lord, With a
strong hand they revolt from the course of the way of this people, saying,
12 Let them not say, It is
hard, for whatsoever this people says, is hard: but fear not ye their fear,
neither be dismayed. 13 Sanctify ye
the Lord himself; and he shall be thy fear. 14
And if thou shalt trust in him, he shall be to thee for a
sanctuary; and ye shall not come against him as against a
stumbling-stone, neither as against the falling of a rock: but the houses of
Jacob are in a snare, and the dwellers in Jerusalem in a pit.
15 Therefore many among them shall be weak,
and fall, and be crushed; and they shall draw nigh, and men shall be taken
securely. 16 Then shall those who
seal themselves that they may not learn the law be made manifest.
17 And one shall say, I will wait
for God, who has turned away his face from the house of Jacob, and I will trust
in him. 18 Behold I and the children
which God has given me: and they shall be for signs and wonders in the
house of Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in mount Sion.
19 And if they should say to you, Seek
those who have in them a divining spirit, and them that speak out of the earth,
them that speak vain words, who speak out of their belly: shall not a nation
diligently seek to their God? why do they seek to the dead concerning the
living? 20 For he has given the law
for a help, that they should not speak according to this word, concerning which
there are no gifts to give for it. 21
And famine shall come sorely upon you, and it shall come to pass,
that when ye shall be hungry, ye shall be grieved, and ye shall speak ill
of the prince and your fathers’ ordinances: and they shall look up to heaven
above, 22 and they shall look on the
earth below, and behold severe distress, and darkness, affliction, and anguish,
and darkness so that one cannot see; and he that is in anguish shall not
be distressed only for a time.
Chapter 9
9:1 Drink this first. Act quickly, O
land of Zabulon, land of Nephthalim, and the rest inhabiting the
sea-coast, and the land beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
2 O people walking in darkness, behold a
great light: ye that dwell in the region and shadow of death, a light
shall shine upon you. 3 The
multitude of the people which thou hast brought down in thy joy, they shall even
rejoice before thee as they that rejoice in harvest, and as they that divide the
spoil. 4 Because the yoke that was
laid upon them has been taken away, and the rod that was on their neck: for he
has broken the rod of the exactors, as in the day of Madiam.
5 For they shall compensate for every
garment that has been acquired by deceit, and all raiment with
restitution; and they shall be willing, even if they were burnt with
fire.
6 For a child is born to us, and a son
is given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder: and his name is called
the Messenger of great counsel: for I will bring peace upon the princes, and
health to him. 7 His government
shall be great, and of his peace there is no end: it shall be upon the
throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to support
it with judgment and with righteousness, from henceforth and forever. The
seal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this.
8 The Lord has sent death upon Jacob,
and it has come upon Israel. 9 And
all the people of Ephraim, and they that dwelt in Samaria shall know, who say in
their pride and lofty heart, 10 The
bricks are fallen down, but come, let us hew stones, and cut down sycamores and
cedars, and let us build for ourselves a tower. 11
And God shall dash down them that rise up against him on mount
Sion, and shall scatter his enemies; 12
even Syria from the rising of the sun, and the Greeks from
the setting of the sun, who devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his
anger is not turned away, but still his hand is exalted.
13 But the people turned not until they
were smitten, and they sought not the Lord. 14
So the Lord took away from Israel the head and tail, great and
small, in one day: 15 the old man,
and them that respect persons, this is the head; and the prophet teaching
unlawful things, he is the tail. 16
And they that pronounce this people blessed shall mislead them; and they mislead
them that they may devour them. 17
Therefore the Lord shall not take pleasure in their young men, neither shall he
have pity on their orphans or on their widows: for they are all transgressors
and wicked, and every mouth speaks unjustly. For all this his anger is
not turned away, but his hand is yet exalted.
18 And iniquity shall burn as fire, and
shall be devoured by fire as dry grass: and it shall burn in the thickets of the
wood, and shall devour all that is round about the hills.
19 The whole earth is set on fire because of the fierce
anger of the Lord, and the people shall be as men burnt by fire: no man shall
pity his brother. 20 But one
shall turn aside to the right hand, for he shall be hungry; and shall eat on the
left, and a man shall by no means be satisfied with eating the flesh of his own
arm. 21 For Manasses shall eat
the flesh of Ephraim, and Ephraim the flesh of Manasses; for they
shall besiege Juda together. For all this his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is yet exalted.
Chapter 10
10:1 Woe to them that write wickedness;
for when they write they do write wickedness, 2
perverting the cause of the poor, violently wresting the
judgment of the needy ones of my people, that the widow may be a prey to them,
and the orphan a spoil. 3 And what
will they do in the day of visitation? for affliction shall come to you from
afar: and to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory,
4 that ye may not fall into
captivity?
For all this his wrath is not turned away, but his
hand is yet exalted.
5 Woe to the Assyrians; the rod of my
wrath, and anger are in their hands. 6
I will send my wrath against a sinful nation, and I will charge
my people to take plunder and spoil, and to trample the cities, and to make them
dust. 7 But he meant not thus,
neither did he devise thus in his soul: but his mind shall change, and that
to destroy nations not a few. 8 And
if they should say to him, Thou alone art ruler; 9
then shall he say, Have I not taken the country above Babylon and
Chalanes, where the tower was built? and have I not taken Arabia, and
Damascus, and Samaria? 10 As I have
taken them, I will also take all the kingdoms: howl, ye idols in Jerusalem, and
in Samaria. 11 For as I did to
Samaria and her idols, so will I do also to Jerusalem and her idols.
12 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord
shall have finished doing all things on Mount Sion and Jerusalem, that I
will visit upon the proud heart, even upon the ruler of the Assyrians,
and upon the boastful haughtiness of his eyes. 13
For he said, I will act in strength, and in the wisdom of my
understanding I will remove the boundaries of nations, and will spoil their
strength. 14 And I will shake the
inhabited cities: and I will take with my hand all the world as a nest: and I
will even take them as eggs that have been left; and there is none that shall
escape me, or contradict me. 15
Shall the axe glorify itself without him that hews with it? or shall the saw
lift up itself without him that uses it, as if one should lift a rod or staff?
but it shall not be so; 16 but the
Lord of hosts shall send dishonour upon thine honour, and burning fire shall be
kindled upon thy glory. 17 And the
light of Israel shall be for a fire, and he shall sanctify him with burning
fire, and it shall devour the wood as grass. 18
In that day the mountains shall be consumed, and the hills, and
the forests, and fire shall devour both soul and body: and he that
flees shall be as one fleeing from burning flame. 19
And they that are left of them shall be a small
number, and a child shall write them.
20 And it shall come to pass in that day
that the remnant of Israel shall no more join themselves with, and the
saved of Jacob shall no more trust in, them that injured them; but they shall
trust in the Holy God of Israel, in truth. 21
And the remnant of Jacob shall trust on the mighty God.
22 And though the people of Israel
be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be saved.
23 He will finish the work, and cut it
short in righteousness: because the Lord will make a short work in all the
world.
24 Therefore thus saith the Lord of
hosts, Be not afraid, my people who dwell in Sion, of the Assyrians, because he
shall smite thee with a rod: for I am bringing a stroke upon thee, that thou
mayest see the way of Egypt. 25 For
yet a little while, and the indignation shall cease: but my wrath shall be
against their council. 26 And God
will stir up enemies against them, according to the stroke of Madiam in
the place of affliction: and his wrath shall be by the way of the sea, even
to the way that leads to Egypt. 27
And it shall come to pass in that day, that his yoke shall be taken away
from thy shoulder, and his fear from thee, and the yoke shall be destroyed from
off your shoulders.
28 For he shall arrive at the city of
Angai, and shall pass on to Maggedo, and shall lay up his stores in Machmas.
29 And he shall pass by the valley,
and shall arrive at Angai: fear shall seize upon Rama, the city of Saul.
30 The daughter of Gallim shall flee; Laisa
shall hear; one shall hear in Anathoth. 31
Madebena also is amazed, and the inhabitants of Gibbir.
32 Exhort ye them to-day to
remain in the way: exhort ye beckoning with the hand the mountain, the
daughter of Sion, even ye hills that are in Jerusalem. 33
Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will mightily
confound the glorious ones; and the haughty in pride shall be crushed, and the
lofty shall be brought low: 34 and
the lofty ones shall fall by the sword, and the Libanus shall fall with his
lofty ones.
Chapter 11
11:1 And there shall come forth a rod
out of the root of Jesse, and a blossom shall come up from his root:
2 and the Spirit of God shall rest
upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and
strength, the spirit of knowledge and godliness shall fill him;
3 the spirit of the fear of God. He shall
not judge according to appearance, nor reprove according to report:
4 but he shall judge the cause of the
lowly, and shall reprove the lowly of the earth: and he shall smite the earth
with the word of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he destroy the
ungodly one. 5 And he shall have his
loins girt with righteousness, and his sides clothed with truth.
6 And the wolf shall feed with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the young calf and bull and
lion shall feed together; and a little child shall lead them.
7 And the ox and bear shall feed together;
and their young shall be together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 And an infant shall put his hand
on the holes of asps, and on the nest of young asps. 9
And they shall not hurt, nor shall they at all be able to
destroy any one on my holy mountain: for the whole world is filled with
the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covers the seas.
10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, and he
that shall arise to rule over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust, and
his rest shall be glorious. 11 And
it shall be in that day, that the Lord shall again shew his hand, to be
zealous for the remnant that is left of the people, which shall be left by the
Assyrians, and that from Egypt, and from the country of Babylon, and from
Ethiopia, and from the Elamites, and from the rising of the sun, and out of
Arabia. 12 And he shall lift up a
standard for the nations, and he shall gather the lost ones of Israel, and he
shall gather the dispersed of Juda from the four corners of the earth.
13 And the envy of Ephraim shall be taken
away, and the enemies of Juda shall perish: Ephraim shall not envy Juda, and
Juda shall not afflict Ephraim. 14
And they shall fly in the ships of the Philistines: they shall at the same time
spoil the sea, and them that come from the east, and Idumea: and they
shall lay their hands on Moab first; but the children of Ammon shall first obey
them.
15 And the Lord shall make desolate the
sea of Egypt; and he shall lay his hand on the river with a strong wind, and he
shall smite the seven channels, so that men shall pass through it dry-shod.
16 And there shall be a passage for
my people that is left in Egypt: and it shall be to Israel as the day when he
came forth out of the land of Egypt.
Chapter 12
12:1 And in that day thou shalt say, I
will bless thee, O Lord; for thou wast angry with me, but thou hast
turned aside thy wrath, and hast pitied me. 2
Behold, my God is my Saviour; I will trust in him, and not be
afraid: for the Lord is my glory and my praise, and is become my salvation.
3 Draw ye therefore water with joy
out of the wells of salvation. 4 And
in that day thou shalt say, sing to the Lord, call aloud upon his name, proclaim
his glorious deeds among the Gentiles; make mention that his name is
exalted. 5 Sing praise to the name
of the Lord; for he has done great things: declare this in all the earth.
6 Exalt and rejoice, ye that dwell
in Sion: for the Holy One of Israel is exalted in the midst of her.
Chapter 13
13:1 THE VISION WHICH ESAIAS SON OF AMOS
SAW AGAINST BABYLON.
2 Lift up a standard on the mountain of
the plain, exalt the voice to them, beckon with the hand, open the gates,
ye rulers. 3 I give command, and I
bring them: giants are coming to fulfil my wrath, rejoicing at the same time and
insulting. 4 A voice of many nations
on the mountains, even like to that of many nations; a voice of
kings and nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts has given command to a
war-like nation, 5 to come from a
land afar off, from the utmost foundation of heaven; the Lord and his warriors
are coming to destroy all the world.
6 Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is
near, and destruction from God shall arrive. 7
Therefore every hand shall become powerless, and every soul of
man shall be dismayed. 8 The elders
shall be troubled, and pangs shall seize them, as of a woman in travail: and
they shall mourn one to another, and shall be amazed, and shall change their
countenance as a flame. 9 For
behold! the day of the Lord is coming which cannot be escaped, a day of
wrath and anger, to make the world desolate, and to destroy sinners out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven, and
Orion, and all the host of heaven, shall not give their light; and it shall be
dark at sunrise, and the moon shall not give her light. 11
And I will command evils for the whole world, and will
visit their sins on the ungodly: and I will destroy the pride of
transgressors, and will bring low the pride of the haughty.
12 And they that are left shall be more
precious than gold tried in the fire; and a man shall be more precious than the
stone that is in Suphir. 13 For the
heaven shall be enraged, and the earth shall be shaken from her foundation,
because of the fierce anger of the Lord of hosts, in the day in which his wrath
shall come on. 14 And they that are
left shall be as a fleeing fawn, and as a stray sheep, and there shall be none
to gather them: so that a man shall turn back to his people, and a man
shall flee to his own land. 15 For
whosoever shall be taken shall be overcome; and they that are gathered together
shall fall by the sword. 16 And they
shall dash their children before their eyes; and they shall spoil their houses,
and shall take their wives.
17 Behold, I will stir up against you
the Medes, who do not regard silver, neither have they need of gold.
18 They shall break the bows of the young
men; and they shall have no mercy on your children; nor shall their eyes spare
thy children. 19 And Babylon, which
is called glorious by the king of the Chaldeans, shall be as when God
overthrew Sodoma, and Gomorrha. 20
It shall never be inhabited, neither shall any enter into it for many
generations: neither shall the Arabians pass through it; nor shall shepherds at
all rest in it. 21 But wild beasts
shall rest there; and the houses shall be filled with howling; and monsters
shall rest there, and devils shall dance there, 22
and satyrs shall dwell there; and hedgehogs shall make their
nests in their houses. It will come soon, and will not tarry.
Chapter 14
14:1 And the Lord will have mercy on
Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and they shall rest on their land: and the
stranger shall be added to them, yea, shall be added to the house of Jacob.
2 And the Gentiles shall take them,
and bring them into their place: and they shall inherit them, and they shall be
multiplied upon the land for servants and handmaidens: and they that took them
captives shall become captives to them; and they that had lordship over
them shall be under their rule.
3 And it shall come to pass in that day,
that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow and vexation, and
from thy hard servitude wherein thou didst serve them.
4 And thou shalt take up this lamentation
against the king of Babylon,
How has the extortioner ceased, and the taskmaster ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the yoke of
sinners, the yoke of princes. 6
Having smitten a nation in wrath, with an incurable plague, smiting a nation
with a wrathful plague, which spared them not, he rested in quiet.
7 All the earth cries aloud with joy:
8 the trees also of Libanus rejoice
against thee, and the cedar of Libanus, saying, From the time that thou
hast been laid low, no one has come up to cut us down. 9
Hell from beneath is provoked to meet thee: all the great
ones that have ruled over the earth have risen up together against thee, they
that have raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
10 All shall answer and say to thee, Thou
also hast been taken, even as we; and thou art numbered amongst us.
11 Thy glory has come down to Hades, and
thy great mirth: under thee they shall spread corruption, and the worm shall be
thy covering. 12 How has Lucifer,
that rose in the morning, fallen from heaven! He that sent orders to all
the nations is crushed to the earth. 13
But thou saidst in thine heart, I will go up to heaven, I will
set my throne above the stars of heaven: I will sit on a lofty mount, on the
lofty mountains toward the north: 14
I will go up above the clouds: I will be like the Most High.
15 But now thou shalt go down to
hell, even to the foundations of the earth. 16
They that see thee shall wonder at thee, and say, This is the man
that troubled the earth, that made kings to shake; 17
that made the whole world desolate, and destroyed its
cities; he loosed not those who were in captivity. 18
All the kings of the nations lie in honour, every
man in his house. 19 But thou shalt
be cast forth on the mountains, as a loathed carcase, with many dead who have
been pierced with swords, going down to the grave. 20
As a garment defiled with blood shall not be pure, so
neither shalt thou be pure; because thou hast destroyed my land, and hast slain
my people: thou shalt not endure for ever, —thou an evil seed.
21 Prepare thy children to be slain for the
sins of their father; that they arise not, and inherit the earth, nor fill the
earth with wars. 22 And I will rise
up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will destroy their name, and
remnant, and seed: thus saith the Lord. 23
And I will make the region of Babylon desert, so that hedgehogs
shall dwell there, and it shall come to nothing: and I will make it a pit
of clay for destruction.
24 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, As I
have said, so it shall be: and as I have purposed, so the matter shall
remain: 25 even to destroy
the Assyrians upon my land, and upon my mountains: and they shall be for
trampling; and their yoke shall be taken away from them, and their glory shall
be taken away from their shoulders. 26
This is the purpose which the Lord has purposed upon the whole
earth: and this the hand that is uplifted against all the nations.
27 For what the Holy God has purposed, who
shall frustrate? and who shall turn back his uplifted hand?
28 In the year in which king Achaz died
this word came.
29 Rejoice not, all ye Philistines,
because the yoke of him that smote you is broken: for out of the seed of the
serpent shall come forth the young asps, and their young shall come forth flying
serpents, 30 And the poor shall be
fed by him, and poor men shall rest in peace: but he shall destroy thy seed with
hunger, and shall destroy thy remnant. 31
Howl, ye gates of cities; let the cities be troubled and cry,
even all the Philistines: for smoke is coming from the north, and there is
no possibility of living. 32
And what shall the kings of the nations answer? That the Lord has founded Sion,
and by him the poor of the people shall be saved.
Chapter 15
15:1 THE WORD AGAINST THE LAND OF MOAB.
By night the land of Moab shall be destroyed; for by night the
wall of the land of Moab shall be destroyed. 2
Grieve for yourselves; for even Debon, where your altar is, shall
be destroyed: thither shall ye go up to weep, over Nabau of the land of Moab:
howl ye: baldness shall be on every head, and all arms shall be
wounded. 3 Gird yourselves with
sackcloth in her streets: and lament upon her roofs, and in her streets, and in
her ways; howl all of you with weeping. 4
For Esebon and Eleale have cried: their voice was heard to Jassa:
therefore the loins of the region of Moab cry aloud; her soul shall know.
5 The heart of the region of Moab cries
within her to Segor; for it is as a heifer of three years old: and on the
ascent of Luith they shall go up to thee weeping by the way of Aroniim: she
cries, Destruction, and trembling. 6
The water of Nemerim shall be desolate, and the grass thereof
shall fail: for there shall be no green grass. 7
Shall Moab even thus be delivered? for I will bring
the Arabians upon the valley, and they shall take it. 8
For the cry has reached the border of the region of Moab,
even of Agalim; and her howling has gone as far as the well of
Ælim. 9 And the water of Dimon shall
be filled with blood: for I will bring Arabians upon Dimon, and I will take away
the seed of Moab, and Ariel, and the remnant of Adama.
Chapter 16
16:1 I will send as it were reptiles on
the land: is not the mount of the daughter of Sion a desolate rock?
2 For thou shalt be as a young bird
taken away from a bird that has flown: even thou shalt be so,
daughter of Moab: and then do thou, O Arnon, 3
take farther counsel, and continually make thou a shelter from
grief: they flee in darkness at mid-day; they are amazed; be not thou led
captive. 4 The fugitives of Moab
shall sojourn with thee; they shall be to you a shelter from the face of the
pursuer: for thine alliance has been taken away, and the oppressing ruler has
perished from off the earth. 5 And a
throne shall be established with mercy; and one shall sit upon it with truth in
the tabernacle of David, judging, and earnestly seeking judgments, and hasting
righteousness.
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab; he
is very proud. I have cut off his pride: thy prophecy shall not be thus, no
not thus. 7 Moab shall howl; for all
shall howl in the land of Moab: but thou shalt care for them that dwell in Seth,
and thou shalt not be ashamed. 8 The
plains of Esebon shall mourn, the vine of Sebama: swallowing up the nations,
trample ye her vines, even to Jazer: ye shall not come together; wander ye in
the desert: they that were sent are deserted, for they have gone over to the
sea. 9 Therefore will I weep as with
the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sebama; Esebon and Eleale have cast down
thy trees; for I will trample on thy harvest and on thy vintages, and all thy
plants shall fall. 10 And
gladness and rejoicing shall be taken away from the vineyards; and they shall
not at all tread wine into the vats; for the vintage has ceased.
11 Therefore my belly shall sound as a harp
for Moab, and thou hast repaired my inward parts as a wall.
12 And it shall be to thy shame, (for Moab
is wearied at the altars,) that he shall go in to the idols thereof to pray, but
they shall not be at all able to deliver him.
13 This is the word which the Lord spoke
against Moab, when he spoke. 14 And
now I say, in three years, of the years of an hireling, the glory of Moab shall
be dishonoured with all his great wealth; and he shall be left few in
number, and not honoured.
Chapter 17
17:1 THE WORD AGAINST DAMASCUS.
Behold, Damascus shall be taken away from among cities, and
shall become a ruin; 2 abandoned for
ever, to be a fold and resting-place for flocks, and there shall be none
to go after them. 3 And she shall no
longer be a strong place for Ephraim to flee to, and there shall no longer be a
kingdom in Damascus, or a remnant of Syrians; for thou art no better than the
children of Israel, even than their glory; thus saith the Lord of hosts.
4 There shall be in that day a
failure of the glory of Jacob, and the riches of his glory shall be shaken.
5 And it shall be as if one should
gather standing corn, and reap the grain of the ears; and it shall be as if one
should gather ears in a rich valley; 6
and as if there should be left stubble therein, or as it were the
berries of an olive tree, two or three on the topmost bough, or as if
four or five should be left on their branches; thus saith the Lord, the God of
Israel.
7 In that day a man shall trust in him
that made him, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.
8 And they shall not at all trust in their
altars, nor in the works of their hands, which their fingers made; and they
shall not look to the trees, nor to their abominations.
9 In that day thy cities shall be
deserted, as the Amorites and the Evaeans deserted theirs, because of the
children of Israel; and they shall be desolate. 10
Because thou hast forsaken God thy Saviour, and hast not been
mindful of the Lord thy helper; therefore shalt thou plant a false plant, and a
false seed. 11 In the day wherein
thou shalt plant thou shalt be deceived; but if thou sow in the morning, the
seed shall spring up for a crop in the day wherein thou shalt obtain an
inheritance, and as a man’s father, thou shalt obtain an inheritance for thy
sons.
12 Woe to the multitude of many
nations, as the swelling sea, so shall ye be confounded; and the force of many
nations shall sound like water; 13
many nations like much water, as when much water rushes violently: and they
shall drive him away, and pursue him afar, as the dust of chaff when men winnow
before the wind, and as a storm whirling the dust of the wheel.
14 Toward evening, and there shall be
grief; before the morning, and he shall not be. This is the portion of them that
spoiled you, and the inheritance to them that robbed you of your inheritance.
Chapter 18
18:1 Woe to you, ye wings of the land of
ships, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. 2
He sends messengers by the sea, and paper letters on the water:
for swift messengers shall go to a lofty nation, and to a strange and harsh
people. Who is beyond it? a nation not looked for, and trodden down.
3 Now all the rivers of the land shall be
inhabited as an inhabited country; their land shall be as when a signal is
raised from a mountain; it shall be audible as the sound of a trumpet.
4 For thus said the Lord to me, There shall
be security in my city, as the light of noonday heat, and it shall be as a cloud
of dew in the day of harvest. 5
Before the reaping time, when the flower has been completely formed, and the
unripe grape has put forth its flower and blossomed, then shall he take away the
little clusters with pruning-hooks, and shall take away the small branches, and
cut them off; 6 And he shall leave
them together to the birds of the sky, and to the wild beasts of the
earth: and the fowls of the sky shall be gathered upon them, and all the beasts
of the land shall come upon him. 7
In that time shall presents be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people
afflicted and peeled, and from a people great from henceforth and for ever; a
nation hoping and yet trodden down, which is in a part of a river of his
land, to the place where is the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Sion.
Chapter 19
19:1 THE VISION OF EGYPT.
Behold, the Lord sits on a swift cloud, and shall come to
Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and their heart
shall faint within them. 2 And the
Egyptians shall be stirred up against the Egyptians: and a man shall fight
against his brother, and a man against his neighbor, city against city, and law
against law. 3 And the spirit of the
Egyptians shall be troubled within them; and I will frustrate their counsel: and
they shall enquire of their gods and their images, and them that speak out of
the earth, and them that have in them a divining spirit. 4
And I will deliver Egypt into the hands of men, of cruel
lords; and cruel kings shall rule over them: thus saith the Lord of hosts.
5 And the Egyptians shall drink the
water that is by the sea, but the river shall fail, and be dried up.
6 And the streams shall fail, and the
canals of the river; and every reservoir of water shall be dried up, in every
marsh also of reed and papyrus. 7
And all the green herbage round about the river, and everything sown by the side
of the river, shall be blasted with the wind and dried up.
8 And the fishermen shall groan, and all
that cast a hook into the river shall groan; they also that cast nets, and the
anglers shall mourn. 9 And shame
shall come upon them that work fine flax, and them that make fine linen.
10 And they that work at them shall be in
pain, and all that make beer shall be grieved, and be pained in their souls.
11 And the princes of Tanis shall be
fools: as for the king’s wise counsellors, their counsel shall be turned
into folly: how will ye say to the king, we are sons of wise men, sons of
ancient kings? 12 Where are now thy
wise men? and let them declare to thee, and say, What has the Lord of hosts
purposed upon Egypt? 13 The princes
of Tanis have failed, and the princes of Memphis are lifted up with pride,
and they shall cause Egypt to wander by tribes. 14
For the Lord has prepared for them a spirit of error, and they
have caused Egypt to err in all their works, as one staggers who is drunken and
vomits also. 15 And there shall be
no work to the Egyptians, which shall make head or tail, or beginning or end.
16 But in that day the Egyptians shall
be as women, in fear and in trembling because of the hand of the Lord of hosts,
which he shall bring upon them. 17
And the land of the Jews shall be for a terror to the Egyptians: whosoever shall
name it to them, they shall fear, because of the counsel which the Lord of hosts
has purposed concerning it. 18 In
that day there shall be five cities in Egypt speaking the language of Chanaan,
and swearing by the name of the Lord of hosts; one city shall be called the city
of Asedec. 19 In that day there
shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of the Egyptians, and a pillar to the
Lord by its border. 20 And it shall
be for a sign to the Lord for ever in the land of Egypt: for they shall
presently cry to the Lord by reason of them that afflict them, and he shall send
them a man who shall save them; he shall judge and save them.
21 And the Lord shall be known to the
Egyptians, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day; and they shall
offer sacrifices, and shall vow vows to the Lord, and pay them.
22 And the Lord shall smite the Egyptians
with a stroke, and shall completely heal them: and they shall return to the
Lord, and he shall hear them, and thoroughly heal them. 23
In that day there shall be a way from Egypt to the
Assyrians, and the Assyrians shall enter into Egypt, and the Egyptians shall go
to the Assyrians, and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrians.
24 In that day shall Israel be third with
the Egyptians and the Assyrians, blessed in the land which the Lord of hosts has
blessed, 25 saying, Blessed be my
people that is in Egypt, and that is among the Assyrians, and Israel mine
inheritance.
Chapter 20
20:1 In the year when Tanathan came to
Azotus, when he was sent by Arna king of the Assyrians, and warred against
Azotus, and took it; 2 then the Lord
spoke to Esaias the son of Amos, saying, Go and take the sackcloth off thy
loins, and loose thy sandals from off thy feet, and do thus, going naked and
barefoot. 3 And the Lord said, As my
servant Esaias has walked naked and barefoot three years, there shall be three
years for signs and wonders to the Egyptians and Ethiopians;
4 for thus shall the king of the Assyrians
lead the captivity of Egypt and the Ethiopians, young men and old, naked and
barefoot, having the shame of Egypt exposed. 5
And the Egyptians being defeated shall be ashamed of the
Ethiopians, in whom they had trusted; for they were their glory.
6 And they that dwell in this island shall
say in that day, Behold, we trusted to flee to them for help, who could not save
themselves from the king of the Assyrians: and how shall we be saved?
Chapter 21
21:1 THE VISION OF THE DESERT.
As though a whirlwind should pass through the desert, coming
from a desert, even from such a land, 2
so a fearful and a grievous vision was declared to me: he
that is treacherous deals treacherously, the transgressor transgresses. The
Elamites are upon me, and the ambassadors of the Persians come against me: now
will I groan and comfort myself. 3
Therefore are my loins filled with feebleness, and pangs have seized me as a
travailing woman: I dealt wrongfully that I might not hear; I hasted that I
might not see. 4 My heart wanders,
and transgression overwhelms me; my soul is occupied with fear.
5 Prepare the table, eat, drink: arise, ye
princes, and prepare your shields. 6
For thus said the Lord to me, Go and station a watchman for
thyself, and declare whatever thou shalt see. 7
And I saw two mounted horsemen, and a rider on an ass, and a
rider on a camel. 8 Hearken with
great attention, and call thou Urias to the watch-tower: the Lord has spoken. I
stood continually during the day, and I stood in the camp all night:
9 and, behold, he comes riding in a chariot
and pair: and he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all her
images and her idols have been crushed to the ground. 10
Hear, ye that are left, and ye that are in pain, hear what
things I have heard of the Lord of hosts which the God of Israel has
declared to us.
THE VISION OF IDUMEA.
11 Call to me out of Seir; guard ye the
bulwarks. 12 I watch in the morning
and the night: if thou wouldest enquire, enquire, and dwell by me.
13 Thou mayest lodge in the forest in the
evening, or in the way of Daedan. 14
Ye that dwell in the country of Thaeman, bring water to meet him
that is thirsty; 15 meet the
fugitives with bread, because of the multitude of the slain, and because of the
multitude of them that lose their way, and because of the multitude of swords,
and because of the multitude of bent bows, and because of the multitude of them
that have fallen in war. 16 For thus
said the Lord to me, Yet a year, as the year of an hireling, and the
glory of the sons of Kedar shall fail: 17
and the remnant of the strong bows of the sons of Kedar shall be
small: for the Lord God of Israel has spoken it.
Chapter 22
22:1 THE WORD OF THE VALLEY OF SION.
What has happened to thee, that now ye are all gone up to the
housetops which help you not? 2 The
city is filled with shouting men: thy slain are not slain with swords,
nor are thy dead those who have died in battle. 3
All thy princes have fled, and thy captives are tightly
bound, and the mighty men in thee have fled far away.
4 Therefore I said, Let me alone, I will
weep bitterly; labour not to comfort me for the breach of the daughter of my
people. 5 For it is a day of
trouble, and of destruction, and of treading down, and there is
perplexity sent from the Lord of hosts: they wander in the valley of Sion;
they wander from the least to the greatest on the mountains.
6 And the Elamites took their
quivers, and there were men mounted on horses, and there was a
gathering for battle. 7 And it shall
be that thy choice valleys shall be filled with chariots, and horsemen
shall block up thy gates. 8 And they
shall uncover the gates of Juda, and they shall look in that day on the choice
houses of the city. 9 And they shall
uncover the secret places of the houses of the citadel of David: and they saw
that they were many, and that one had turned the water of the old pool
into the city; 10 and that they
had pulled down the houses of Jerusalem, to fortify the wall of the city.
11 And ye procured to yourselves
water between the two walls within the ancient pool: but ye looked not to him
that made it from the beginning, and regarded not him that created it.
12 And the Lord, the Lord of hosts, called
in that day for weeping, and lamentation, and baldness, and for girding with
sackcloth: 13 but they engaged in
joy and gladness, slaying calves, and killing sheep, so as to eat flesh, and
drink wine; saying, Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die.
14 And these things are revealed in the
ears of the Lord of hosts: for this sin shall not be forgiven you, until ye die.
15 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Go into
the chamber, to Somnas the treasurer, and say to him, Why art thou here?
16 and what hast thou to do here, that thou
hast here hewn thyself a sepulchre, and madest thyself a sepulchre on high, and
hast graven for thyself a dwelling in the rock? 17
Behold now, the Lord of hosts casts forth and will utterly
destroy such a man, and will take away thy robe and thy glorious crown,
18 and will cast thee into a great
and unmeasured land, and there thou shalt die: and he will bring thy fair
chariot to shame, and the house of thy prince to be trodden down.
19 And thou shalt be removed from thy
stewardship, and from thy place. 20
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the
son of Chelcias: 21 and I will put
on him thy robe, and I will grant him thy crown with power, and I will give thy
stewardship into his hands: and he shall be as a father to them that dwell in
Jerusalem, and to them that dwell in Juda. 22
And I will give him the glory of David; and he shall rule, and
there shall be none to speak against him: and I will give him the key of the
house of David upon his shoulder; and he shall open, and there shall be
none to shut; and he shall shut, and there shall be none to open.
23 And I will make him a ruler in a sure
place, and he shall be for a glorious throne of his father’s house.
24 And every one that is glorious in the
house of his father shall trust in him, from the least to the greatest; and they
shall depend upon him in that day. 25
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The man that is fastened in the
sure place shall be removed and be taken away, and shall fall; and the glory
that is upon him shall be utterly destroyed: for the Lord has spoken it.
Chapter 23
23:1 THE WORD CONCERNING TYRE.
Howl, ye ships of Carthage; for she has perished, and men
no longer arrive from the land of the Citians: she is led captive.
2 To whom are the dwellers in the island
become like, the merchants of Phoenice, passing over the sea
3 in great waters, a generation of
merchants? as when the harvest is gathered in, so are these traders with
the nations. 4 Be ashamed, O Sidon:
the sea has said, yea, the strength of the sea has said, I have not travailed,
nor brought forth, nor have I brought up young men, nor reared virgins.
5 Moreover when it shall be heard in Egypt,
sorrow shall seize them for Tyre. 6
Depart ye to Carthage; howl, ye that dwell in this island.
7 Was not this your pride from the
beginning, before she was given up? 8
Who has devised this counsel against Tyre? Is she inferior? or
has she no strength? her merchants were the glorious princes of the earth.
9 The Lord of hosts has purposed to
bring down all the pride of the glorious ones, and to disgrace every glorious
thing on the earth. 10 Till thy
land; for ships no more come out of Carthage. 11
And thy hand prevails no more by sea, which troubled kings: the
Lord of hosts has given a command concerning Chanaan, to destroy the strength
thereof. 12 And men shall
say, Ye shall no longer at all continue to insult and injure the daughter of
Sidon: and if thou depart to the Citians, neither there shalt thou have rest.
13 And if thou depart to the
land of the Chaldeans, this also is laid waste by the Assyrians, for her wall is
fallen. 14 Howl, ye ships of
Carthage: for your strong hold is destroyed.
15 And it shall come to pass in that
day, that Tyre shall be left seventy years, as the time of a king, as the
time of a man: and it shall come to pass after seventy years, that Tyre
shall be as the song of a harlot. 16
Take a harp, go about, O city, thou harlot that hast been
forgotten; play well on the harp, sing many songs, that thou mayest be
remembered. 17 And it shall come to
pass after the seventy years, that God will visit Tyre, and she shall be
again restored to her primitive state, and she shall be a mart for all the
kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18
And her trade and her gain shall be holiness to the Lord: it
shall not be gathered for them, but for those that dwell before the Lord,
even all her trade, to eat and drink and be filled, and for a covenant
and a memorial before the Lord.
Chapter 24
24:1 Behold, the Lord is about to lay
waste the world, and will make it desolate, and will lay bare the surface of it,
and scatter them that dwell therein. 2
And the people shall be as the priest, and the servant as the
lord, and the maid as the mistress; the buyer shall be as the seller, the lender
as the borrower, and the debtor as his creditor.
3 The earth shall be completely laid
waste, and the earth shall be utterly spoiled: for the mouth of the Lord has
spoken these things. 4 The earth
mourns, and the world is ruined, the lofty ones of the earth are mourning.
5 And she has sinned by reason of
her inhabitants; because they have transgressed the law, and changed the
ordinances, even the everlasting covenant. 6
Therefore a curse shall consume the earth, because the
inhabitants thereof have sinned: therefore the dwellers in the earth shall be
poor, and few men shall be left. 7
The wine shall mourn, the vine shall mourn, all the merry-hearted shall sigh.
8 The mirth of timbrels has ceased,
the sound of the harp has ceased. 9
They are ashamed, they have not drunk wine; strong drink has become bitter to
them that drink it. 10 All
the city has become desolate: one shall shut his house so that none shall enter.
11 There is a howling for the wine
everywhere; all the mirth of the land has ceased, all the mirth of the land has
departed. 12 And cities shall be
left desolate, and houses being left shall fall to ruin.
13 All this shall be in the land in the
midst of the nations, as if one should strip an olive tree, so shall they strip
them; but when the vintage is done, 14
these shall cry aloud; and they that are left on the land shall
rejoice together in the glory of the Lord: the water of the sea shall be
troubled. 15 Therefore shall the
glory of the Lord be in the isles of the sea; the name of the Lord shall be
glorious.
16 O Lord God of Israel, from the ends
of the earth we have heard wonderful things, and there is hope to the
godly: but they shall say, Woe to the despisers, that despise the law.
17 Fear, and a pit, and a snare, are upon
you that dwell on the earth. 18 And
it shall come to pass, that he that flees from the fear shall fall into
the pit; and he that comes up out of the pit shall be caught by the snare: for
windows have been opened in heaven, and the foundations of the earth shall be
shaken, 19 the earth shall be
utterly confounded, and the earth shall be completely perplexed.
20 It reels as a drunkard and one oppressed
with wine, and the earth shall be shaken as a storehouse of fruits; for iniquity
has prevailed upon it, and it shall fall, and shall not be able to rise.
21 And God shall bring his hand
upon the host of heaven, and upon the kings of the earth.
22 And they shall gather the multitude thereof into
prisons, and they shall shut them into a strong hold: after many generations
they shall be visited. 23 And the
brick shall decay, and the wall shall fall; for the Lord shall reign from out of
Sion, and out of Jerusalem, and shall be glorified before his elders.
Chapter 25
25:1 O Lord God, I will glorify thee, I
will sing to thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things, even an
ancient and faithful counsel. So be it. 2
For thou hast made cities a heap, even cities made
strong that their foundations should not fall: the city of ungodly men shall not
be built for ever. 3 Therefore shall
the poor people bless thee, and cities of injured men shall bless thee.
4 For thou hast been a helper to every
lowly city, and a shelter to them that were disheartened by reason of poverty:
thou shalt deliver them from wicked men: thou hast been a shelter of them
that thirst, and a refreshing air to injured men.
5 We were as faint-hearted men
thirsting in Sion, by reason of ungodly men to whom thou didst deliver us.
6 And the Lord of hosts shall make
a feast for all the nations: on this mount they shall drink gladness,
they shall drink wine: 7 they shall
anoint themselves with ointment in this mountain. Impart thou all these things
to the nations; for this is God’s counsel upon all the nations.
8 Death has prevailed and swallowed men
up; but again the Lord God has taken away every tear from every face. He has
taken away the reproach of his people from all the earth: for the mouth
of the Lord has spoken it. 9 And in
that day they shall say, behold our God in whom we have trusted, and he shall
save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, and we have exulted,
and will rejoice in our salvation.
10 God will give rest on this mountain,
and the country of Moab shall be trodden down, as they tread the floor with
waggons. 11 And he shall spread
forth his hands, even as he also brings down man to destroy him:
and he shall bring low his pride in regard to the thing on which he has
laid his hands. 12 And he shall
bring down the height of the refuge of the wall, and it shall come down even to
the ground.
Chapter 26
26:1 In that day they shall sing this
song in the land of Judea; Behold a strong city; and he shall make salvation
its wall and bulwark. 2 Open ye
the gates, let the nation enter that keeps righteousness, and keeps truth,
3 supporting truth, and keeping
peace: for on thee, O Lord, 4 they
have trusted with confidence for ever, the great, the eternal God;
5 who hast humbled and brought down them
that dwell on high, thou shalt cast down strong cities, and bring them to the
ground. 6 And the feet of the meek
and lowly shall trample them.
7 The way of the godly is made straight:
the way of the godly is also prepared. 8
For the way of the Lord is judgment: we have hoped in thy name,
and on the remembrance of thee, 9
which our soul longs for: my spirit seeks thee very early in the
morning, O God, for thy commandments are a light on the earth: learn
righteousness, ye that dwell upon the earth. 10
For the ungodly one is put down: no one who will not learn
righteousness on the earth, shall be able to do the truth: let the ungodly be
taken away, that he see not the glory of the Lord. 11
O Lord, thine arm is exalted, yet they knew it not: but
when they know they shall be ashamed: jealousy shall seize upon an untaught
nation, and now fire shall devour the adversaries. 12
O Lord our God, give us peace: for thou hast rendered to
us all things. 13 O Lord our God,
take possession of us: O Lord, we know not any other beside thee: we name
thy name.
14 But the dead shall not see life,
neither shall physicians by any means raise them up: therefore thou hast
brought wrath upon them, and slain them, and hast taken
away every male of them. Bring more evils upon them, O Lord;
15 bring more evils on the glorious ones of
the earth.
16 Lord, in affliction I remembered
thee; thy chastening was to us with small affliction. 17
And as a woman in travail draws nigh to be delivered,
and cries out in her pain; so have we been to thy beloved.
18 We have conceived, O Lord, because of
thy fear, and have been in pain, and have brought forth the breath of thy
salvation, which we have wrought upon the earth: we shall not fall, but all that
dwell upon the land shall fall. 19
The dead shall rise, and they that are in the tombs shall be raised, and they
that are in the earth shall rejoice: for the dew from thee is healing to them:
but the land of the ungodly shall perish. 20
Go, my people, enter into thy closets, shut thy door, hide
thyself for a little season, until the anger of the Lord have passed away.
21 For, behold, the Lord is bringing
wrath from his holy place upon the dwellers on the earth: the earth also
shall disclose her blood, and shall not cover her slain.
Chapter 27
27:1 In that day God shall bring his
holy and great and strong sword upon the dragon, even the serpent that flees,
upon the dragon, the crooked serpent: he shall destroy the dragon.
2 In that day there shall be a fair
vineyard, and a desire to commence a song concerning it.
3 I am a strong city, a city in a siege: in
vain shall I water it; for it shall be taken by night, and by day the wall shall
fall. 4 There is no woman that has
not taken hold of it; who will set me to watch stubble in the field? because of
this enemy I have set her aside; therefore on this account the Lord has done all
that he appointed. 5 I am burnt up;
they that dwell in her shall cry, Let us make peace with him, let us make peace,
6 they that are coming are the
children of Jacob. Israel shall bud and blossom, and the world shall be filled
with his fruit.
7 Shall he himself be thus smitten, even
as he smote? and as he slew, shall he be thus slain? 8
Fighting and reproaching he will dismiss them; didst thou
not meditate with a harsh spirit, to slay them with a wrathful spirit?
9 Therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be
taken away; and this is his blessing, when I shall have taken away his sin; when
they shall have broken to pieces all the stones of the altars as fine dust, and
their trees shall not remain, and their idols shall be cut off, as a thicket
afar off. 10 The flock that dwelt
there shall be left, as a deserted flock; and the ground shall be for
a long time for pasture, and there shall flocks lie down to rest.
11 And after a time there shall be in it no
green thing because of the grass being parched. Come hither, ye women
that come from a sight; for it is a people of no understanding; therefore he
that made them shall have no pity upon them, and he that formed them shall have
no mercy upon them.
12 And it shall come to pass in that day
that God shall fence men off from the channel of the river as far
as Rhinocorura; but do ye gather one by one the children of Israel.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day
that they shall blow the great trumpet, and the lost ones in the land of the
Assyrians shall come, and the lost ones in Egypt, and shall worship the Lord on
the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
Chapter 28
28:1 Woe to the crown of pride, the
hirelings of Ephraim, the flower that has fallen from the glory of the top of
the fertile mountain, they that are drunken without wine.
2 Behold, the anger of the Lord is strong and severe, as
descending hail where there is no shelter, violently descending; as a great body
of water sweeping away the soil, he shall make rest for the land.
3 The crown of pride, the hirelings of
Ephraim, shall be beaten down with the hands and with the feet.
4 And the fading flower of the glorious
hope on the top of the high mountain shall be as the early fig; he that sees it,
before he takes it into his hand, will desire to swallow it down.
5 In that day the Lord of hosts shall be
the crown of hope, the woven crown of glory, to the remnant of the
people. 6 They shall be left in the
spirit of judgment for judgment, and for the strength of them that hinder
slaying. 7 For these have trespassed
through wine; they have erred through strong drink: the priest and the prophet
are mad through strong drink, they are swallowed up by reason of wine, they have
staggered through drunkenness; they have erred: this is their vision.
8 A curse shall devour this counsel,
for this is their counsel for the sake of covetousness.
9 To whom have we reported evils? and to
whom have we reported a message? even to those that are weaned from the
milk, who are drawn from the breast. 10
Expect thou affliction on affliction, hope upon hope: yet a
little, and yet a little, 11
by reason of the contemptuous words of the lips, by means of another
language: for they shall speak to this people, saying to them,
12 This is the rest to him that is hungry,
and this is the calamity: but they would not hear.
13 Therefore the oracle of God shall be
to them affliction on affliction, hope on hope, yet a little, and yet a
little, that they may go and fall backward; and they shall be crushed and shall
be in danger, and shall be taken.
14 Therefore hear ye the word of the
Lord, ye afflicted men, and ye princes of this people that is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have
made a covenant with Hades, and agreements with death; if the rushing storm
should pass, it shall not come upon us: we have made falsehood our hope, and by
falsehood shall we be protected: 16
Therefore thus saith the Lord, even the Lord,
Behold, I lay for the foundations of Sion a costly stone, a
choice, a corner-stone, a precious stone, for its foundations; and he
that believes on him shall by no means be ashamed.
17 And I will cause judgment to be for hope, and
my compassion shall be for just measures, and ye that trust vainly in
falsehood shall fall: for the storm shall by no means pass by you,
18 except it also take away your covenant
of death, and your trust in Hades shall by no means stand: if the rushing storm
should come upon you, ye shall be beaten down by it. 19
Whenever it shall pass by, it shall take you; morning by
morning it shall pass by in the day, and in the night there shall be an evil
hope.
Learn to hear, 20
ye that are distressed; we cannot fight, but we are ourselves too weak for you
to be gathered. 21 The Lord shall
rise up as a mountain of ungodly men, and shall be in the valley of
Gabaon; he shall perform his works with wrath, even a work of bitterness,
and his wrath shall deal strangely, and his destruction shall be strange.
22 Therefore do not ye rejoice, neither let
your bands be made strong; for I have heard of works finished and cut short by
the Lord of hosts, which he will execute upon all the earth.
23 Hearken, and hear my voice; attend,
and hear my words. 24 Will the
ploughman plough all the day? or will he prepare the seed beforehand, before he
tills the ground? 25 Does he not,
when he has levelled the surface thereof, then sow the small black poppy, or
cumin, and afterward sow wheat, and barley, and millet, and bread-corn in thy
borders? 26 So thou shalt be
chastened by the judgment of thy God, and shalt rejoice.
27 For the black poppy is not cleansed with harsh
treatment, nor will a wagon-wheel pass over the cumin; but the black poppy is
threshed with a rod, and the cumin shall be eaten with bread;
28 for I will not be wroth with you for
ever, neither shall the voice of my anger crush you. 29
And these signs came forth from the Lord of hosts. Take
counsel, exalt vain comfort.
Chapter 29
29:1 Alas for the city of Ariel, which
David besieged. Gather ye fruits year by year; eat ye, for ye shall eat with
Moab. 2 For I will grievously
afflict Ariel: and her strength and her wealth shall be mine.
3 And I will compass thee about like David,
and will raise a mound about thee, and set up towers round thee.
4 And thy words shall be brought down to
the earth, and thy words shall sink down to the earth, and thy voice shall be as
they that speak out of the earth, and thy voice shall be lowered to the ground.
5 But the wealth of the ungodly
shall be as dust from a wheel, and the multitude of them that oppress thee as
flying chaff, and it shall be suddenly as a moment, 6
from the Lord of Hosts: for there shall be a visitation
with thunder, and earthquake, and a loud noise, a rushing tempest, and devouring
flame of fire. 7 And the wealth of
all the nations together, as many as have fought against Ariel, and all they
that war against Jerusalem, and all who are gathered against her, and they that
distress her, shall be as one that dreams in sleep by night.
8 And as men drink and eat in sleep, and
when they have arisen, the dream is vain: and as a thirsty man dreams as if he
drank, and having arisen is still thirsty, and his soul has desired in vain: so
shall be the wealth of all the nations, as many as have fought against the mount
Sion.
9 Faint ye, and be amazed, and be
overpowered, not with strong drink nor with wine. 10
For the Lord has made you to drink a spirit of deep sleep;
and he shall close their eyes, and the eyes of their prophets and of
their rulers, who see secret things. 11
And all these things shall be to you as the words of this sealed
book, which if they shall give to a learned man, saying, Read this, he shall
then say, I cannot read it, for it is sealed. 12
And this book shall be given into the hands of a man that
is unlearned, and one shall say to him, Read this; and he shall say, I am
not learned.
13 And the Lord has said, This people
draw nigh to me with their mouth, and they honour me with their lips, but their
heart is far from me: but in vain do they worship me, teaching the commandments
and doctrines of men. 14 Therefore
behold I will proceed to remove this people, and I will remove them: and I will
destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will hide the understanding of the prudent.
15 Woe to them that deepen their
counsel, and not by the Lord. Woe to them that take secret counsel, and whose
works are in darkness, and they say, Who has seen us? and who shall know us, or
what we do? 16 Shall ye not be
counted as clay of the potter? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it,
Thou didst not form me? or the work to the maker, Thou hast not made me wisely?
17 Is it not yet a little
while, and Libanus shall be changed as the mountains of Chermel, and Chermel
shall be reckoned as a forest? 18
And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and they that are in
darkness, and they that are in mist: the eyes of the blind shall see,
19 and the poor shall rejoice with joy
because of the Lord, and they that had no hope among men shall be filled with
joy. 20 The lawless man has come to
nought, and the proud man has perished, and they that transgress mischievously
have been utterly destroyed: 21 and
they that cause men to sin by a word: and men shall make all that reprove in the
gates an offence, because they have unjustly turned aside the righteous.
22 Therefore thus saith the Lord
concerning the house of Jacob, whom he set apart from Abraam, Jacob shall not
now be ashamed, neither shall he now change countenance.
23 But when their children shall have seen my works, they
shall sanctify my name for my sake, and they sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and
shall fear the God of Israel. 24 And
they that erred in spirit shall know understanding, and the murmurers shall
learn obedience, and the stammering tongues shall learn to speak peace.
Chapter 30
30:1 Woe to the apostate children, saith
the Lord: ye have framed counsel, not by me, and covenants not by my Spirit, to
add sins to sins: 2 even they
that proceed to go down into Egypt, but they have not enquired of me, that they
might be helped by Pharao, and protected by the Egyptians.
3 For the protection of Pharaoh shall be to
you a disgrace, and there shall be a reproach to them that trust in
Egypt. 4 For there are princes in
Tanes, evil messengers. 5 In vain
shall they labour in seeking to a people, which shall not profit them for
help, but shall be for a shame and reproach.
6 THE VISION OF THE QUADRUPEDS IN THE
DESERT.
In affliction and distress, where are the lion and
lion’s whelp, thence come also asps, and the young of flying asps,
there shall they be who bore their wealth on asses and camels to a nation
which shall not profit them. 7 The
Egyptians shall help you utterly in vain: tell them, This your consolation is
vain.
8 Now then sit down and write these
words on a tablet, and in a book; for these things shall be for many long
days, and even for ever. 9 For the
people is disobedient, false children, who would not hear the law of God:
10 who say to the prophets, Report not to
us; and to them that see visions, Speak them not to us, but speak and
report to us another error; 11 and
turn us aside from this way; remove from us this path, and remove from us the
oracle of Israel.
12 Therefore thus saith the Holy One of
Israel, Because ye have refused to obey these words, and have trusted in
falsehood; and because thou hast murmured, and been confident in this respect:
13 therefore shall this sin be to
you as a wall suddenly falling when a strong city has been taken, of which the
fall is very near at hand. 14 And
the fall thereof shall be as the breaking of an earthen vessel, as small
fragments of a pitcher, so that thou shouldest not find among them a sherd, with
which thou mightest take up fire, and with which thou shouldest draw a little
water. 15 Thus saith the Lord, the
Holy Lord of Israel; When thou shalt turn and mourn, then thou shalt be saved;
and thou shalt know where thou wast, when thou didst trust in vanities: then
your strength became vain, yet ye would not hearken: 16
but ye said, We will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye
flee: and, We will be aided by swift riders; therefore shall they that pursue
you be swift. 17 A thousand shall
flee because of the voice of one, and many shall flee on account of the voice of
five; until ye be left as a signal-post upon a mountain, and as one bearing an
ensign upon a hill.
18 And the Lord will again wait, that he
may pity you, and will therefore be exalted that he may have mercy upon you:
because the Lord your God is a judge: blessed are they that stay themselves upon
him.
19 For the holy people shall dwell in
Sion: and whereas Jerusalem has wept bitterly, saying, Pity me; he
shall pity thee: when he perceived the voice of thy cry, he hearkened to thee.
20 And though the Lord shall
give you the bread of affliction and scant water, yet they that cause thee to
err shall no more at all draw nigh to thee; for thine eyes shall see those that
cause thee to err, 21 and thine ears
shall hear the words of them that went after thee to lead thee astray, who say,
This is the way, let us walk in it, whether to the right or to the left.
22 And thou shalt pollute the plated
idols, and thou shalt grind to powder the gilt ones, and shalt scatter them as
the water of a removed woman, and thou shalt thrust them forth as dung.
23 Then shall there be rain to the
seed of thy land; and the bread of the fruit of thy land shall be plenteous and
rich: and thy cattle shall feed in that day in a fertile and spacious place.
24 Your bulls and your oxen that
till the ground, shall eat chaff mixed with winnowed barley.
25 And there shall be upon every lofty
mountain and upon every high hill, water running in that day, when many shall
perish, and when the towers shall fall. 26
And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and
the light of the sun shall be sevenfold in the day when the Lord shall heal the
breach of his people, and shall heal the pain of thy wound.
27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes
after a long time, burning wrath: the word of his lips is with glory, a
word full of anger, and the anger of his wrath shall devour as fire.
28 And his breath, as rushing water in a
valley, shall reach as far as the neck, and be divided, to confound the nations
for their vain error: error also shall pursue them, and overtake them.
29 Must ye always rejoice, and go
into my holy places continually, as they that keep a feast? and must ye go with
a pipe, as those that rejoice, into the mountain of the Lord, to the God of
Israel? 30 And the Lord shall make
his glorious voice to be heard, and the wrath of his arm, to make a display with
wrath and anger and devouring flame: he shall lighten terribly, and his wrath
shall be as water and violent hail. 31
For by the voice of the Lord the Assyrians shall be overcome,
even by the stroke wherewith he shall smite them. 32
And it shall happen to him from every side, that
they from whom their hope of assistance was, in which he trusted, themselves
shall war against him in turn with drums and with harp. 33
For thou shalt be required before thy time: has it
been prepared for thee also to reign? nay, God has prepared for thee a
deep trench, wood piled, fire and much wood: the wrath of the Lord shall be
as a trench kindled with sulphur.
Chapter 31
31:1 Woe to them that go down to Egypt
for help, who trust in horses and chariots, for they are many; and in horses,
which are a great multitude; and have not trusted in the Holy One of Israel,
and have not sought the Lord. 2
Therefore he has wisely brought evils upon them, and his word shall not be
frustrated; and he shall rise up against the houses of wicked men, and against
their vain hope, 3 even an
Egyptian, a man, and not God; the flesh of horses, and there is no help in
them: but the Lord shall bring his hand upon them, and the helpers shall
fail, and all shall perish together. 4
For thus said the Lord to me, As a lion would roar, or a lion’s
whelp over prey which he has taken, and cry over it, until the mountains are
filled with his voice, and the animals are awe-struck and tremble at the
fierceness of his wrath: so the Lord of hosts shall descend to fight upon the
mount Sion, even upon her mountains. 5
As birds flying, so shall the Lord of hosts defend; he shall
defend Jerusalem, and he shall rescue, and save and deliver.
6 Turn, ye children of Israel, who devise a
deep and sinful counsel. 7 For in
that day men shall renounce their silver idols and their golden idols,
which their hands made. 8 And the
Assyrian shall fall: not the sword of a great man, nor the sword of a mean man
shall devour him; neither shall he flee from the face of the sword: but the
young men shall be overthrown: 9 for
they shall be compassed with rocks as with a trench, and shall be worsted; and
he that flees shall be taken. Thus saith the Lord, Blesses is he that has a seed
in Sion, and household friends in Jerusalem.
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