Volume 1 — APPENDIX.

TRANSLATIONS OF THE PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH.

Translations, at once accurate and varied, are among the most valuable of all helps in the study of Scripture. It was, therefore, the intention of the supplier of this volume to give in four parallel columns the translations of Isaiah which occur in the Commentaries of Alexander, Delitzsch, and Henderson, and in the Revised English Bible. Considerations of space, have, however, compelled him to confine himself to the two first named; and it is believed that these will be acceptable even to those who possess the Commentaries whence they are taken. They are interwoven with the comments, and a continuous study of them is thus rendered difficult. The divisions and subdivisions in the second column are those given in Delitzsch’s Commentary. For a very prompt and general permission to make this use of that great work, hearty thanks are here accorded to Messrs. T. & T. Clark of Edinburgh.

TRANSLATION

of the

PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH,

By Joseph Addison Alexander, D.D.[1]

general title.—chap. i. 1.

The Vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

sin and suffering.—chap. i. 2–31.

2. Hear, O heavens; and give ear, O earth; for Jehovah speaks. Sons I have reared and brought up, and they, even they, have rebelled against Me. 3. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider.

4. A sinful nation, people heavy with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, sons corrupting themselves! They have forsaken Jehovah; they have treated with contempt the Holy One of Israel; they are alienated back again.

5. Whereupon can ye be stricken any more, (that) ye add revolt? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is not in it a sound place; (it is) wound and bruise and fresh stroke. They have not been pressed, and they have not been bound, and it has not been mollified with ointment. 7. Your land . . . a waste! Your towns . . . burnt with fire! Your ground . . . before you strangers (are) devouring it, and a waste like the overthrow of strangers. 8. And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a melon field, like a watched city. 9. Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been like Sodom, we should have resembled Gomorrah.

10. Here the word of Jehovah, ye judges of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah! 11. For what (end) is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? saith Jehovah. I am full of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts, and the blood of bullocks and lambs and he-goats I desire not. 12. When you come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hands to tread My courts? 13. Ye shall not add to bring a vain offering. Incense is an abomination to Me; (so are) new-moon and Sabbath, the calling of the convocation: I cannot bear iniquity and holy day. 14. Your new-moons and your convocations My soul hateth; they have become a burden to Me, I am weary of bearing (them). 15. And when you spread your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; also when ye multiply prayer, I am not hearing; your hands are full of blood.

16. Wash you, purify yourselves; remove the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17. learn to do good, seek judgment, redress wrong, judge the fatherless, befriend the widow.

18. Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red as crimson, they shall be as wool. 19. If ye consent and hear, the good of the land ye shall eat; 20. and if ye refuse and rebel, by the sword shall ye be eaten: the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.

21. How has she become an harlot, the faithful city! full of justice, righteousness lodged in it, and now murderers. 22. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine weakened with water. 23. Thy rulers are rebels and fellows of thieves, every one of them loving a bribe, and pursuing rewards. The fatherless they judge not, and the cause of the widow cometh not unto them.

24. Therefore, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will comfort Myself of My adversaries, and I will avenge Myself of Mine enemies; 25. and I will turn My hand upon them, and will purge out thy dross like purity (itself), and I will take away all thine alloy. 26. And I will restore thy judges as at first, and thy counsellors as in the beginning, after which thou shalt be called City of Righteousness, a faithful State.

27. Zion shall be redeemed in judgment, and her converts in righteousness; 28. and the breaking of apostates and sinners (shall be) together, and the forsaken of Jehovah shall cease. 29. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens ye have chosen; 30. for ye shall be like an oak fading (in) its leaf, and like a garden which has no water; 31. and the strong shall become tow, and his work a spark, and they shall burn both of them together, (there) shall be no one quenching (them).

FOOTNOTES:

the reign of the messiah, and intervening judgments on the jews.—chaps. ii.–iv.

II.—1. The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2. And it shall be in the end of the days, the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and exalted from the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. 3. And many nations shall go and shall say, Come, and let us ascend to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach of us of His ways, and we will go in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. 4. And He shall judge between the nations, and decide for many peoples. And they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

5. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of Jehovah.

6. Because Thou hast forsaken Thy people, the house of Jacob, because they are replenished from the east and (full of) soothsayers like the Philistines, and with the children of strangers they abound. 7. And their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; and their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their treasures. 8. And their land is filled with idols, to the work of their hands they bow down, to that which their fingers have made.

9. And so the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is brought low, and do not Thou forgive them. 10. Go into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, from before the terror of Jehovah and from the glory of His majesty. 11. The eyes of the loftiness of men are cast down, and the height of man is brought low, and Jehovah alone is exalted in that day.

12. For there is a day to Jehovah of hosts upon everything high and lofty, and upon everything exalted, and it shall come down; 13. and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lofty, and on all the oaks of Bashan; 14. and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the elevated hills; 15. and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall; 16. and upon all ships of Tarshish, and upon all images of desire. 17. And (thus) shall the loftiness of man be cast down, and the pride of man be brought low, and Jehovah alone exalted in that day [or, so sinks the loftiness of man and bows the pride of man, and Jehovah alone is exalted in that day].

18. And as for the idols the whole shall pass away. 19. And they shall enter into the caves of the rocks and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Jehovah and the glory of His majesty when He arises to terrify the earth. 20. And that day shall man cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they have made for him to worship, to the moles and the bats; 21. to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the fissures of the cliffs, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of His majesty, in His arising to terrify the earth.

22. Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of? III.—1. For, behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water; 2. hero and warrior, judge and prophet, and diviner and elder; 3. the chief of fifty, and the favourite, and the counsellor, and the skilful artificer, and the expert enchanter. 4. And I will give children to be their rulers, and childish things shall govern them. 5. And the people shall act tyrannically, man against man, and man against his fellow. They shall be insolent, the youth to the old man, and the mean man to the noble. 6. When a man shall take hold of his brother in his father’s house (saying), Thou hast raiment, a ruler shalt thou be to us, and this ruin under thy hand; 7. in that day he shall lift up his voice saying, I will not be a healer, and in my house is no bread, and there is no clothing: ye shall not make me a ruler of the people.

8. For Jerusalem totters and Judah falls, (because) their tongues and their doings are against Jehovah, to resist His glorious eyes. 9. The expression of their countenance testifies against them, and their sin, like Sodom, they disclose, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have done evil to themselves. 10. Say ye of the righteous that it shall be well, for the fruits of their doings they shall eat. 11. Woe unto the wicked, ill, for the thing done by his hands shall be done to him. 12. My people! their oppressors are childish, and women rule over them. My people! thy leaders are seducers, and the way of thy paths they swallow up.

13. Jehovah standeth up to plead, and is standing to judge the nations. 14. Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of His people and the chiefs thereof. And ye (even ye) have consumed the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 15. What mean ye that ye crush My people, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord Jehovah of hosts.

16. And Jehovah said, Because the daughters of Zion are lofty, and walk with outstretched neck, and gazing with their eyes, and with a tripping walk they walk, and with their feet they make a tinkling, 17. therefore the Lord will make bald the crown of the daughters of Zion, and their nakedness Jehovah will uncover. 18. In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of the ankle-bands, and the cauls, and the crescents, 19. the pendants, and the bracelets, and the veils, 20. the caps, the ankle-chains, and the girdles, and the houses of breath, and the amulets, 21. the rings, and the nose-jewels, 22. the holiday dresses, and the mantles, and the robes, and the purses, 23. the mirrors, and the tunics, and the turbans, and the veils. 24. And it shall be (that) instead of perfume there shall be stench, and instead of a girdle a rope, and instead of braided work baldness, and instead of a full robe a girding of sackcloth, burning instead of beauty. 25. Thy men by the sword shall fall, and thy strength in war. 26. And her gates shall lament and mourn, and being emptied she shall sit upon the ground. IV.—1. And in that day seven women shall lay hold on one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel; only let thy name be called upon us, take thou away our reproach.

2. In that day shall the Branch of Jehovah be for honour and for glory, and the fruit of the earth for sublimity and beauty, to the escaped of Israel. 3. And it shall be that the left in Zion and the spared in Jerusalem shall be called holy, every one written to life in Jerusalem, 4. when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and the bloodguiltiness of Jerusalem shall purge from its midst by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning. 5. And Jehovah will create over the whole extent of mount Zion, and over her assembles, a cloud by day, and smoke and the brightness of a burning fire by night; for over all the glory there shall be a covering; 6. and there shall be a shelter for a shadow by day from heat, and a covert and for a hiding place from storm and from rain.

the parable of the vineyard.—chap. v.

1. I will sing, if you please, of my friend, my friend’s song of his vineyard.

My friend had a vineyard in a hill of great fertility; 2. and he digged it up, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with Sorek, and built a tower in the midst of it; and he waited for it to produce grapes, and it produced wild grapes.

3. And now, O inhabitant of Jerusalem and man of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard. 4. What more is there to be done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why did I wait for it to bear grapes, and it bore wild grapes?

5. And now I will let you know if you please what I am about to do to my vineyard: Remove its hedge, and it shall become a pasture; break down its wall, and it shall become a trampling-place; 6. and I render it a desolation. It shall not be pruned and it shall not be dressed, and there shall come up thorns and briars. And I will lay my commands upon the clouds from raining rain upon it. 7. For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah is the plant of His pleasures. And He waited for judgment, and behold bloodshed, for righteousness, and behold a cry!

8. Woe to the joiners of house with house, field to field they bring together, even to a failure of place, and ye are made to dwell by yourselves in the midst of the land. 9. In my ears Jehovah of hosts (is saying), Of a truth many houses shall become a desolation, great and good for want of an inhabitant. 10. For ten acres shall make one bath, and a bower of seed shall produce an ephah.

11. Woe to those rising early in the morning to pursue strong drink, delaying in the twilight (until) wine inflames them. 12. And the harp and viol, the tabret, and the pipe, and wine (compose) their feasts; and the work of Jehovah they will not look at, and the operation of His hands they have not seen.

13. Therefore my people have gone into exile for want of knowledge, and their glory are men of hunger, and their multitude dry with thirst. 14. Therefore the grave has enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure, and down goes her pomp and her noise and her crowd and he that rejoices in her; 15. and man is brought low, and man is cast down, and the eyes of the lofty are cast down; 16. and Jehovah of hosts is exalted in judgment, and the Mighty, the Holy One, is sanctified in righteousness; 17. and lambs shall feed as (in) their pasture, and the wastes of the fat ones shall sojourners devour.

18. Woe to the drawers of iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as with a cart-rope; 19. those who say, Let Him speed, let Him hasten His work that we may see; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw night and come, that we may know (it).

20. Woe unto those saying to evil good, and to good evil, putting darkness for light and light for darkness, putting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

21. Woe unto the wise in their (own) eyes, and the prudent in their own estimation.

22. Woe to the mighty men that drink wine, and men of strength that mingle strong drink; 23. justifying the guilty as the result of a bribe, and the righteousness of the righteous they will take from him.

24. Therefore as a tongue of fire devours chaff, and as ignited grass falls away, their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom as fine dust shall go up. For they have rejected the law of Jehovah of hosts, and the word of the Holy One of Israel they have treated with contempt. 25. Therefore the anger of Jehovah has burned against His people, and He stretched forth His hand against them, and smote them, and the mountains trembled, and their carcass was like sweeping in the midst of the streets.

In all this His anger was not turned back, and still His hand is stretched out; 26. and He raises a signal to the nations from afar, and whistle for him from the ends of the earth; and behold in haste, swift he shall come. 27. There is no one faint, and there is no one stumbling among them. He sleeps not, and he slumbers not, and the girdle of his loins is not opened and the latchet of his sandals is not broken; 28. whose arrows are sharpened and all his bows bent; the hoofs of his horses like flint are reckoned, and his wheels like a whirlwind. 29. He has a roar like the lioness, and he shall roar like the young lions, and shall growl, and seize the prey, and secure it, none delivering (it). 30. And he shall roar against him in that day like the roaring of a sea. And he shall look to the land, and behold darkness! Anguish and light! It is dark in the clouds thereof!

the vision of the most high.—chap. vi.

1. In the year that king Uzziah died (b.c. 758), I saw also the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, and His skirts filling the palace. 2. Seraphim standing above it. Six wings to each. With two he covers his face, and with two he covers his feet, and with two he flies. 3. And one cried to another, and said,

Holy, Holy, Holy! is Jehovah of hosts! The fulness of the whole earth is His glory!

4. Then stirred the bases of the thresholds at the voice that cried, and the house is filled with smoke.

5. And I said, Woe is me, for I am undone! for a man of impure lips am I, and in the midst of a people of impure lips I am dwelling: for the King, Jehovah of hosts, my eyes have seen.

6. Then there flew to me one of the seraphim, and in his hand a live coal; with tongs he took it from off the altar; 7. and he caused it to touch my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thy iniquity is gone, and thy sin shall be atoned for.

8. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And I said, Here am I; behold me; send me.

9. And He said, Go and say to this people, Hear indeed, but understand not; and see indeed, but know not. 10. Make fat the heart of this people, and its ears make heavy, and its eyes smear; lest it see with its eyes, and with its ears hear, and its heart understand, and it turn to me, and be healed.

11 And I said, How long, Lord?

And He said, Until that cities are desolate for want of an inhabitant, and houses for want of men, and the land shall be desolate, a waste; 12. and Jehovah shall have put far off the men, and great shall be that which is left in the midst of the land. 13. And yet in it a tenth shall return and be for a consuming; like the terebinth and like the oak which in falling have substance in them, a holy seed (is) the substance of it.

prophesies relating to the reign of ahaz.—chaps. vii.–xii.

1. And it was in the days of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin, king of Aram [or Syria], and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to war against it; and he was not able to war against it. 2. And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria resteth upon Ephraim: and his heart and the heart of the people shook, like the shaking of the trees of a wood before a wind.

3. And Jehovah said to Isaiah son of Amoz, Go out to meet Ahaz, thou and Shear-jashub thy son, to the end of the conduit of the upper pool, to the highway of the fuller’s field. 4. And thou shalt say to him, Be cautious and be quiet; fear not, nor let thy heart be soft before these two smoking tails of firebrands, in the heat of the anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. 5. Because Syria has devised evil against thee, also Ephraim and Remaliah’s son, saying, 6. We will go up into Judah and vex it, and make a breach in it (thereby subduing it) to ourselves, and let us make a king in the midst of it, to wit, the son of Tabeal: 7. thus saith the Lord Jehovah, It shall not stand, and it shall not be; 8. because the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin, for in yet sixty-and-five years shall Ephraim be broken from (being) a people; 9. for the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you will not believe (it is) because you are not to be established.

10. And Jehovah added to speak unto Ahaz, saying, 11. Ask for thee a sign from Jehovah thy God, ask deep or high above. 12. And Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not tempt Jehovah. 13. And he said, Hear, I pray you, O house of David! is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God? 14. Therefore the Lord Himself will give you sign. Behold! the virgin pregnant and bringing forth a son, and she calls his name Immanuel. 15. Curds and honey shall he eat until he shall know (how) to reject the evil and choose the good; 16. for before the child shall know (how) to reject the evil to choose the good, the land, of whose two kings thou art afraid, shall be forsaken.

17. Jehovah will bring upon thee, and on thy people, and on thy father’s house, days which have not come since the departure of Ephraim from Jacob, to wit, the king of Assyria. 18. And it shall be in that day that Jehovah will whistle for the fly which is in the edge of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee which is in Assyria; 19. and they come and rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the clefts of rocks, and in all thorn-hedges, and in all pastures. 20. In that day will the Lord shave, with a razor hired in the parts beyond the river, with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet, and also the beard will it take away. 21. And it shall be in that day (that) a man shall save alive a young cow and two sheep; 22. and it shall be (that) from the abundance of the yielding of milk, he shall eat butter; for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the midst of the land. 23. And it shall be in that day (that) every place where there shall be a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, shall be for thorns and briers. 24. With arrows and with bows shall one go thither, because thorns and briers shall the whole land be; 25. and all the hills which are digged with the hoe, thou shalt not go (even) there for fear of briers and thorns, and they shall be for a sending-place of cattle and a trampling-place of sheep.

VIII.—1. And Jehovah said to me, Take thee a great tablet, and write upon it with a man’s pen, to Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 2. And I (Jehovah) will take to witness for me credible witnesses, to wit, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah, son of Jeberechiah.

3. And I approached unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bare a son, and Jehovah said to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz: 4. for before the child shall know (how) to cry, My father, and my mother, they shall take away the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria before the king of Assyria.

5. And Jehovah added to speak to me again, saying—

6. Because this people hath forsaken the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and joy with respect to Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7. therefore, behold! the Lord (is) bringing up upon them the waters of the river, its strong and many waters, to wit, the king of Assyria and all his glory, and it shall come up over all the channels and go over all its banks, 8. and it shall pass over into Judah, overflow and pass through, to the neck shall it reach, and the spreading of its wings shall be the filling of the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel!

9. Be wicked and be broken, and give ear all the remote parts of the earth! Gird yourselves and be broken; gird yourselves and be broken! 10. Devise a plan, and it shall be defeated; speak a word, and it shall not stand: for God (is) with us.

11. For thus said Jehovah unto me in strength of hand, and instructed me away from walking in the way of this people, saying, 12. Ye shall not call conspiracy everything which this people calleth conspiracy, and its fear ye shall not fear nor be afraid. 13. Jehovah of hosts, Him shall ye sanctify; and He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread. 14. And He shall be for a holy thing, and for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel; for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15. And many shall stumble over them, and fall and be broken and be snared, and be taken.

16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law, in my disciples. 17. And I will wait for Jehovah, that hideth His face from the house of Jacob, and will expect Him. 18. Behold, I and the children which Jehovah hath given me are (for) signs and for wonders in Israel from Jehovah of hosts, the (One) dwelling in mount Zion. 19. And when they shall say to you, Seek unto the spirits and to the wizards, the chirpers and the mutterers: should not a people seek to its God, for the living to the dead? 20. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, (they are they) to whom there is no dawn. 21. And they shall pass through it hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall be that when they are hungry they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and shall look upward. 22. And to the earth he shall look; and behold distress and darkness, dimness of anguish, and (into) darkness (he shall be) driven. [— Or, The dimness of anguish and of darkness is dispelled.]

IX.—1. For (there shall) not (be) darkness (for ever) to her who is now distressed. As the former time degraded the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, so the latter glorifies the way of the sea, the bank of the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.

2. The people, those walking in the dark, have seen a great light: the dwellers in the shadow of death, light has beamed upon them. 3. Thou hast enlarged the nation, Thou hast increased its joy: (they) rejoice before Thee like the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil; 4. that the yoke of his burden, and the rod of his shoulder, and the staff of the one driving him, Thou hast broken as in the day of Midian. 5. For all the armour of the armed man in the tumult, and the garments rolled in blood, shall be for burning, food of fire. 6. For a son is born to us, a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7. To the increase of the government and to the peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it and to confirm it, in justice and in righteousness from henceforth and for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts shall do this.

8. The Lord sent a word unto Jacob, and it came down into Israel. 9. And they know, the people, all of them, Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, in pride and in greatness of heart saying, 10. “Bricks are fallen, and hewn stone will we build; sycamores are felled, and cedars will we substitute.” 11. And (now) Jehovah raises up above him the enemies of Rezin, and he will instigate his own enemies: 12. Aram before, and Philistia behind, and they devour Israel with open mouth. For all this His wrath does not turn back, and still His hand is stretched out.

13. And the people has not turned to Him that smote them, and Jehovah of hosts they have not sought. 14. And Jehovah has cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and root, in one day. 15. The elder and the favourite, be (is) the head, and the prophet teaching falsehood, he (is) the tail. 16. The leaders of this people have been seducers, and the led of them (are) swallowed up. 17. Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, and on their orphans and their widows He will not have mercy, for every one of them is profane and an evil-doer, and every mouth (is) speaking folly. For all this His wrath is not turned back, and still is His hand outstretched.

18. For wickedness burneth as the fire, thorns and briers it consumes, then kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll themselves upward, a column of smoke. 19. In the wrath of Jehovah of hosts the land is darkened, and the people is like food of fire: one another they do not spare. 20. And he tears on the right hand, and is hungry (still), and devours on the left, and (still) they are not satisfied; each the flesh of his (own) arm they devour: 21. Manasseh Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, (and) together they (are) against Judah. For all this His wrath is not turned back, and still His hand (is) stretched out.

X.—1. Woe unto them that decree decrees of injustice, and that write oppression which they have prescribed; 2. to turn aside from judgment the weak, the right of the poor of my people, that widows may be their spoil, and the fatherless they plunder. 3. And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the ruin (which) shall come from far? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your glory? 4. It does not bow beneath the prisoners, and (yet) they shall fall beneath the slain. For all this His wrath is not turned back, and still His hand is stretched out.

the sin and the doom of assyria.—chap. x. 5–34.

5. Woe unto Asshur, the rod of My anger, and the staff in their hand is My indignation. 6. Against an impious nation will I send him and against the people of My wrath I will commission him, to take spoil and to seize pray, and to render it a trampling, like the mire of streets. 7. And he not so will think, and his heart so will think; for to destroy (is) in his heart, and to cut off nations not a few. 8. For he says, Are not my princes altogether kings? 9. Is not Calno like Carchemish? or (is) not Hamath like Arpad? or (is) not Samaria like Damascus? 10. As my hand hath found the idol-kingdoms, and their images (more) than (those of) Jerusalem and Samaria, 11. shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her gods?

12. And it shall be that the Lord will cut all His work short of mount Zion and at Jerusalem. (Yes, even there) will I visit on the fruit of the greatness of heart of the king of Assyria, and on the ostentation of his loftiness of eyes. 13. For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done (all this), and by my wisdom, for I am wise, and I remove the bounds of the nations, and rob their hoards, and bring down, like a mighty man (as I am), the inhabitants. 14. My hand has found the strength of the nations, and like the gathering of eggs forsaken, so have I gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved a wing, or opened a mouth, or chirped.

15. Shall the axe glorify itself above the (person) hewing with it? Or shall the saw magnify itself above the (person) handling it? (This is indeed) like a rod’s wielding those who wield it, like a staff’s lifting (that which is) no wood. 16. Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will send upon his fat ones leanness, and under his glory shall burn like the burning of fire. 17. 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 briers in one day. 18. And the glory of his forest and his fruitful field, from soul to body, will He consume, and it shall be like the wasting away of a sick man. 19. And the rest of the trees of the forest shall be few, and a child shall write them.

20. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and the escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no longer continue to lean upon their smiter, but shall lean upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21. A remnant shall return, a remnant of Jacob to God Almighty. 22. For though thy people, O Israel, shall be like the sand of the sea, (only) a remnant of them shall return. A consumption is decreed, overflowing (with) righteousness. 23. For a consumption even (the one) determined, (is) the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, making in the midst of all the earth.

24. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah of hosts, Be not afraid, O my people inhabiting Zion, of Asshur. He shall smite thee with the rod, and shall lift up his staff upon thee in the way of Egypt. 25. For yet a very little, and wrath is at an end, and my anger (shall go forth) to their destruction; 26. and Jehovah of hosts shall raise up against him a scourge like the smiting of Midian at the rock Oreb, and His rod (shall again) be over the sea, and He shall lift it up in the way of Egypt. 27. And it shall be in that day, (that) his burden shall depart from thy shoulder, and his yoke from thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of oil.

28. He is come to Aiath—he is passed to Migron—to Michmash he entrusts his baggage. 29. They have passed the pass—in Geba they have taken up their lodging—Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul flees. 30. Cry aloud, daughter Gallim; hearken Laishah, (ah) poor Anathoth! 31. Madmenah, wanders; the inhabitants of Gebim flee. 32. Yet to-day in Nob (he is) to stand; (and there) will he shake his hand against the mountain of the house of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

33. Behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, (is) lopping the branch with terror, and the trees (shall be) felled, and the lofty ones brought low. 34. And He shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and this Lebanon by a Mighty One shall fall.

the restoration and deliverance, eternal safety and internal peace of god’s own people.—chaps. xi., xii.

XI.—1. And there shall come forth a twig from the stock of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots shall grow. 2. And upon Him shall rest the Spirit of Jehovah, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah. 3. And His sense of smelling (shall be exercised) in the fear of Jehovah, and not by the sight of His eyes shall He judge, and not by the hearing of His ears shall He decide; 4. and He shall judge in righteousness the weak, and do justice with equity to the meek of the earth; and shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall slay the wicked. 5. And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins.

6. And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and young lion and fatling together, and a little child shall lead them; 7. and the cow and the bear shall feed, together shall their young lie down, and the lion like the ox shall eat straw; 8. and the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and on the den of the basilisk shall the weaned child stretch its hand. 9. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, because the land is full of the knowledge of Jehovah, like the waters covering the sea.

10. And in that day shall the root of Jesse which is set up be for a signal to the nations: unto Him shall the Gentiles seek, and His rest shall be glorious.

11. And it shall come to pass in that day, the Lord shall add His hand a second time to redeem the remnants of His people 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. 12. And He shall set up a signal to the nations, and shall gather the outcasts of Israel, and the dispersed of Judah shall He bring together from the four wings of the earth. 13. And the army of Ephraim shall depart, and the enemies of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. 14. And they shall fly upon the shoulder of the Philistines towards the sea; together they shall spoil the sons of the East; Edom and Moab the stretching out of their hand, and the children of Ammon their obedience. 15. And Jehovah will destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt, and He will wave His hand over the river, in the violence of His wind, and smite it into seven streams, and make (His people) tread (it) in shoes. 16. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people which shall be left, from Assyria, as there was for Israel in the day of his coming up from the land of Egypt.

XII.—1, 2. And thou shalt say in that day, O Lord, I will praise Thee! For Thou wast angry with me, but Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid; for my strength and song is Jah Jehovah, and He is become my salvation. 3. And ye shall draw water with joy from the springs of salvation. 4–6. And ye shall say in that day, Praise Jehovah! Call upon His name! Make known among the nations His exploits; remind them that His name is exalted. Praise Jehovah, because He has done a sublime deed. Known is this in all the earth. Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in the midst of thee is the Holy One of Israel.

prophecies against certain foreign powers.—chaps. xiii.–xxiii.

The fall of the Babylonian empire, and the destruction of Babylon.—Chaps. xiii., xiv.

XIII.—1. The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw.

2. Upon a bare hill, set up a signal, raise the voice to them, wave the hand, and let them enter the gates of the nobles. 3. I (Myself) have given command to My consecrated. Yes, I have called (forth) My mighty ones for (the execution of) My wrath, My proud exulters. 4. The voices of a multitude in the mountains! the likeness of much people! the sound of a tumult of kingdoms of nations gathered! Jehovah of hosts mustering a host of battle! 5. Coming from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, Jehovah and the instruments of His wrath, to lay waste the whole land. 6. Howl, for the day of Jehovah is near! like might from the Almighty it shall come. 7. Therefore all hands shall sink and every heart of man shall melt. 8. And they shall be confounded, pangs and throes shall seize (them), like the travailing (woman) they shall writhe, each at his neighbour, they shall wander, faces of flames their faces. 9. Behold the day of Jehovah cometh, terrible, and wrath and heat of anger, to make the land a waste, and its survivors He will destroy from it.

10. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not shed their light, the sun is darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine. 11. And I will visit upon the world (its) iniquity, and upon the wicked their iniquity, and I will cause to cease the arrogance of presumptuous sinners, and the pride of tyrants I will humble. 12. And I will make man more scarce than pure gold, and a human being than the ore of Ophir. 13. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth shall shake out of its place in the wrath of Jehovah of hosts and in the day of the heat of His anger. 14. And it shall be that like a roe chased, and like sheep, with none to gather them—each to his people, they shall turn—and each to his country they shall flee. 15. Every one found shall be stabbed, and every one joined shall fall by the sword. 16. And their children shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished. 17. Behold, I (am) stirring up the Madai who will not regard silver, and (as for) gold they will not take pleasure in it. 18. And bows shall dash boys in pieces, and the fruit of the womb they shall not pity; on children their eye shall not have mercy.

19. And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the ornament, the pride of the Chaldees, shall be like God’s overthrowing Sodom and Gomorrah. 20. It shall not be inhabited for ever, and it shall not be dwelt in from generation to generation, neither shall the Arab pitch tent there, neither shall shepherds cause their flocks to lie there. 21. But there shall lie down desert creatures, and their houses shall be filled with howls (or yells), and there shall dwell the daughters of the ostrich, and shaggy beasts shall gambol there. 22. And wolves shall howl in his palaces, and jackals in the temples of pleasure. And near to come is her time, and her days shall not be prolonged.

XIV.—1. For Jehovah will pity Jacob, and will still choose Israel and cause them to rest on their (own) land, and the stranger shall be joined to them, and they shall be attached to the house of Jacob. 2. And nations shall take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel shall take possession of them on Jehovah’s land for male and female servants—and (thus) they shall be captors of their captors, and rule over their oppressors. 3. And it shall be in the day of Jehovah’s causing thee to rest from thy toil, and from thy commotion, and from the hard service which was wrought by thee, 4. that thou shalt raise this song over the king of Babylon, and say—

How hath the oppressor ceased, and the golden (city) ceased! 5. Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers, 6. smiting nations in anger by a stroke without cessation, ruling nations in wrath by a rule without restraint. 7. At rest, quiet, is the whole earth. They burst forth into singing. 8. And the cypresses rejoice with respect to thee, the cedars of Lebanon (saying), Now that thou art fallen, the feller shall not come up against us.

9. Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming; it rouses for thee the giants, all the chief ones of the earth; it raises from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 10. All of them shall answer and say to thee, Thou also art made weak as we, to us are likened! 11. Down to the grave is brought thy pride, the music of thy harps: under thee is spread the worm, thy covering is vermin. 12. How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning! felled to the ground, thou that didst lord it over the nations! 13. And (yet) thou hadst said in thy heart, The heavens will I mount; above the stars of God will I raise my throne; and I will sit in the mount of meeting, in the sides of the north; 14. I will mount above the cloud-heights; I will make myself like the Most High. 15. But thou shalt only be brought down to hell, to the depths of the pit. 16. Those seeing thee shall gaze at thee, they shall look at thee attentively, (and say), Is this the man that made the earth shake, that made kingdoms tremble, 17. made a world like a desert, destroyed its cities, and its captives did not set free homewards? 18. All kings of nations, all of them, lie in state, each in his house; 19. and thou art cast out from thy grave—like a despised branch, the raiment of the slain, pierced with the sword, going down to the stones of the pit, like a trampled carcass. 20. Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thy land thou hast destroyed, thy people thou hast slain. Let the seed of evil-doers be named no more for ever.

21. Prepare for his sons a slaughter, for the iniquity of their fathers. Let them not arise and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities. 22. And I (Myself) will rise up against them, saith Jehovah of hosts, and will cut off from Babylon name, and remnant, and progeny, and offspring, saith Jehovah. 23. And I will render it a possession of the porcupine, and pools of water, and will sweep it with the broom of destruction.

24. Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have planned, it shall come to pass, and as I have devised it shall stand; 25. to break Assyria in My land, and on My mountains I will trample him; and his yoke shall depart from off them, and his burden from off his back shall depart. 26. This is the purpose that is purposed upon all the earth, and this the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. 27. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who shall annul? And His hand the one stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

28. In the year of the death of King Ahaz, was this burden.

29. Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of thee, because the rod that smote thee is broken, for out of the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk, and its fruit a fiery flying serpent. 30. And the first-born of the poor shall feed, and the needy in security lie down, and I will kill thy root with famine, and thy remnant it shall slay.

31. Howl, O gate! cry, O city! dissolved, O Philistia, is the whole of thee; for out of the north a smoke comes, and there is no straggler in his forces. 32. And what shall one answer to the ambassadors of a nation? That Jehovah has founded Zion, and in it the afflicted of His people shall seek refuge.

the downfall of moab.—chaps. xv., xvi.

1. (This is) the burden of Moab, That in a night Ar-Moab is laid waste, is destroyed; that in a night Kir-Moab is laid waste, is destroyed. 2. They go up to the house, and Dibon (to) the high places for weeping. On Nebo and on Medeba Moab howls, and all heads baldness, every beard cut off. 3. In its streets, they are girded with sackcloth; on its roofs and in its squares all of it howls, coming down with weeping. 4. And Heshbon cries and Eleaich—even to Jahaz is their voice heard; therefore the warriors of Moab cry, his soul is distress in him. 5. My heart for Moab cries out; her fugitives (are fled) as far as Zoar—an heifer of three years old; for he that goes up Luhith with weeping goes up by it, for in the way of Horonaim a cry of destruction they lift up. 6. For the waters of Nimrim (are and) shall be desolations: for withered is the grass, gone is the herbage, verdure there is none. 7. Therefore the remainder of what each one has made, (and their) hoard, over the brook of the willows they carry them away. 8. For the cry goes round the border of Moab; even to Eglaim (is) its howling (heard), and to Beer-Elim its howling. 9. For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; and I will bring upon Dimon additions, on the escaped of Moab a lion; and on the remnant of it.

XVI.—1. Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. 2. And it shall come to pass like a bird wandering, (like) a nest cast out, shall be the daughters of Moab, the fords of Arnon. 3. [Alexander omits the translation of this verse, but comments on it. . . .] 4. Let my outcasts, Moab, sojourn with thee; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, oppression has ceased, consumed are the tramplers out of the land. 5. And a throne shall be established in mercy; and one shall sit upon it in truth in the tent of David, judging and seeking justice, and prompt in equity.

6. We have heard of the pride of Moab, the very proud, his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath, the falsehood of his pretensions. 7. Therefore Moab shall howl for Moab; all of it shall howl; for the grapes of Kir-hareseth shall ye sigh, altogether smitten. 8. For the fields of Heshbon are withered—the vine of Sibmah—the lords of the nations broke down its choice plants—unto Jazer they reached—they strayed into the desert—its branches—they were stretched out—they reached to the sea. 9. Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer (for) the vine of Sibmah. I will wet thee (with) my tears, Heshbon and (thee) Elealeh! for upon thy fruit and thy harvest a cry has fallen. 10. And taken away is joy and gladness from the fruitful field: and in the vineyards shall no (more) be sung, no (more) be shouted; wine in the presses shall the treader not tread; the cry have I stilled. 11. Therefore my bowels for Moab like the harp shall sound, and my inwards for Kirhares. 12. And it shall come to pass, when Moab has appeared (before his gods), when he has wearied himself (with vain oblations) on the high place, then he shall enter into his sanctuary to pray, and shall not be able (to obtain an answer).

13. This is the word which Jehovah spake concerning Moab of old. 14. And now Jehovah speaks, saying, In three years, like the years of an hireling, the glory of Moab, shall be disgraced, with all the great throng, and the remnant shall be small, and few, not much.

the doom of the enemies of judah.—chaps. xvii., xviii.

XVII.—1. The burden of Damascus.

Behold, Damascus is removed from (being) a city, and is a heap, a ruin. 2. Forsaken are the cities of Aroer; for flocks shall they be, and they shall lie down, and there shall be no one making (them) afraid. 3. Then shall cease defence for Ephraim and royalty from Damascus and the rest of Syria. Like the glory of the children of Israel shall they be, with Jehovah of hosts.

4. And it shall come to pass in that day, the glory of Jacob shall be brought low, and the fatness of his flesh shall be made lean. 5. And it shall be as one gathers the harvest, the standing corn, and his arm reaps the ears. And it shall be like one collecting ears in the valley of Rephaim. 6. And gleanings shall be left therein like the shaking of an olive-tree, two (or) three berries in the top of a high bough, four (or) five in the branches of the fruit-tree, saith Jehovah, God of Israel.

7. In that day man shall turn to his Maker, and his eyes to the Holy One of Israel shall look. 8. And he shall not turn to the altars, the work of his own hands, and that which his own fingers have made shall he not regard, and the groves of Ashtoreth and the pillars of the sun.

9. In that day shall his fortified cities by like what is left in the thickets and the lofty branch, which they leave (as they retire) from before the children of Israel, and (the land) shall be a waste. 10. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and the rock of thy strength hast not remembered, therefore thou wilt plant plants of pleasantness, and with a strange slip set it. 11. In the day of thy planting thou wilt hedge it in, and in the morning thou wilt make thy seed to blossom, (but) away flies the crop in a day of grief and desperate sorrow.

12. Hark! the noise of many nations! Like the noise of the sea they make a noise. And the rush of peoples! Like the rush of many waters they are rushing. 13. Nations, like the rush of many waters, rush; and he rebukes it, and it flees from afar, and is chased like the chaff of hills before a wind, and like a rolling thing before a whirlwind. 14. At evening-tide, and behold terror; before morning he is not. This be the portion of our plunderers, and the lot of our spoilers.

XVIII.—1. Ho! land of rustling wings, which art beyond the rivers of Cush, 2. sending by sea ambassadors, and in vessels of papyrus on the face of the waters. Go, ye light messengers, to a nation drawn and shorn, to a people terrible since it existed and onwards, a nation of double strength and tramplings, whose land the streams divide. 3. All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, shall see as it were the raising of a standard on the mountains, and shall hear as it were the blowing of a trumpet.

4. For thus said Jehovah to me, I will rest and look on in My dwelling-place, like a serene heat upon herbs, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. 5. For before the harvest or the bloom is finished, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he cuts down the branches with the pruning-knives, and the tendrils he removes, he cuts away. 6. They shall be left together to the wild birds of the mountains, and to the wild beasts of the earth, and the wild birds shall summer thereon, and every wild beast of the earth thereon shall winter.

7. At that time shall be brought a gift to Jehovah of hosts, a people drawn out and shorn, and from a people terrible since it hath been and onward, a nation of double power and trampling, whose land streams divide, to the place of the name of Jehovah of hosts, mount Zion.

the burden of egypt.—chap. xix.

1. Behold! Jehovah riding on a light cloud, and He comes to Egypt, and the idols of Egypt move at His presence, and the heart of Egypt melts within him. 2. And I will excite Egypt against Egypt, and they shall fight, a man with his brother, and a man with his fellow, city with city, kingdom with kingdom. 3. And the spirit of Egypt shall be emptied out in the midst thereof, and the counsel thereof I will swallow up, and they will seek to the idols, and to the mutterers, and to the familiar spirits, and to the wizards. 4. And I will shut up Egypt in the hands of a hard master, and a strong king shall rule over them, saith the Lord Jehovah of hosts.

5. And the waters shall be dried up from the sea, and the river shall fail and be dried up. 6. And the rivers shall stink, the streams of Egypt are emptied and dried up, reed and rush sicken. 7. And meadows by the river, by the mouth of the river, and all the sown ground of the river, shall wither being driven away, and it is not. 8. And the fisherman shall mourn, and they shall lament, all the throwers of a hook into the river, and the spreaders of a net upon the surface of the water, languish. 9. And ashamed are the workers of combed flax, and the weavers of white (stuffs). 10. And her pillars are broken down, all labourers for hire are grieved at heart.

11. Entirely foolish are the princes of Zoan, the sages of the counsellors of Pharaoh, (their) counsel is become brutish. How can ye say to Pharaoh, I am the son of wise (fathers), I am the son of kings of old? 12. Where (are) they? Where (are) thy wise men? Pray let them tell thee, and (if that is too much) let them (at least) know, what Jehovah of hosts hath purposed concerning Egypt. 13. Infatuated are the chiefs of Zoan, deceived are the chiefs of Noph, and they have misled Egypt, the corner-stone of her tribes. 14. Jehovah hath mingled in the midst of her a spirit of confusion, and they have misled Egypt in all its work, like the misleading of a drunkard in his vomit. 15. And there shall not be in Egypt a work which head and tail, branch and rush, may do.

16. In that day shall Egypt be like women, and shall fear and tremble from before the shaking of the hand of Jehovah of hosts, which He is shaking over it. 17. And the land of Judah shall be for a terror unto Egypt, every person to whom one mentions it shall fear before the purpose of Jehovah of hosts, which He is purposing against it.

18. In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan, and swearing to Jehovah of hosts. The city of destruction shall one be called. 19. In that day there shall be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land, and a pillar near the border to Jehovah. 20. And it shall be for a sign and a testimony to Jehovah of hosts in the land of Egypt, that they shall cry to Jehovah from the presence of oppressors, and He will send them a deliverer and a mighty one, and save them. 21. And Jehovah shall be known to Egypt, and Egypt shall know Jehovah in that day, and shall serve with sacrifice and offering, and shall vow a vow to Jehovah, and perform it.

22. And Jehovah shall smite Egypt, smiting and healing, and they shall return unto Jehovah, and He shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them. 23. In that day there shall be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria shall come into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria, and Egypt shall serve with Assyria. 24. In that day shall Israel be a third with respect to Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25. which Jehovah has blessed, saying, Blessed be My people Egypt, and the work of My hands Assyria, and My heritage Israel.

the defeat and captivity of the egyptians and ethiopians.—chap. xx.

1. In the year of Tartan’s coming to Ashdod, in Sargon king of Assyria’s sending him, and he fought with Ashdod and took it; 2. at that time spake Jehovah by the hand of Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go, and thou shalt loose the sackcloth from upon thy loins, and thy shoe thou shalt pull off from thy foot. And he did so, going naked and barefoot.

3. And Jehovah said, As my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years a sign and symbol concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia, 4. so shall the king of Assyria lead the captivity of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, the disgrace of Egypt.

5. And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their boast. 6. And the inhabitant of this coast shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we fled for help, to be delivered from the presence of the king of Assyria! and how shall we (ourselves) escape?

the burden of the desert of the sea.—chap. xxi. 1–10.

XXI.—1. Like whirlwinds in the south, as to rushing from the wilderness it comes, from a terrible land. 2. A hard vision it is revealed to me; the deceiver deceiving and the spoiler spoiling. Go, up, O Elam! besiege, O Media! All sighing have I made to cease. 3. Therefore my loins are filled with pain; pangs have seized me like the pangs of a travailing woman; I writhe from hearing; I am shocked from seeing. 4. My heart wonders; horror appals me; the twilight of my pleasure He has put for fear for me.

5. Set the table, spread the cloth, eat, drink; arise, ye chiefs, anoint the shield! 6. For thus saith the Lord to me, Go, set the watchman: that which he sees let him tell. 7. And should he see cavalry—pairs of horsemen—ass-riders—camel-riders—then shall he hearken with a harkening a great harkening. 8. And he cries—a lion—on the watch-tower, Lord, I am standing always by day, and on my ward I am stationed all the night. 9. And behold, this comes, mounted men, pairs of horsemen. And he speaks again, and says, Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the images of her gods He has broken to the earth.

10. O my threshing, and the son of my threshing-floor! What I have heard from Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I have told you.

the burden of dumah.—chap. xxi. 11–18.

11. To me (one is) calling from Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? 12. The watchman says, Morning comes and also night; if ye will inquire, inquire; return, come.

the burden of arabia.—chap. xxi. 13–17.

13. In the forest of Arabia shall ye lodge, oh ye caravans of Dedanim. 14. To meet the thirsty they bring water; with his bread they anticipate the fugitive. 15. Because from the presence of swords they fled, from the presence of a drawn sword and from the presence of a bended bow, and from the presence of a weight of war. 16. For thus saith the Lord to me, In yet a year, like the years of a hireling shall fall all the glory of Kedar. 17. And the remnant of the number of bows, the mighty men of the children of Kedar shall be few, for Jehovah God of Israel hath spoken it.

the burden of the valley of vision.—chap. xxii. 1–14.

1. What (is) to thee, that thou art wholly gone up on the house-tops? 2. Full of stirs, a noisy town, a joyous city, thy slain are not slain with the sword nor dead in battle. 3. All thy shields fled together—from the bow—they were found—all that were found of thee were bound together—from afar they fled.

4. Therefore I said, Look away from me; let me weep bitterly; try not to comfort me for the desolation of the daughter of my people. 5. For there is a day of confusion and trampling and perplexity to the Lord Jehovah of hosts, in the valley of vision—breaking the wall and crying to the mountain. 6. And Elam bare a quiver, with chariots, infantry, horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield. 7. And it came to pass (that) the choice of thy valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen drew up towards the gate. 8. And the covering of Judah was removed, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest. 9. And the breaches of the city of David ye saw, that they were many, and ye gathered the waters of the lower pool. 10. And the house of Jerusalem ye numbered, and ye pulled down the house to repair the wall. 11. And a reservoir ye made between the two walls for the waters of the old pool, and ye did not look to the Maker of it, and the Former of it ye did not see. 12. And the Lord Jehovah of hosts called in that day to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding sackcloth; 13. and behold mirth and jollity, slaying of oxen and killing of sheep, eating of flesh and drinking of wine; eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. 14. And Jehovah of hosts made a revelation to me, saying, This iniquity shall certainly not be forgiven you until you die.

the message to shebna.—chap. xxii. 15–25.

15. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah of hosts, Go, go into this treasurer, to Shebna who (is) over the house. 16. What hast thou here, and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewn thee here a sepulchre? Hewing on high his sepulchre, graving in the rook a habitation for himself! 17. Behold, Jehovah is casting thee a cast, O man! and covering thee a covering. 18. Rolling He will roll thee in a roll, like a ball (thrown) into a spacious ground—there thou shalt die—and there the chariots of thy glory—shame of thy master’s house. 19. And I will thrust thee from thy post, and from thy station thou shalt be pulled down.

20. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will call for thy servant, for Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah; 21. and I will clothe him with thy dress, and with thy girdle will I strengthen him, and thy power will I give into his hand, and he shall be for a father to the dweller in Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. 22. And I will put the key of the house of David on his shoulder; he shall open, and there shall be no one shutting; he shall shut, and there shall be no one opening. 23. And I will fasten him a nail in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to his father’s house. 24. And they shall hang upon him all the honour of his father’s house—the offspring and the issue—all vessels of small quantity—from vessels of cups even to all vessels of flagons. 25. In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, shall the nail fastened in a sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall, and the burden which was upon it shall be cut off, for Jehovah speaks.

the burden of tyre.—chap. xxiii.

1. Howl, ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, no house, no entrance; from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them. 2. Be silent, O inhabitants of the isle, the merchants of Sidon crossing the sea filled thee. 3. And in great waters (was) the seed of the Nile; the harvest of the river (was) her revenue; and she was a mart of nations. 5. When the report comes to Egypt, they are pained at the report of Tyre. 6. Pass over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle. 7. Is this your joyous city? From the days of old is her antiquity; her feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.

8. Who hath purposed this against Tyre the crowning (city), whose merchants (are) princes, her traffickers the honoured of the earth? 9. Jehovah of hosts hath purposed it, to profane the elevation of all beauty, to degrade all the honoured of the earth. 10. Pass through thy land like the river; daughter of Tarshish, there is no girdle (any) longer. 11. His hand He stretched out over the sea; He made kingdoms tremble; Jehovah commanded respecting Canaan to destroy her strongholds. 12. And He said, Thou shalt not continue to triumph, violated virgin daughter of Zidon; to Chittim arise, pass over; there also there shall be no rest to thee. 13. Behold the land of the Chaldees; this people was not; Assyria founded it for dwellers in the wilderness; they have set up his towers; they have roused up her palaces; he has rendered it a ruin. 14. Howl, ships of Tarshish, for destroyed is your stronghold.

15. And it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, as the days of one king; from the end of seventy years shall be to Tyre like the harlot’s song.

16. Take a harp, go about the city, O forgotten harlot! play well, sing much, that thou mayest be remembered. 17. And it shall be at the end of seventy years, Jehovah will visit Tyre, and she shall return with all the kingdoms of the earth upon the face of the ground.

18. And her gain and her hire shall be holiness to Jehovah; it shall not be stored and it shall not be hoarded; for her gain shall be for those who sit before Jehovah, to eat to satiety, and for substantial clothing.

Prophecies having Reference Chiefly to Judah.—Chaps. xxiv.–xxxv.

coming judgments.—chaps. xxiv.–xxvii.

I.—Some of the Consequences of National Iniquity.—Chap. xxiv. 1–12.

XXIV.—1. Behold Jehovah (is) pouring out the land and emptying it, and He will turn down its face, and He will scatter its inhabitants. 2. And it shall be, as the people so the priest, as the servant so his master, as the maid so her mistress, as the buyer so the seller, as the lender so the borrower, as the creditor so the debtor. 3. The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled, for Jehovah speaks this word. 4. The earth mourneth, fadeth; the world languisheth, fadeth; the highest of the people of the earth languish. 5. And the land has been profaned under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statute, broken the everlasting covenant. 6. Therefore a curse devoured the earth, and those dwelling in it were reckoned guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth burned, and there are few men left. 7. The new wine mourneth; the vine languisheth; all the merry-hearted do sigh. 8. Still is the mirth of drums; ceased is the noise of revellers; still is the mirth of the harp. 9. With the song they shall not drink wine; bitter shall strong drink be to them that drink it. 10. Broken down is the city of confusion, shut up is every house so that it cannot be entered. 11. A cry for wine in the streets--darkened is all joy—departed is the gladness of the earth. 12. What is left in the city is desolation, and into ruins is the gate beaten down.

II.—The Songs of the Scattered Remnant.—Vers. 13–16.

13. For so shall it be in the midst of the earth among the nations, like the beating of an olive-tree, like gleanings when the gathering is done. 14. They shall raise their voice, they shall sing, for the majesty of Jehovah they cry aloud from the sea. 15. Therefore in the fires glorify Jehovah, in the islands of the sea the name of Jehovah God of Israel. 16. From the wing of the earth we have heard songs, praise to the righteous; and I said, Woe to me, woe to me, alas for me! The deceivers deceive, with deceit the deceivers deceive.

III.—Jehovah’s Exaltation in Jerusalem.—Vers. 17–23.

17. Fear and pit and snare upon thee, O inhabitant of the land! 18. And it shall be that the (one) flying from the voice of the fear shall fall into the pit, and the (one) coming up from the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for windows from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. 19. Behold, broken is the earth; shattered, shattered is the earth; shaken, shaken is the earth. 20. The earth reels, reels like a drunken man, and is shaken like a hammock. And heavy upon her is her guilt, and she shall fall and rise no more. 21. And it shall be in that day that Jehovah shall visit upon the host of the high place, and upon the kings of the earth upon the earth. 22. And they shall be gathered with a gathering as prisoners in a pit, and shall be shut up in a dungeon, and after many days they shall be visited. 23. And the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, for Jehovah of hosts is King in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem and before His elders there is glory.

IV.—The destruction of Babylon and the Deliverance of the Jews.—Chap. xxv. 1–5.

XXV.—1. Jehovah my God (art) Thou; I will exalt Thee; I will praise Thy name; for Thou hast done a wonder, counsels from afar off, truth, certainty. 2. For Thou hast turned (it) from a city to a heap, a fortified town to a ruin, a palace of strangers from (being) a city; for ever it shall not be built. 3. Therefore a powerful people shall honour Thee, a city of terrible nations shall fear Thee. 4. For Thou hast been a stronghold to the weak, a stronghold to the poor, in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible was like a storm against a wall. 5. As heat in a drought, the noise of strangers wilt Thou bring down; (as) hast by the shadow of a cloud, (so) shall the song of the tyrants be brought low.

V.—A promise of Favour to the Gentiles and the People of God when united on Mount Zion.—Vers. 6–9.

6. And Jehovah of hosts will make, for all nations, in this mountain, 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. 7. And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the veil, the veil upon all people, and the web, the (one) woven over all the nations. 8. He has swallowed up death for ever, and the Lord Jehovah wipes away tears from off all faces, and the reproach of His people he will take away from off all the earth, for Jehovah hath spoken (it). 9. And they shall say in that day, Lo, this is our God! we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is Jehovah; we have waited for Him; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.

VI.—The Ruin of Moab.—Vers. 10–12.

10. For the hand of Jehovah shall rest upon this mountain, and Moab shall be trodden down in his place as straw is trodden in the water of the dunghill. 11. And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of it, as the swimmer spreadeth forth his hands to swim; and He shall humble his pride, together with the devices of his hands. 12. And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls He hath cast down, humbled, brought to the ground, to the very dust.

VII.—A Song of Praise and Deliverance.—Chap. xxvi. 1–19.

XXVI.—1. In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation will He place (as) walls and breastwork. 2. Open ye the gates, and let the righteous nation enter, keeping truth. 3. The mind stayed (on Thee) Thou wilt preserve in peace, (in) peace, because in Thee (it is) confident. 4. Trust ye in Jehovah for ever, for in Jah Jehovah is a rock of ages.

5. For He hath brought down the inhabitants of the high place, the exalted city; He will lay it low. He will lay it low, to the very ground; He will bring it to the very dust. 6. The foot shall trample on it, the feet of the afflicted, the steps of the weak. 7. The way for the righteous is straight; Thou most upright wilt level the path of the righteous. 8. Also in the way of Thy judgments, O Jehovah, we have waited for Thee; to Thy name and Thy remembrance (was our) soul’s desire. 9. (With) my soul have I desired Thee in the night; yes (with) my spirit within me will I seek Thee early; for when Thy judgments (come) to the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 10. Let the wicked be favoured, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of the right, he will do wrong, and will not see the exaltation of Jehovah. 11. Jehovah, Thy hand is high, they will not see; (yes) they will see (and be ashamed) Thy zeal for Thy people; yea, the fire of Thine enemies shall devour them.

12. Jehovah, Thou will give us peace, for even all our works Thou hast wrought for us. 13. Jehovah, our God, (other) lords beside Thee have ruled us; (but henceforth) Thee, Thy name, only will we celebrate. 14. Dead, they shall not live: ghosts, they shall not rise: therefore Thou hast visited and destroyed them, and made all memory to perish with respect to them. 15. Thou hast added to the nation, O Jehovah, Thou hast added to the nation; Thou hast glorified Thyself; Thou hast put far off all the ends of the land. 16. Jehovah, in distress they visited Thee; they uttered a whisper: Thy chastisement was on them.

17. As when a pregnant (woman) draws near to the birth, she writhes, she cries out in her pangs, so have we been from Thy presence, O Jehovah! 18. We were in travail, we were in pain, as it were we brought forth wind. Deliverance we could not make the land, nor would the inhabitants of the world fall. 19. Thy dead shall live, my corpses shall arise: (awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust!) for the dew of herbs is Thy dew, and (on) the earth (on) the dead, Thou wilt cause it to fall.

VIII.—The Time is not Yet.—Vers. 20, 21.

20. Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut thy doors after thee, hide thyself for a little moment, till the wrath be past. 21. For behold, Jehovah (is) coming out of His place, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth upon him, and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

IX.—Israel’s Chastisements and Jehovah’s Judgments on His enemies, with the glorious results thereof.—Chap. xxvii.

1. In that day shall Jehovah visit with His sword, the hard, the great, the strong (sword), upon leviathan the flying serpent, and upon leviathan the coiled serpent, and shall slay the dragon which (is) in the sea. 2. In that day, as a vineyard of wine, afflict her. 3. I Jehovah (am) keeping her; every moment I will water her; lest any hurt her, night and day will I keep her. 4. It is not because I am cruel or revengeful that I thus afflict My people, but because she is a vineyard overrun with thorns or briers, on account of which I must pass through her and burn them out of her [Or, I am (no longer) angry with My people; O that their enemies, as thorns and briers, would array themselves against Me, that I might rush upon them and consume them.] 5. Or let him lay hold of My strength and make peace with Me; peace let him make with Me.

6. (In) coming (days) shall Jacob take root, Israel shall bud and blossom, and they shall fill the face of the earth with fruit. 7. Like the smiting of the smiter did He smite him, or like the slaying of his slain was he slain?

8. In measure, by sending her away, Thou dost contend with her. He removes (her) by His hard wind in the day of the east wind. 9. Therefore by this (affliction) shall Jacob’s iniquity be purged away, and this is all (its) fruit to take away his sin, (as will appear) in his placing all the stones of the (idolatrous) altar like limestones dashed in pieces (so that) groves and solar images shall arise no more.

10. For a fenced city shall be desolate, a dwelling-place broken up and forsaken like the wilderness. There shall the calf feed, and there shall it lie and consume her branches. 11. When its boughs are withered they shall be broken off, women coming and burning them; because it is not a people of understanding, therefore its Creator shall not pity it, and its Maker shall not have mercy on it.

12. And it shall be in that day, that Jehovah shall gather in His fruit from the channel of the river to the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one to another, O ye children of Israel! 13. And it shall come to pass in that day, (that) a great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come that were wandering in the land of Assyria, and those exiled in the land of Egypt, and shall bow down to Jehovah, in the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.

the downfall of samaria.—chap. xxviii.

1. Woe to the high crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower, his ornament of beauty, which (is) on the head of the fat valley of the wine-smitten. 2. Behold the Lord has a strong and mighty one, like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty rushing waters. He has brought it to the ground with the hand. 3. With the feet shall be trodden the lofty crown of the drunkards of Ephraim. 4. And the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be like a first-ripe fig before summer, which he that sees it sees, and while it is yet in his hand swallows it.

5. In that day shall Jehovah of hosts become a crown of beauty and a diadem of glory to the remnant of His people; 6. and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

7. And (yet) these through wine have erred, and through strong drink have gone astray. Priest and prophet erred through strong drink, have been swallowed up of wine, have been led astray by strong drink, have erred in vision, have wavered in judgment. 8. For all tables are full of vomit, of filth, without a (clean) place. 9. Whom will He teach knowledge? And whom will He make to understand doctrine? Those weaned from the milk and removed from the breasts. 10. For (it is) rule upon rule, rule upon rule, line upon line, line upon line, a little here, a little there. 11. For with stammering lips and with another tongue will He speak unto this people. 12. Who said to them, This is rest, give rest to the weary, and this is quiet, but they would not hear. 13. And the word of Jehovah was to them rule upon rule, rule upon rule; line upon line, line upon line; a little here, a little there; that they might go, and fall backwards, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

14. Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scornful men, the rulers of this people which is in Jerusalem. 15. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell have formed a league; the overflowing scourge, when it passes through, shall not come upon us, for we have made falsehood our refuge, and in fraud we have hid ourselves; 16. therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold I lay in Zion a stone, a stone of proof, a corner-stone of value, of a firm foundation; the builder will not be in haste. 17. And I will place judgment for a line and justice for a plummet, and hail shall sweep away the refuge of falsehood, and the hiding-place waters shall overflow. 18. And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your league with hell shall not stand, and the overflowing scourge—for it shall pass through, and ye shall be for it to trample on. 19. And as soon as it passes through, it shall carry you away; for every morning it shall pass through, in the day and in the night, and only vexation shall be the understanding of the thing heard. 20. For the bed is too short to stretch one’s self, and the covering too narrow to wrap one’s self. 21. For like mount Perazim shall Jehovah rise up, like the valley in Gibeon, shall He rage, to do His work, His strange work, and to perform His task, His strange task. 22. And now scoff not, lest your bands be strong; for even a decreed consumption I have heard from the Lord Jehovah of hosts, upon the whole earth.

23. Give ear and hear my voice; hearken and hear my speech. 24. Does the husbandman plough every day to sow? Does he open and level his ground? 25. Does he not, when he has levelled the surface of it, cast abroad dill, and scatter cummin, and set wheat in rows, and barley (in the place) marked out, and spelt in his border? 26. So teaches him aright, his God instructs him. 27. For not with sledge must dill be threshed, or the cart wheel turned upon cummin; for with the stick must dill be beaten, and cummin with the rod. 28. Bread-corn must be crushed, for he will not be always threshing it; so he drives the wheel of his cart (upon it), but with his horses he does not crush it. 29. Even this from Jehovah of hosts comes forth; He is wonderful in counsel; great in wisdom.

prophecy concerning jerusalem.—chap. xxix.

1. Alas for Ariel, Ariel, the city David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts revolve; 2. And I will distress Ariel, and there shall be sadness and sorrow, and it shall be to Me as Ariel. 3. And I will camp against thee round about, and push against thee a post, and raise against thee ramparts. 4. And thou shalt be brought down, out of the ground shalt thou speak, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be like (the voice of) a spirit, out of the ground, and out of the dust shall thy speech mutter.

5. And shall be like fine dust the multitude of thy strangers, and like passing chaff be in a moment suddenly. 6. From the presence of Jehovah shall it be raised with thunder, and earthquake, and great noise, tempest and storm, and flame of devouring fire. 7. Then shall be as a dream, a vision of the night, the multitude of all the nations fighting against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and distress her. 8. And it shall be as when the hungry dreams, and lo he eats, and he awakes, and his soul is empty; and as when the thirsty dreams, and lo he drinks, and he awakes, and lo he is faint and his soul craving: so shall be the multitude of all the nations that fight against mount Zion.

9. Waver and wonder! be merry and blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they reel, but not with strong drink. 10. For Jehovah hath poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and hath shut your eyes, the prophets, even your heads the seers, hath He covered. 11. And the vision of the whole is to you like the words of the sealed writing, which they give to one knowing writing, saying, Pray read this, and he says, I cannot, for it is sealed. 12. And the writing is given to one who knows not writing, saying, Pray read this, and he says, I know not writing. 13. And the Lord said, Because this people draws near with its mouth, and with its lips they honour Me, and its heart it puts far from Me, and their fearing Me is a precept of men, (a thing) taught, 14. therefore, behold, I will continue to treat this people strangely, very strangely, and with strangeness, and the wisdom of its wise ones shall be lost, and the prudence of its prudent ones shall hide itself. 15. Alas for those going deep from Jehovah to hide counsel, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who sees us, and who knows us? 16. Your perversion! Is the potter to be reckoned as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, He made me not, and the thing formed say of its former, He does not understand!

17. Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned to a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be reckoned to the forest? 18. And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and out of obscurity and darkness shall the eyes of the blind see. 19. And the humble shall rejoice more and more in Jehovah, and the poor among men in the Holy One of Israel shall rejoice. 20. For the violent is at an end, and the scoffer ceaseth, and all the watchers for injustice are cut off: 21. making a man a sinner for a word, and for him disputing in the gate they laid a snare, and turned aside the righteous through deceit. 22. Therefore thus saith Jehovah to the house of Jacob, He who redeemed Abraham, Not now shall Jacob be ashamed, and not now shall his face turn pale. 23. For when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify My name, yes, they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and the God of Israel they shall fear. 24. Then shall the erring in spirit know wisdom, and the rebels shall receive instruction.

the sin and the folly of ancient israel in seeking foreign aid against their enemies.—chaps. xxx., xxxi.

XXX.—1. Woe to the disobedient children, saith Jehovah, (so disobedient as) to form (or execute) a plan and not from Me, and to weave a web, but not (of) My Spirit, for the sake of adding sin to sin; 2. those walking to go down to Egypt, and My mouth they have not consulted, to take refuge in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. 3. And the strength of Egypt shall be to you for shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt for confusion. 4. For his chiefs are in Zoan, and his ambassadors arrive at Hanes. 5. All are ashamed of a people who cannot profit them, a people not for help and not for profit, but for shame, and also for disgrace. 6. The burden of the beasts of the south, in a land of suffering and distress, whence (are) the adder and the fiery flying serpent; they are carrying on the shoulders of young asses their wealth, and on the hump of camels their treasures, to a people who cannot profit; 7. and the Egyptians are in vain and to no purpose shall they help. Therefore I cry concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.

8. And now go, write it with them on a table, and inscribe it in a book, and let it be for a future day, for ever, to eternity. 9. For a rebellious people is it, lying children, children who are not willing to learn the law of Jehovah; 10. who say to the seers, Ye shall not see, and to the viewers, Ye shall not view for us right things: speak unto us smooth things, view deceits, 11. depart from the way, sever from the path, cause to cease from before us the Holy One of Israel. 12. Therefore, thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because of your rejecting this word, and (because) ye have trusted in oppression and perverseness and have relied thereon, 13. therefore shall their iniquity be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking may come suddenly, at (any) instant. 14. And it is broken like the breaking of a potter’s vessel, broken unsparingly, so that there is not found among its fragments a sherd to take up fire from a hearth, and to dip up water from a pool. 15. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest shall ye be saved, in remaining quiet and in confidence shall be your strength; and ye would not. 16. And ye said, No, for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee; and upon swift will we ride; therefore shall your pursuers be swift. 17. One thousand shall flee from before the menace of one, from before the rebuke of five shall ye flee, until ye are left like a pole on the top of the mountain, and like the signal on the hill. 18. And therefore will Jehovah wait to have mercy upon you, and therefore will He rise up to pity you, for a God of judgment is Jehovah; blessed are all that wait for Him. 19. For the people in Zion shall dwell in Jerusalem; thou shalt weep no more; He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; as He hears it He will answer thee. 20. And the Lord will give you bread of affliction and water of oppression, and no more shall thy teachers hide themselves, and thine eyes shall see thy teachers. 21. And thine ears shall hear a voice from behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right and when ye turn to the left. 22. And ye shall defile the covering of thy idols of silver and the case of thy image of gold; thou shalt scatter them as an abominable thing. Away! shalt thou say to it. 23. And He shall give the rain of thy seed, with which thou shalt sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, and it shall be fat and rich; thy cattle shall feed that day in an enlarged pasture. 24. And the oxen and the asses working the ground shall eat salted provender which has been winnowed with the sieve and fan. 25. And there shall be, on every high mountain, and on every elevated hill, channels, streams of waters, in the day of great slaughter, when towers 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, as the light of seven days, in the day of Jehovah’s binding up the breach of His people, and the stroke of His wound He will heal.