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CHAPTER 1     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THE VISION OF ISAIAH THE SON OF AMOTS, WHICH HE SAW CONCERNING JUDAH AND JERUSALEM; IN THE DAYS OF UZZIAH, JOTHAM, AHAZ, HEZEKIAH, KINGS OF JUDAH. ² Hear, O ye heavens; and give ear, O earth! For it is JEHOVAH that speaketh. I have nourished children, and brought them up; And even they have revolted from me. ³ The ox knoweth his possessor; And the ass the crib of his lord: But Israel knoweth not Me; Neither doth my people consider. ⁴ Ah, sinful nation! a people laden with iniquity! A race of evil doers! children degenerate! They have forsaken JEHOVAH; They have rejected with disdain the Holy One of Israel; They are estranged from him; they have turned their back upon him. ⁵ On what part will ye smite again, will ye add correction? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint: ⁶ From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness therein; It is wound, and bruise, and putrefying sore: It hath not been pressed, neither hath it been bound; Neither hath it been softened with ointment. ⁷ Your country is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire; Your land, before your eyes strangers devour it; And it is become desolate, as if destroyed by an inundation. ⁸And the daughter of Sion is left, as a shed in a vineyard; As a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a city taken by siege. ⁹ Had not JEHOVAH God of Hosts left us a remnant, We had soon become as Sodom; we had been like unto Gomorrah. ¹⁰ Hear ye the word of JEHOVAH, O ye princes of Sodom! Give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah! ¹¹ What have I to do with the multitude of your sacrifices? saith JEHOVAH: I am cloyed with the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; And in the blood of bullocks, and of lambs, and of goats, I have no delight. ¹² When you come to appear before me, Who hath required this at your hands? ¹³ Tread my courts no more; bring no more a vain oblation: Incense! it is an abomination unto me. The new moon, and the sabbath, and the assembly proclaimed, I cannot endure; the fast, and the day of restraint. ¹⁴ Your months, and your solemnities, my soul hateth: They are a burthen upon me; I am weary of bearing them. ¹⁵ When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; Even when ye multiply prayer, I will not hear; For your hand are full of blood. ¹⁶ Wash ye, make ye clean; remove ye far away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes: ¹⁷ Cease to do evil; learn to do well; Seek judgment; amend that which is corrupted; Do justice to the fatherless; defend the cause of the widow. ¹⁸ Come on now, and let us plead together, saith JEHOVAH: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they be red as crimson, they shall be like wool. ¹⁹ If ye shall be willing and obedient, Ye shall feed on the good of the land; ²⁰ But if ye refuse, and be rebellious, ye shall be food for the sword of the enemy: for the mouth of JEHOVAH hath pronoundced it. ²¹ How is the faithfull city become a harlot! She that was full of judgement, righteousness dwelled in her; But now murtherers! ²² Thy silver is become dross; thy wine is mixed with water. ²³ Thy princes are rebellious, associates of robbers; Every one of them loveth a gift, and seeketh reward: To the fatherless they administer not justice; And the cause of the widow cometh not before them. ²⁴ Wherefor saith the Lord JEHOVAH God of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel; Aha! I will be eased of mine adversaries; I will be avenged of mine enemies. ²⁵ And I will bring again mine hand over thee; And I will purge in the furnace thy dross; And I will remove all thine alloy. ²⁶ And I will restore thy judges, as at the first; And thy counsellors, as at the beginning: And after this thy name shall be called, the city of righteousness, the faithfull metropolis. ²⁷ Sion shall redeemed judgment, and her captives in righteousness: ²⁸ But destruction shall fall at once on the revolters and the sinner; And they that forsake JEHOVAH shall be consumed. ²⁹ For ye shall be ashamed of the ilexes, which ye have desired; And ye shall blush for the gardens, which ye have chosen: ³⁰ When ye shall be as an ilex, whose lives are blusted; And as a garden, wherein is no water. ³¹ And the strong shall become tow, and his work a spark of fire; And they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

CHAPTER 2     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THE WORD, WHICH WAS REVEALED TO ISAIAH, THE SON OF AMOTS, CONCERNING JUDAH AND JERUSALEM. ² It shall come to pass in the latter days; The mountain of the house of JEHOVAH shall be established on the top of the mountains; And it shall be exalted above the hills: And all nations shall flow unto it. ³ And many peoples shall go and shall say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of JEHOVAH; To the house of the God of Jacob; And he will teach us of his ways; And we will walk in his paths: For from Sion shall go forth the law; ⁴ And the word of JEHOVAH from Jersusalem. And he shall judge among the nations; And shall work conviction in many peoples: and they shall beat theris swords into ploughshares, 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 Verily thou hast abandoned thy people, the house of Jacob: Because they are filled with diviners from the east; and with sooth sayers like the philistines; And they multiply a spurious brood of strange children. ⁷ An his land is filled with silver and gold; And there is no end to his treasures: And his land is filled with horses neither is there any end to his chariots. ⁸ And his land is filled with idols; He boweth himself down to the word of his hands; to that which his fingers have made: ⁹ Therefor shall the mean man be bowed down, and the mighty man shall humbled; And thou wilt not forgive them. ¹⁰ Go into the rock, and hide thyself in the dust; from the fear of JEHOVAH, and from the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to strike the earth with terror. ¹¹ The lofty eyes of men shall be humbled; the highth of mortals shall bow down: And JEHOVAH alone shall be exalted in that day. ¹² For the day of JEHOVAH God of Hosts is against every thing great and lofty; And against every thing that is exalted, and it shall be humbled. ¹³ Even against all the cedars of Lebanon, the high and the exalted; And against all oaks of Basan: ¹⁴ And against all the mountains, the high ones; And against all the hills, the exalted ones; ¹⁵ And against against every tower, high-raised; And against every mound, strongly fortified. ¹⁶ And against all the sheeps of Tarshish; And against every lovely work of art. ¹⁷ And the pride of man shall bow down; And the highth of mortal shall be humbled; And JEHOVAH alone shall be exalted in that day: ¹⁸ And the idols shall totally disappear. ¹⁹ And they shall go into caverns of rocks, and into holes of the dust; from the fear of JEHOVAH, and from the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to strike the earth with terror. ²⁰ In that day shall a man cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they have made to worship; to the moles and the bats: ²¹ To go into caves of the rocks, and into clefts of the craggy rocks; From the fear of JEHOVAH, and from the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to strike the earth with terror. ²² Trust ye no more in man, whose breath is in his nostrils; For of what account is he to be made? 

CHAPTER 3     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ For behold the Lord JEHOVAH God of Hosts removeth from Jerusalem, and from Judah, every stay and support; The whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water; ² The mighty man, and the warrior; The judge, and the prophet, and the diviner, and the sage: ³ The ruler of fifty, and the honourable person; And the counsellor, and the skillful artist, and the powerful in persuasion. ⁴ And I will make boys their princes; And infants shall rule over them. ⁵And the people shall be oppressed, one man by another: And every man shall behave insolently towards his neighbour; The boy towards the old man, and the base towards the honourable. ⁶ Therefore shall a man take his brother, of his father’s house by the garment; Saying, Come, and be thou ruler over us; And let thine hand support our ruinous state. ⁷ Then shall he openly declare, saying, I will not be the healer of your breaches; For in my house is neither bread, nor raiment: Appoint not me ruler of the people. ⁸ For Jerusalem tottereth, and Judah falleth; Because their tongues, and their hands, are against JEHOVAH; To provoke by their disobedience the cloud of his glory. ⁹ The stedfastness of their countenance witnesseth against them; For their sin, like Sodom, they publish, they hide it not: Wo to their souls! for upon themselves have they brought down evil. ¹⁰ Pronounce ye a blessing on the just: verily good [shall be to him]; For the fruit of his deeds shall he eat. ¹¹ Wo to the wicked: evil [shall be his portion]; For the work of his hands shall be repaid unto him. ¹² As for my people, children are their oppressors; And women bear rule over them. O my people, thy leaders cause thee to err; And pervert the way of thy paths. ¹³ JEHOVAH ariseth to plead his cause; He standeth up to contend with his people. ¹⁴ JEHOVAH will meet in judgment, the elders of his people, and their princes: As for you, ye have consumed my vineyard; The plunder of the poor is in your houses. ¹⁵ What mean ye, that ye crush my people; And grind the faces of the poor? Saith JEHOVAH, the Lord of Hosts. ¹⁶ Moreover JEHOVAH hath said: Because the daughters of Sion are haughty; And walk displaying the neck, and falsely setting off their eyes with paint; Mincing their steps as they go, and with their feet lightly tripping along: ¹⁷ Therefore will the Lord humble the head of the daughters of Sion; And JEHOVAH will expose their nakedness. ¹⁸ In that day will the Lord take from them the ornaments of the feet-rings, and the net-works, and the crescents; ¹⁹ The pendents, and the bracelets, and the thin veils; ²⁰ The tires, and the fetters, and the zones, and the perfume-boxes, and the amulets; ²¹ The rings, and the jewels of the nostril; ²² The embroidered robes, and the tunics; And the cloaks, and the little purses; ²³ The transparent garments, and the fine linen vests; And the turbans, and the mantles: ²⁴ And there shall be, instead of perfume, a putrid ulcer; And, instead of well-girt raiment, rags; And, instead of high-dressed hair, baldness; And, instead of a zone, a girdle of sackcloth: A sun-burnt skin, instead of beauty. ²⁵ Thy people shall fall by the sword; And thy mighty men in the battle. ²⁶ And her doors shall lament and mourn; And desolate shall she sit on the ground.

CHAPTER 4     (Selectează capitolul)   

¹ And seven women shall lay hold on one man in that day, saying: Our own bread will we eat, and with our own garments will we be clothed; Only let us be called by thy name; Take away our reproach. ² In that day shall the branch of JEHOVAH become glorious and honourable; And the produce of the land excellent and beautiful, for the escaped of the house of Israel. ³ And it shall come to pass, whosoever is left in Sion, and remaineth in Jerusalem, Holy shall he be called; Every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem. ⁴ When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Sion: And the blood of Jerusalem shall have removed from the midst of her, by a spirit of judgment, and by a spirit of burning: ⁵ Then shall JEHOVAH create upon the station of Mount Sion, and upon all her holy assemblies, a cloud by day, and smoke; And the brightness of a flaming fire by night: Yea, over all shall the Glory be a covering. ⁶ And a tabernacle it shall be, for shade by day from the heat; And for a covert, and a refuge, from storm and rain.

CHAPTER 5     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ LET me sing now a song to my Beloved; A song of loves concerning his vineyard. My Beloved had a vineyard, on a high and fruitful hill: ² And he fenced it round, and he cleared it from the stones, and he planted it with the vine of Sorek; And he built a tower in the midst of it, and he hewed out also a lake therein: And he expected, that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth poisonous berries. ³ And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and ye men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard: ⁴ What could have been done more to my vineyard, than I have done unto it? Why, when I expected that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth poisonous berries? ⁵ But come now, and I will make known unto you, what I purpose to do to my vineyard: To remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; To destroy its fence, and it shall be trodden down. ⁶ And I will make it a desolation: And it shall not be pruned, neither shall it be digged; But the briar and the thorn shall spring up in it; And I will command the clouds, that they shed no rain upon it. ⁷ Verily, the vineyard of JEHOVAH God of Hosts is the house of Israel; And the men of Judah the plant of his delight: And he looked for judgment, but behold tyranny; And for righteousness, but behold the cry of the oppressed. ⁸ Wo unto you, who join house to house; Who lay field unto field together; Until there be no place, and ye have your dwelling alone to yourselves, in the midst of the land. ⁹ To mine ear hath JEHOVAH God of Hosts revealed it: Surely many houses shall become a desolation; The great and the fair ones, without an inhabitant. ¹⁰ Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield a single bath of wine, and a chomer of seed shall produce an ephah. ¹¹ Wo unto them who rise early in the morning, to follow strong drink; Who sit late in the evening, that wine may inflame them: ¹² And the lyre, and the harp, the tabor, and the pipe, and wine, are their entertainments: But the works of JEHOVAH they regard not; And the operation of his hands they do not perceive. ¹³ Therefore my people goeth into captivity for want of knowledge; And their nobles have died with hunger; And their plebeians are parched up with thirst. ¹⁴ Therefore Hades hath enlarged his appetite; And hath stretched open his mouth without measure: And down go her nobility, and her populace; And her busy throng, and all that exult in her. ¹⁵ And the mean man shall be bowed down, and the great man shall be brought low; And the eyes of the haughty shall be humbled: ¹⁶ And JEHOVAH God of Hosts shall be exalted in judgment; And God the Holy One shall be sanctified by displaying his righteousness. ¹⁷ Then shall the sheep feed without restraint; And the kids shall depasture the desolate fields of the luxurious. ¹⁸ Wo unto them, who draw out iniquity, as a long cable; And sin, as the thick traces of a wain: ¹⁹ Who say, let him make speed then, let him hasten his work, that he may see it; And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and come to pass, that we may know it. ²⁰ Wo unto them who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. ²¹ Wo unto them, who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own conceit. ²² Wo unto them, who are powerful to drink wine; And men of might to mingle strong drink: ²³ Who justify the guilty for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! ²⁴ Therefore, as the tongue of fire licketh up the stubble, and as the flame dissolveth the chaff; So shall their root become like touchwood, and their blossom shall go up like the dust: Because they have despised the law of JEHOVAH God of Hosts; And scornfully rejected the word of the Holy One of Israel. ²⁵ Wherefore the anger of JEHOVAH is kindled against his people; And he hath stretched out his hand against them: And he smote them; and the mountains trembled; And their carcasses became as the dung in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away; But still is his hand stretched out. ²⁶ And he will erect a standard for the nations afar off; And he will hist every one of them from the ends of the earth; And behold, with speed swiftly shall they come. ²⁷ None among them is faint, and none stumbleth; None shall slumber, nor sleep: nor shall the girdle of their loins be loosed: nor shall the latchet of their shoes be unbound. ²⁸ Whose arrows are sharpened; and all their bows are bent: The hoofs of their horses shall be counted as adamant; And their wheels as a whirlwind. ²⁹ Their growling like the growling of the lioness; Like the young lions shall they growl: They shall roar and shall seize the prey; And they shall bear it away, and none shall rescue it. ³⁰ In that day, shall they roar against them, like the roaring of the sea; And these shall look to the heaven upward, and down to the earth; And lo! Darkness, distress! And the light is obscured by the gloomy vapour. 

CHAPTER 6     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ In the year in which Uzziah the king died, I saw JEHOVAH sitting on a throne high and lofty; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him stood seraphim: Each one of them had six wings: With two of them he covereth his face, with two of them he covereth his feet, and two of them he useth in flying. ³ And they cried alternately, and said: Holy, holy, holy, JEHOVAH God of Hosts! The whole earth is filled with his glory. ⁴ And the pillars of the vestibule were shaken with the voice of their cry; And the temple was filled with smoke. ⁵ And I said, Alas for me! I am struck dumb: for I am a man of polluted lips; and in the midst of a people of polluted lips do I dwell: for mine eyes have seen the King, JEHOVAH God of Hosts. ⁶ And one of the seraphim came flying unto me; and in his hand was a burning coal, which he had taken with the tongs from of the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth, and said: Lo! This hath touched thy lips; Thine iniquity is removed, and they sin is expiated. ⁸ And I heard the voice of JEHOVAH, saying: Whom shall I send; And who will go for us? And I said: Behold, here am I; send me. ⁹ And he said: Go, and say thou to this people: Hear ye indeed, but understand not; See ye indeed, but perceive not: ¹⁰ Make gross the heart of this people; make their ears dull, ans close up their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and be converted; and I should heal them. ¹¹ And I said: How long, O JEHOVAH? And he said: Until cities be laid waste, so that there be on inhabitant; And houses, so that there be no man: And the land be left untterly desolate. ¹² Until JEHOVAH remove man from far away; and there be many a deserted woman in the midst of the land. ¹³ And though there be a tenth part remaining in it, even this shall undergo a repeated destruction; Yet, as the ilex, and the oak, though cut down, hath its stock remaining, a holy seed shall be the stock of the nation. 

CHAPTER 7     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ In the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son Uzziah king of Judah, Retsin king of Syria, and Pecah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up against Jerusalem, to besiege it; but they could not overcome it. ² And when it was told to the house of David, that Syria was supported by Ephraim; The heart of the king, and the heart of his people was moved; As the trees of the forest are moved before the wind. ³ And JEHOVAH said to Isaiah: Go out now to meet Ahaz; thou and Shearjashub thy son; At the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool, at the cause way of the fullers field. ⁴ And thou shalt say unto him: Take heed, and be still; fear not, neither let thy heart be faint, because of the two tails of this smoking fire brands; For the fierce wrath of Retsin, and of the son of Remaliah. ⁵ Because Syria hath deviced evil against thee; Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, saying: ⁶ Let us go up against Judah, and harass it; And let us rend of apart of it for ourselfs; And let us set a king to reign in the midt of it; Even the son of Tabeal. ⁷ Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH: It shall not stand, neither shall it be. ⁸ Though the head of Syria be Damascus, and the head of Damascus, Retsin; Yet within threescore and five years Ephraim shall be broken, that he be no more a people: ⁹ Though the hand of Ephraim be Samaria; and the head of Samaria, Remaliah’s son. If ye believe not in me, ye shall not be established. ¹⁰ And JEHOVAH spake yet again to Ahaz, saying: ¹¹ Ask thee a sign from JEHOVAH thy God: Go deep to the grave, or high to the heaven above. ¹² And Ahaz said: I will not ask; neither will I tempt JEHOVAH. ¹³ And he said: Hear ye now, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to weary men, that you should weary my God also? ¹⁴ Therefore JEHOVAH himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the Virgin conceiveth, and beareth a son; And she shall call his name, Immanuel. ¹⁵ Butter and honey shall he eat, when he shall know to refuse what is evil, and to choose what is good: ¹⁶ For before this child shall know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good; The land shall become desolate, by whose two kings thou art distressed. ¹⁷ But JEHOVAH shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father’s house, days, such as have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah. ¹⁸ And it shall come to pass in that day; JEHOVAH shall hist the fly, that is in the utmost part of the rivers of Egypt; And the bee, that is in the land of Assyria: ¹⁹ And they shall come , and they shall light all of them on the desolate vallies, and on the craggy rocks, and on all the thickets, and on all the caverns. ²⁰ In that day, JEHOVAH shall shave by the hired razor, by the people beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; And even the beard itself shall be destroyed. ²¹ And it shall come to pass in that day, that if a man shall feed a young cow, and two sheep; ²² From the plenty of milk, which they shall produce, he shall eat butter: Even butter and honey shall he eat, whosoever is left in the midst of the land. ²³ And every vineyard, that hath a thousand vines, valued at a thousand pieces of silver, shall become in that day briers and thorns. ²⁴ With arrows and with the bows shall they come thither; For the whole land shall become briers and thorns. ²⁵ And all the hills, which were dressed with the mattock, where the fear of briers and thorns never came, shall be for the range of the ox, and for the treading of sheep.

CHAPTER 8     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ AND JEHOVAH said unto me: Take unto thee a large mirror, and write on it with a workman’s graving tool, To hasten the spoil, to take quickly the prey. ²And I called unto me for a testimony faithful witnesses; Uriah the priest, and Zachariah the son of Jeberechiah. ³ And I approached unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. And JEHOVAH said unto me: Call his name Maher-shalal hash-baz; ⁴ For before the child shall know to prenounce, My father and My mother, the riches of Damascus shall be borne away, and the spoil of Samaria, before the king of Assyria. ⁵ Yet again JEHOVAH spake unto me, saying: ⁶ Because this people hath rejected the waters of Siloah, which flow gently; And rejoiceth in Retsin, and the son of Remaliah: ⁷ Therefore behold the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, the strong and the mighty; Even the king of Assyria, and all his force. And he shall rise above all their channels, and shall go over all their banks, ⁸ and he shal pass through Judah, overflowing and spreading, even to the neck shall he reach: And the extension of his wings shall be over the full breadth of thy land, O Immanuel! ⁹ Know ye this, O ye peoples, and be struck with consternation; And give ear to it, all ye of distant lands: Gird yourselves, and be dismayed; gird yourselves, and be dismayed. ¹⁰ Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; Speak the word, and it shall not stand: For God is with us. ¹¹ For thus said JEHOVAH unto me; As taking me by the hand he instructed me, that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying: ¹² Say ye not, It is holy, of every thing of which this people shall say, It is holy: And fear ye not the object of their fear, neither be ye terrified. ¹³ JEHOVAH God of Hosts, sanctify ye him; And let him be your fear, and let him be your dread: ¹⁴ And he shall be unto you a sanctuary; But a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, to the two houses of Israel; A trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁵And many among them shall stumble. And shall fall, and be broken; and shall be ensnared and caught. ¹⁶ Bind up the testimony, seal the command, among my disciples. ¹⁷ I will therefore wait for JEHOVAH, who hideth his face from the house of Jacob; yet will I look for him. ¹⁸ Behold, I, and the children, whom JEHOVAH hath given unto me; For signs and for wonders in Israel, from JEHOVAH God of Hosts, who dwelleth in the mountain of Sion. ¹⁹And when they shall say unto you: Seek unto the necromancers and the wizards; To them that speak inwardly, and that mutter: Should not a people seek unto their God? Should they seek, instead of the living, unto the dead? ²⁰ Unto the command, and unto the testimony, let them seek: If they will not speak according to this word, in which there is no obscurity; ²¹ Every one of them shall pass through the land distressed and famished: And when he shall be famished, and angry with himself, he shall curse his king and his God. ²² And he shall cast his eyes upwards, and look down to the earth: And lo! distress and darkness! Gloom, tribulation, and accumulated darkness! ²³ But there shall not hereafter be darkness in the land which was distressed: In the former time he debased the land of Zebulon, and the land of Naphthali; But in the latter time he hath made it glorious: Even the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

CHAPTER 9     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ The people, that walked in darkness, have seen a great light; They that dwelled in the land of the shadow of death, unto them hath the light shined. ²Thou hast multiplied the nation, thou hast increased their joy: They rejoice before thee, as with the joy of harvest; As they rejoice, who divide the spoil. ³For the yoke of his burthen, the staff laid on his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, hast thou broken, as in the day of Midian. ⁴ For the greaves of the armed warrior in the conflict, and the garment rolled in much blood, shall be for a burning, even fuel for the fire.⁵ For unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given; And the government shall be upon his shoulder: And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the Father of the everlasting age, the Prince of peace. ⁶ Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end; Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; To fix it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, henceforth and for ever: The zeal of JEHOVAH God of Hosts will do this. ⁷ JEHOVAH hath sent a word against Jacob; And it hath lighted upon Israel. ⁸ Because the people all of them carry themselves haughtily; Ephraim, and the inhabitant of Samaria; In pride and arrogance of heart, saying: ⁹ The bricks are fallen, but we will build with hewn stone; The sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars: ¹⁰ Therefore will JEHOVAH excite the princes of Retsin against him: And raise up his enemies together: ¹¹ The Syrians from the east, and the Philistines from the west; And they shall devour Israel on every side. For all this his anger is not turned away; But his hand is still stretched out. ¹² Yet this people have not turned unto him that smote them; And JEHOVAH God of Hosts they have not sought. ¹³ Therefore shall JEHOVAH cut off from Israel the head and the tail; The branch and the rush, in one day: ¹⁴ The aged, and the honourable person, he is the head; And the prophet that teacheth falsehood, he is the tail. ¹⁵ For the leaders of this people lead them astray; And they that are led by them shall be devoured. ¹⁶ Wherefore JEHOVAH shall not rejoice over their young men; And on their orphans, and their widows, he shall have no compassion. For every one of them is a hypocrite and evil-doer; And every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away; But his hand is still stretched out. ¹⁷ For wickedness burneth like a fire; The brier and the bramble it shall consume: And it shall kindle the thicket of the wood; And they shall mount up in volumes of rising smoke. ¹⁸ Through the wrath of JEHOVAH God of Hosts is the land darkened; And the people shall be as fuel for the fire: A man shall not spare his brother. ¹⁹ But he shall snatch on the right, and yet be hungry; And he shall devour on the left, and not be satisfied: Every man shall devour the flesh of his neighbour. ²⁰ Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; And both of them shall be united against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away; But his hand is still stretched out.

CHAPTER 10     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ Wo unto them, that decree unrighteous decrees; Unto the scribes, that prescribe oppression: ² To turn aside the needy from judgment; To rob of their right the poor of my people: That the widows may become their prey; And that they may plunder the orphans. ³ And what will ye do in the day of visitation? And in the desolation, which shall come from afar? To whom will ye flee for succour? And where will ye deposit your wealth? ⁴ Without me, they shall bow down under the bounder and under the slain shall they fall. For all this his anger is not turned away; But his hand is still stretched out. ⁵ Ho! to the Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, the staff in whose hand is the instrument of mine indignation! ⁶ Against a dissembling nation will I send him; And against a people the object of my wrath will I give him a charge: To gather the spoil, and to bear away the prey; And to trample them under foot like the mire of the streets. ⁷ But he doth not so purpose; And his heart doth not so intend: But to destroy is in his heart; And to cut off nations not a few. ⁸ For he saith, are not my princes altogether kings? ⁹ Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arphad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? ¹⁰ As my hand hath seized the kingdoms of the idols, whose graven images were superior to those of Samaria and Jerusalem; ¹¹ As I have done unto Samaria and her idols, shall I not likewise do unto Jerusalem, and her images? ¹² But it shall be, when JEHOVAH hath accomplished his whole work upon Mount Sion, and upon Jerusalem; I will punish the effect of the proud heart of the king of Assyria; And the triumphant look of his haughty eyes. ¹³ For he hath said, by the strength of my hand have I done it; And by my wisdom; for I am endowed with prudence. I have removed the bounds of the peoples; And I have plundered their hoarded treasures; And I have brought down those, that were strongly seated. ¹⁴ And my hand hath found, as a nest, the riches of the peoples; And as one gathereth eggs deserted, so have I made a general gathering of the earth: And there was no one, that moved the wing; That opened the beak, or that chirped. ¹⁵ Shall the axe boast itself against him, that heweth therewith? Shall the saw magnify itself against him, that moveth it? As if the rod should wield him, that lifteth it; As if the staff should lift up its master. ¹⁶ Wherefore JEHOVAH the Lord of Hosts shall send upon his fat ones leanness; And under his glory shall he kindle a burning as of a conflagration. ¹⁷ And the light of Israel shall become a fire, and his Holy One a flame; And shall burn, and consume his thorn and his brier in one day. ¹⁸ Even the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, from the soul even to the flesh, shall he consume; And it shall be, as when one fleeth out of the fire. ¹⁹ And the remainder of the trees of his forest shall be a small number, so that a child may write them down. ²⁰And it shall come to pass in that day, no more shall the remnant of Israel, and the escaped of house of Jacob, lean upon him, that smote them: But shall lean upon JEHOVAH, The Holy One of Israel, in truth. ²¹ A remnant shall return, a remnant of Jacob, unto God the Mighty. ²² For though thy people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them only shall return. The consummation decided, overfloweth with strict justice; ²³ For a full and decisive decree shall JEHOVAH the Lord os Hosts accomplish in the midst of the land. ²⁴ Wherefore thus saith JEHOVAH the Lord of Hosts: Fear not, O my people, that dwellest in Sion, because of the Assyrian: With his staff indeed shall he smite thee, and his rod shall he lift up against thee, in the way of Egypt. ²⁵ But yet a very little time, and mine indignation shall cease; And mine anger in their destruction: ²⁶ And JEHOVAH God of Hosts shall raise up against him a scourge, like the stroke upon Midian at the rock of Oreb, and like the rod which he lifted up over the sea; Yea he will lift it up, after the manner of Egypt. ²⁷ And it shall come to pass in that day, his burthen shall be removed from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck: Yea the yoke shall perish from off your shoulders. ²⁸ He is come to Aiath; he hath passed to Migron; At Michmas he will deposit his baggage. ²⁹ They have passed the strait; Geba is their lodging for the night: Ramah is frightened; Gibeah of Saul fleeth. ³⁰ Cry aloud with thy voice, O daughter of Gallim; Hearken unto her, O Laish; answer her, O Anathoth. ³¹ Madmena is gone away; the inhabitants of Gebim flee amain. ³² Yet this day shall he abide in Nob: He shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Sion; Against the hill of Jerusalem. ³³ Behold JEHOVAH, the Lord of Hosts, shall lop the flourishing branch with a dreadful crash; And the high of stature shall be cut down, and the lofty shall be brought low: ³⁴ And he shall hew the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty hand.

CHAPTER 11     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ BUT there shall spring forth a rod from the trunk of Jesse; And a scion from his roots shall become fruitful. ² And the spirit of JEHIVAH shall rest upon him; The spirit of wisdom, and understanding; The spirit of counsel, and strength; The spirit of the knowledge , and the fear of JEHOVAH. ³ And he shall be of quick discernment in the fear of JEHOVAH: So that not according to the sight of his eyes shall he judge; Nor according to the hearing of his ears shall he reprove. ⁴ But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and with equity shall he work conviction in the meek of the earth. And he shall smite the earth with a blast of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked one. ⁵ And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins; And faithfulness the cincture of his reins. ⁶ Then shall the wolf take up his abode with the lamb; And the leopard shall lie down with the kid: And the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling shall come together; And a little child shall lead them. ⁷ And the heifer and the she-bear shall feed together; Together shall their young ones lie down; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. ⁸ And the suckling shall play upon the hole of the aspic; And upon the den of the basilisk shall the new-weaned child lay his hand. ⁹ They shall not hurt, nor destroy, in all my holy mountain; For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of JEHOVAH, as the waters that cover the depths of the sea. ¹⁰ And it shall come to pass in that day, the root of Jesse, which standeth for an ensign to the peoples, unto him shall the nations repair, and his resting-place shall be glorious. ¹¹ And it shall come to pass in that day, JEHOVAH shall again the second time put forth his hand, to recover the remnant of his people that remaineth, from Assyria, and from Egypt; And from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam; And from Shinear, and from Hamath, and from the western regions. ¹² And he shall lift up a signal to the nations; And he shall gather the outcasts of Israel, and the dispersed of Judah shall he collect, from the four extremities of the earth. ¹³ And the jealousy of Ephraim shall cease; And the enmity of Judah shall be no more: Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah; And Judah shall not be at enmity with Ephraim. ¹⁴ But they shall invade the borders of the Philistines westward; Together shall they spoil the children of the east: On Edom and Moab they shall lay their hand; And the sons of Ammon shall obey them. ¹⁵ And JEHOVAH shall smite with a drought the tongue of the Egyptian sea; And he shall shake his hand over the river with his vehement wind; And he shall strike it into seven streams, and make them pass over it dry-shold. ¹⁶ And there shall be a high-way for the remnant of his people, which shall remain from Assyria: As it was unto Israel, in the day when he came up from the land of Egypt.

CHAPTER 12     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ AND in that day thou shalt say: I will give thanks unto thee, O JEHOVAH; for though thou hast been angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou hast comforted me. ² Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid: For my strength, and my song, is JEHOVAH; And he is become unto me salvation. ³ And when ye shall draw waters with joy from the fountains of salvation; ⁴ in that day ye shall say: Give ye thanks to JEHOVAH; call upon his name; Make known among the peoples his mighty deeds: Record ye, how highly his name is exalted. ⁵ Sing ye JEHOVAH; for he hath wrought a stupendous work: This is made manifest in all the earth. ⁶ Cry aloud, and shout for joy, O inhabitress of Sion; For great in the midst of thee is the Holy One of Israel.

CHAPTER 13     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THE ORACLE CONCERNING BABYLON, WHICH WAS REVEALED TO ISAIAH, THE SON OF AMOTS. ² Upon a lofty mountain erect the standard; Exalt the voice; beckon with the hand; That they may enter the gates of princes. ³ I have given a charge to mine enrolled warriors; I have even called my strong ones to execute my wrath; Those that exult in my greatness. ⁴ A sound of a multitude in the mountains, as of a great people; A sound of the tumult of kingdoms, of nations gathered together! JEHOVAH, God of Hosts, mustereth the host for the battle. ⁵ They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens; JEHOVAH, and the instruments of his wrath, to destroy the whole land. ⁶ Howl ye, for the day of JEHOVAH is at hand: As a destruction from the Almighty shall it com. ⁷ Therefore shall all hands be slackened; And every heart of mortal shall melt; and they shall be terrified: ⁸ Torments and pangs shall seize them; As a woman in travail, they shall be pained: They shall look one upon another with astonishment; Their countenances shall be like flames of fire. ⁹ Behold, the day of JEHOVAH cometh, inexorable; Even indignation, and burning wrath: To make the land a desolation; And her sinners he shall destroy from out of her. ¹⁰ Yea the stars of heaven, and the constellations thereof, shall not send forth their light: The sun is darkened at his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. ¹¹ And I will visit the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity: And I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud; And I will bring down the haughtiness of the terrible. ¹² I will make a mortal more precious than fine gold; Yea a man, than the rich ore of Ophir. ¹³ Wherefore I will make the heavens tremble; And the earth shall be shaken out of her place: In the indignation of JEHOVAH God of Hosts; And in the day of his burning anger. ¹⁴ And the remnant shall be as a roe chased; And as sheep, when there is none to gather them together; They shall look, every one towards his own people; And they shall flee every one to his own land. ¹⁵ Every one, that is overtaken, shall be thrust through; And all that are collected in a body shall fall by the sword. ¹⁶ And their infants shall be dashed before their eyes; Their houses shalt be plundered, and their wives ravished. ¹⁷ Behold, I raise up against them the Medes; Who shall hold silver of no account; And as for gold, they shall not delight in it. ¹⁸ Their bows shall dash the young men; And on the fruit of the womb they shall have no mercy; Their eye shall have no pity even on the children. ¹⁹ And Babylon shall become, she that was the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, as the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah by the hand of God. ²⁰It shall not be inhabited for ever; Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: Neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there; Neither shall the shepherds make their folds there. ²¹ But there shall the wild beasts of the deserts lodge; And howling monsters shall fill their houses: And there shall the daughters of the ostrich dwell; And there shall the satyrs hold their revels. ²² And wolves shall howl to one another in their palaces; And dragons in their voluptuous pavilions. And her time is near come; And her days shall not be prolonged.

CHAPTER 14     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ For JEHOVAH will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel. And he shall give them rest upon their own land: And the stranger shall be joined unto them, and shall cleave unto the house of Jacob. ² And the nations shall take them, and bring them into their own place; And the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of JEHOVAH, as servants and as handmaids: And they shall take them captive, whose captives they were; And they shall rule over their oppressors. ³ And it shall come to pass in that day, that JEHOVAH shall give thee rest from thine affliction, and from thy disquiet, and from the hard servitude which was laid upon thee; ⁴ and thou shalt pronounce this parable upon the king of Babylon; and shalt say: How hath the oppressor ceased! the exactress of gold ceased! ⁵ JEHOVAH hath broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers. ⁶ He that smote the peoples in wrath, with a stroke unremitted; He that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. ⁷ The whole earth is at rest, is quiet; they burst forth into a joyful shout: ⁸ Even the fir-trees rejoice over thee, the cedars of Libanus: Since thou art fallen, no feller hath come up against us. ⁹ Hades from beneath is moved because of thee, to meet thee at thy coming: He rouseth for thee the mighty dead, all the great chiefs of the earth; He maketh to rise up from their thrones, all the kings of the nations. ¹⁰ All of them shall accost thee, and shall say unto thee: Art thou, even thou too, become weak as we? art thou made like unto us? ¹¹ Is then thy pride brought down to the grave; the sound of thy sprightly instruments? Is the vermin become thy couch, and the earth-worm thy covering? ¹² How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Art cut down to the earth, thou that didst subdue the nations! ¹³ Yet thou didst say in thy heart: I will ascend the heavens; Above the stars of God I will exalt my throne; And I will sit upon the mount of the divine presence on the sides of the north: ¹⁴ I will ascend above the highths of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. ¹⁵ But thou shalt be brought down to the grave, to the sides of the pit. ¹⁶ Those that see thee shall look attentively at thee; they shall well consider thee: Is this the man, that made the earth to tremble; that shook the kingdoms? ¹⁷ That made the world like a desert; that destroyed the cities? That never dismissed his captives to their own home? ¹⁸ All the kings of the nations, all of them, lie down in glory, each in his own sepulchre: ¹⁹ But thou art cast out of the grave, as the tree abominated; Clothed with the slain, with the pierced by the sword, with them that go down to the stones of the pit; as a trodden carcass. ²⁰ Thou shalt not be joined unto them in burial; Because thou hast destroyed thy country, thou hast slain thy people: The seed of evil doers shall never be renowned. ²¹Prepare ye slaughter for his children, for the iniquity of their fathers; Lest they rise, and possess the earth; and fill the face of the world with cities. ²² For I will arise against them, saith JEHOVAH God of Hosts: And I will cut off from Babylon the name, and the remnant; And the son, and the son’s son, saith JEHOVAH. ²³ And I will make it an inheritance for the porcupine, and pools of water; And I will plunge it in the miry gulf of destruction, saith JEHOVAH God of Hosts. ²⁴ JEHOVAH God of Hosts hath sworn, saying: Surely as I have devised, so shall it be; And as I have purposed, that thing shall stand: ²⁵ To crush the Assyrian in my land, and to trample him on my mountains. Then shall his yoke depart from off them; And his burthen shall be removed from off their shoulder. ²⁶ This is the decree, which is determined on the whole earth; And this the hand, which is stretched out over all the nations: ²⁷ For JEHOVAH God of Hosts hath decreed; and who shall disannul it? And it is his hand that is stretched out; and who shall turn it back? ²⁸ IN THE YEAR IN WHICH AHAZ THE KING DIED, THIS ORACLE WAS DELIVERED. ²⁹ REJOICE not, O Philistia, with one consent, because the rod that smote thee is broken: For from the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk; And his fruit shall be a flying fiery serpent. ³⁰ For the poor shall feed on my choice first-fruits; And the needy shall lie down in security: But he will kill thy root with drought: And thy remnant he will slay.  ³¹ Howl, O gate; cry out, O city! O Philistia, thou art altogether sunk in consternation! For from the north cometh a smoke; And there shall not be a straggler among his levies. ³² And what answer shall be given to the ambassadors of the nations? That JEHOVAH hath laid the foundation of Sion; And the poor of his people shall take refuge in her.

CHAPTER 15     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THE ORACLE CONCERNING MOAB. BECAUSE in the night Ar is destroyed, Moab is undone! Because in the night Kiris destroyed, Moab is undone! He goeth up to Beth-Dibon, to the high places to weep: Over Nebo, and over Medeba, shall Moab howl: On every head there is baldness; every beard is shorn. ³ In her streets they gird themselves with sackcloth: On her house-tops, and to her open places, every one howleth, descendeth with weeping. ⁴And Heshbon and Eleale cry out aloud; Unto Jahats is their voice heard: Yea the very loins of Moab cry out; Her life is grievous unto her. ⁵ The heart of Moab crieth within her; To Tsoar [she crieth out] like the lowing of a young heifer: Yea the ascent of Luhith with weeping shall they ascend; Yea in the way of Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction. ⁶ For the waters of Nimrim shall become desolate: For the pasture is withered, the tender plant faileth, the green herb is no more. ⁷ Wherefore the riches, which they have gained, shall perish; And what they have deposited, to the valley of willows shall be carried away. ⁸ For the cry encompasseth the border of Moab: To Eglaim reacheth her moan; and to Beer-Elim her howling. ⁹ Yea the waters of Dimon are full of blood: Yet will I bring more evils upon Dimon; Upon the escaped of Moab and Ariel, and the remnant of Admah.

CHAPTER 16     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ I will send forth the son of the ruler of the land, from Selah of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion. ² And as wandering birds, driven from the nest, so shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of Arnon. ³ Impart counsel; interpose with equity; Make thy shadows as the night in the midst of noon-day. Hide the outcasts; discover not the fugitive. ⁴ Let the outcasts of Moab sojourn with thee, [O Sion]; Be thou to them a covert from the destroyer. For the oppressor is no more, the destroyer ceaseth; He that trampled you under foot is perished from the land. ⁵ And the throne shall be established in mercy, and in truth shall One sit thereon; In the tabernacle of David a judge; Carefully searching out the right, and dispatching justice. ⁶ We have heard the pride of Moab; he is very proud; His haughtiness, and his pride, and his anger: vain are his lies. ⁷ Therefore shall Moab lament aloud; For the whole people of Moab shall he lament; For the men of Kirhares shall ye make a moan. ⁸ For the fields of Heshbon are put to shame; The vine of Sibmah languisheth, whose generous shoots overpowered the mighty lords of the nations; They reached unto Jazer: they strayed to the desert; Her branches extended themselves, they passed over the sea. ⁹ Wherefore I will weep, as with the weeping of Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah; I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh! For upon thy summer fruits, and upon thy vintage, the destroyer hath fallen. ¹⁰ And joy and gladness is taken away from the fruitful field; And in the vineyards they shall not sing, they shall not shout: In the vats the treader shall not tread out the wine; An end is put to the shouting. ¹¹ Wherefore my bowels for Moab like a harp shall sound; And my entrails for Kirhares. ¹² And it shall be, when Moab shall see, that he hath wearied himself out on the high place, that he shall enter his sanctuary, to intercede: but he shall not prevail. ¹³ This is the word, which JEHOVAH spake concerning. ¹⁴ Moab long ago; but now JEHOVAH hath spoken, saying: After three years, as the years of an hireling, the glory of Moab shall be debased, in all his great multitude; And the remnant shall be few, small, and without strength.

CHAPTER 17     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THE ORACLE CONCERNING DAMASCUS. BEHOLD Damascus is removed, so as to be no more a city: It shall even become a ruinous heap. ² The cities are deserted for ever; They shall be given up to the flocks, and they shall lie down, and none shall scare them away. ³ And the fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus: And the pride of Syria shall be as the glory of the sons of Israel; Saith JEHOVAH the God of Hosts. ⁴ And it shall come to pass in that day, the glory of Jacob shall be diminished, and the fatness of his flesh shall become lean. ⁵And it shall be, as when one gathereth the standing harvest, and his arm reapeth the ears of corn: Or as when one gleaneth ears in the valley of Rephaim. ⁶ A gleaning shall be left in it, as in the shaking of the olive tree; Two or three berries on the top of the uppermost bough; Four or five on the straggling fruitful branehes: Saith JEHOVAH the God of Israel. ⁷ In that day shall a man regard his Maker, and toward the Holy One of Israel shall his eyes look: ⁸ And he shall not regard the altars dedicated to the work of his hands; And what his fingers have made, he shall not respect; Nor the groves, nor the solar statues. ⁹ In that day shall his strongly fenced cities become like the desertion of the Hivites and the Amorites, when they deserted the land before the face of the sons of Israel; And the land shall become a desolation. ¹⁰ Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not remembered the rock of thy strength; Therefore, when thou shalt have planted pleasant plants, and shalt have set shoots from a foreign soil; ¹¹ In the day when thou shalt have made thy plants to grow, and in the morning, when thou shalt have made thy shoots to spring forth; Even in the day of possession shall the harvest be taken away, and there shall be sorrow without hope. ¹² Wo to the multitude of the numerous peoples, who make a sound like the sound of the seas: Ans to the roaring of the nations, who make a roaring like the roaring of mighty waters. ¹³ Like the roaring of mighty waters do the nations roar; But he shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far away; And they shall be driven like the chaff of the hills before the wind, and like the gossamer before the whirlwind. ¹⁴ At the season of evening, behold terror! Before the morning, and he is no more! This is the portion of those that spoil us; And the lot of those that plunder us.

CHAPTER 18     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ Ho! to the land of the winged cymbal, which borders on the rivers of Cush; ² Which sendeth ambassadors on the sea, and in vessels of papyrus on the face of the waters. Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation stretched out in length, and smoothed; to a people terrible from the first, and hitherto; A nation meted out by line, and trodden down; Whose land the rivers have nourished. ³ Yea, all ye that inhabit the world, and that dwell on the earth, when the standard is lifted up on the mountains, behold! And when the trumpet is sounded, hear! ⁴ For thus hath JEHOVAH said unto me: I will sit still, and regard my fixed habitation; Like the clear heat after rain, like the dewy cloud in the day of harvest. ⁵ Surely before the vintage, when the bud is perfect, and the blossom is become a swelling grape; He shall cut off the shoots with pruning-hooks, and the branches he shall take away, he shall cut down. ⁶ They shall be left together to the rapacious bird of the mountains; And to the wild beasts of the earth: And the rapacious bird shall summer upon it; And every wild beast of the earth shall winter upon it. ⁷ At that time shall a gift be brought to JEHOVAH thr God of Hosts, from a people stretched out in length, and smoothed; A nation meted out by line, and trodden down; And from a people terrible from the first, and hitherto; Whose land the rivers have nourished; To the place of the name of JEHOVAH God of Hosts, to Mount Sion.

CHAPTER 19     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THE ORACLE CONCERNING EGYPT. BEHOLD, JEHOVAH rideth on a swift cloud, and cometh to Egypt! And the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence; And the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of her. ² And I will excite Egyptians against Egyptians, and they shall fight, every man against his brother, and every man against his neighbour: City against city, kingdom against kingdom. ³ And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst of her; And I will swallow up her counsel: And they shall seek to the idols, and to the sorcerers, and to the necromancers, and to the wizards. ⁴ And I will give up Egypt bound into the hands of cruel lords, and a fierce king shall rule over them; Saith the Lord JEHOVAH God of Hosts. ⁵ Then shall the waters fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. ⁶ And the streams shall become putrid; The canals of Egypt shall be emptied and dried up. The reed and the lotus shall wither: ⁷ The meadow by the canal, even at the mouth of the canal, and all that is sown by the canal, shall wither, be blasted, and be no more. ⁸ And the fishers shall mourn, and lament; All those that cast the hook in the river. And those that spread nets on the face of the waters, shall languish. ⁹ And they that work the fine flax shall be confounded, and they that weave net-work. ¹⁰ And her stores shall be broken up, even of all that make a gain of pools for fish. ¹¹ Surely, the princes of Zoan are fools; The wise counsellors of Pharaoh have counselled a brutish counsel. How will ye boast unto Pharaoh: I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? ¹² Where are they; where, thy wise men? Let them come; And let them tell thee now, and let them declare, what JEHOVAH God of Hosts hath determined against Egypt. ¹³ The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; They have caused Egypt to err, even the chief pillars of her tribes. ¹⁴ JEHOVAH hath mingled in the midst of them a spirit of giddiness; And they have caused Egypt to err in all her works, as a drunkard staggereth in his vomit: ¹⁵ Nor shall there be any work in Egypt, which the head or tail, the branch or rush, may perform. ¹⁶ In that day the Egyptians shall be as women: And they shall tremble and fear, at the shaking of the hand of JEHOVAH God of Hosts, which he shall shake over them. ¹⁷ And the land of Judah shall become a terror to the Egyptians: If any one mention it unto them, they shall fear; Because of the counsel of JEHOVAH God of Hosts, which he hath counselled against them. ¹⁸ In that day, there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt, speaking the language of Cannan, and swearing unto JEHOVAH God of Hosts: One of them shall be called the City of the Sun. ¹⁹ In that day, there shall be an altar to JEHOVAH in the midst of the land of Egypt; And a pillar by the border thereof to JEHOVAH: ²⁰ And it shall be for a sign, and for a witness, to JEHOVAH God of Hosts in the land of Egypt: That, when they cried unto JEHOVAH because of oppressors, he sent unto them a saviour, and a vindicator, and he delivered them. ²¹ And JEHOVAH shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know JEHOVAH in that day; And they shall serve him with sacrifice and oblation, and they shall vow a vow unto JEHOVAH, and shall perform it. ²² And JEHOVAH shall smite Egypt, smiting and healing her; And they shall turn unto JEHOVAH, and he will be entreated by them, and will heal them. ²³ In that day, there shall be a high-way from Egypt to Assyria; And the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria: And the Egyptian shall worship with the Assyrian. ²⁴ In that day, Israel shall be reckoned a third, together with Egypt and Assyria; A blessing in the midst of the earth: ²⁵ Whom JEHOVAH God of Hosts hath blessed, saying: Blessed be my people, Egypt; And Assyria, the work of my hands; And Israel, mine inheritance.

CHAPTER 20     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ In the year that Tharthan marched to Ashdod; whither he was sent by Sargon king of Assyria; (and he fought against Ashdod, and took it); ² at that time JEHOVAH spake by Isaiah, the son of Amots, saying: Go, loose the sackcloth from off thy loins; And put off thy shoes from thy feet. ³ And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And JEHOVAH said: As my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot; A sign and a prodigy of three years, upon Egypt and upon Cush: ⁴ So shall the king of Assyria lead the captives of Egypt, and the exiles of Cush, the young and the old, naked and barefoot; With their  hind-parts discovered, to the shame of the Egyptians. ⁵ And they [of Ashdod] shall be terrified, and ashamed of Cush in whom they trusted, and of Egypt, in whom they gloried. ⁶ And the inhabitant of this country shall say, in that day: Behold, such is the object of our trust, to whom we fled for succour, that we might be delivered from the king of Assyria! How then shall we escape?

CHAPTER 21     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THE ORACLE CONCERNING THE DESERT OF THE SEA. LIKE the southern tempests violently rushing along, from the desert he cometh, from the terrible country. ² A dreadful vision! it is revealed unto me: The plunderer is plundered, and the destroyer is destroyed! Go up, O Elam; from the siege, O Media! I have put an end to all her vexations. ³ Therefore are my loins filled with pain: Anguish hath seized me, as the anguish of a woman in travail. I am convulsed, so that I cannot hear; I am astonished, so that I cannot see. ⁴ My heart is bewildered; terrors have scared me: The evening, for which I longed, hath he turned into horror. ⁵ The table is prepared, the watch is set; they eat, they drink: Rise, O ye princes; anoint the shield. ⁶ For thus hath the Lord said unto me: Go, set a watchman on his station; Whatever he shall see, let him report unto thee. ⁷ And he saw a chariot with two riders; A rider on an ass, a rider on a camel. And he observed diligently with extreme diligence. ⁸ And he that looked out on the watch cried aloud: O my Lord, I keep my station all the day long; And on my ward have I continued every night. ⁹ And behold, here cometh a man, one of the two riders: And he answereth, and sayeth, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; And all the graven idols of her gods are broken to the ground. ¹⁰ O my threshing, and the corn of my floor! What I have heard from JEHOVAH God of Hosts, the God of Israel, that I have declared unto you. ¹¹ THE ORACLE CONCERNING DUMAH. A VOICE crieth unto me from Seir: Watchman, what from the night? Watchman, what from the night? ¹² The watchman replieth: The morning cometh, and also the night. If ye will inquire, inquire ye: come again. ¹³ THE ORACLE CONCERNING ARABIA. IN the forest, at even, shall ye lodge, O ye caravans of Dedan! ¹⁴ To meet the thirsty bring ye forth water, O inhabitants of the southern country; With bread prevent the fugitive. ¹⁵ For from the face of the sword they shall flee: From the face of the drawn sword; And from the face of the bended bow; And from the face of the grievous war. ¹⁶ For thus hath the Lord said unto me: Within yet a year, as the years of an hireling, shall all the glory of Kedar be consumed; ¹⁷ And the remainder of the number of the mighty bowmen, of the sons of Kedar, shall be diminished: For JEHOVAH the God of Israel hath spoken it.

CHAPTER 22     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THE ORACLE CONCERNING THE VALLEY OF VISION. WHAT aileth now, that all thine inhabitants are gone up to the house-tops? ² O thou, that wast full of noise, a tumultuous city, a joyous city! Thy slain were not slain by the sword, neither did they die in battle. ³ All thy leaders are gone off together; they are fled from the bow; All that were found in thee are fled together, they are gone far away. ⁴ Wherefore I said: Turn away from me; I will weep bitterly: Strive not to comfort me for the desolation of the daughter of my people. ⁵ For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity; The day of the Lord JEHOVAH God of Hosts in the valley of vision: Breaking down the wall, and crying to the mountain. ⁶ And Elam beareth the quiver; With chariots cometh the Syrian, and with horsemen; And Kir uncovereth the shield. ⁷ And thy choicest valleys shall be filled with chariots; And the horsemen shall set themselves in array against the gate; ⁸ And the barrier of Judah shall be laid open: Then thou shalt look towards the arsenal of the house of the forest. ⁹And the breaches of the city of David, ye shall see that they are many; And ye shall collect the waters of the lower pool; ¹⁰ And the houses of Jerusalem ye shall number; And ye shall break down the houses to fortify the rampart: ¹¹ And ye shall make a lake between the two walls, to receive the waters of the old pool. But ye look not to him, that hath disposed this: And him that formed it of old, ye regard not. ¹² And the Lord JEHOVAH God of Hosts called in that day, to weeping, and to lamentation; And to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: ¹³ But, behold, joy and gladness, slaying of oxen, and killing of sheep; Eating of flesh, and drinking of wine: Let us eat, and drink; for tomorrow we die. ¹⁴ And the voice of JEHOVAH God of Hosts was revealed to mine ears: Surely this your iniquity shall not be expiated, till ye die, saith the Lord JEHOVAH God of Hosts. ¹⁵ THUS saith the Lord JEHOVAH God of Hosts: Go, get thee to this treasurer, unto Shebna, who is over the household; and say unto him: ¹⁶ What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here? That thou hast hewn out here a sepulchre for thyself? O thou that hewest out thy sepulchre on high, that gravest in the rock an habitation for thyself! ¹⁷ Behold JEHOVAH will cast thee out, casting thee violently out, and will surely cover thee: ¹⁸ He will whirl thee round and round, and cast thee away, like a ball [from a sling] into a wide country: There shalt thou die; and there shall thy glorious chariots become the shame of the house of thy lord. ¹⁹ And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state will I overthrow thee. ²⁰ And in that day I will call my servant, even Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: ²¹ And I will clothe him with thy robe, and with thy baldric will I strengthen him: And thy government will I commit to his hand; And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah: ²² And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder; And he shall open, and none shall shut; And he shall shut, and none shall open. ²³ And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; And he shall become a glorious seat for his father’s house. ²⁴ And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring of high and of low degree; Every small vessel; from every sort of goblets, to every sort of meaner vessels. ²⁵ In that day, saith JEHOVAH God of Hosts, the nail once fastened in a sure place shall be moved; And it shall be hewn down, and it shall fall; And the burthen which was upon it, shall be cut off: For JEHOVAH hath spoken it. 

CHAPTER 23     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THE ORACLE CONCERNING TYRE. HOWL, O ye ships of Tarshish! For she is utterly destroyed both within and without: From the land of Chittim the tidings are brought unto them. ² Be silent, O ye inhabitants of the sea-coast: The merchants of Sidon, they that pass over the sea, crowded thee. ³ And the seed of the Nile, growing from abundant waters; The harvest of the river, was her revenue: And she became the mart of the nations. ⁴ Be thou ashamed, O Sidon; for the sea hath spoken, even the mighty fortress of the sea, saying: I am as if I had not travailed, nor brought forth children; As if I had not nourished youths, nor educated virgins. ⁵ When the tidings shall reach Egypt, they shall be seized with anguish at the tidings of Tyre. ⁶ Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, O ye inhabitants of the sea-coast! ⁷ Is this your triumphant city; whose antiquity is of the earliest date? Her own feet bear her far away to sojourn. ⁸ Who hath purposed this against Tyre, who dispensed crowns; whose merchants were princes; whose traders were nobles of the land? ⁹ JEHOVAH God of Hosts had counselled it; To stain the pride of all beauty; To make contemptible all the nobles of the earth. ¹⁰ Overflow thy land, like a river, O daughter of Tarshish; the mound [that kept in thy waters] is no more. ¹¹ He hath stretched his hand over the sea; he hath shaken the kingdoms: JEHOVAH hath issued a command concerning Canaan, that they should destroy her strong places. ¹² And he hath said: Thou shalt triumph no more, O thou defloured virgin, the daughter of Sidon! To Chittim arise, pass over; even there thou shalt have no rest. ¹³ Behold the land of the Chaldeans; This people was of no account; (The Assyrian founded it for the inhabitants of the desert; They raised the watch-towers, they set up the palaces thereof): This people hath reduced her to a ruin. ¹⁴ Howl, O ye ships of Tarshish; for your stronghold is destroyed. ¹⁵ And it shall come to pass in that day; That Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: At the end of seventy years, Tyre shall sing, as the harlot singeth. ¹⁶ Take thy lyre, go about the city, O harlot long forgotten; Strike the lyre artfully; multiply the song; that thou mayest again be remembered. ¹⁷ And at the end of seventy years, JEHOVAH will take account of Tyre: And she shall return to her gainful practice; And she shall play the harlot with all the kingdom of the world, that are upon the face of the earth. ¹⁸ But her traffic, and her gain, shall be holy to JEHOVAH: It shall not be treasured, nor shall it be kept in store; For her traffic shall be for them, that dwell before JEHOVAH, for food sufficient, and for durable clothing. 

CHAPTER 24     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ BEHOLD, JEHOVAH emptieth the land, and maketh it waste; He even turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants. ² And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; As with the servant, so with his master; As with the handmaid, so with her mistress; As with the buyer, so with the seller; As with the borrower, so with the lender; As with the usurer, so with the giver of usury. ³ The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; For JEHOVAH hath spoken this word. ⁴ The land mourneth, it withereth; The world languisheth, it withereth; The lofty people of the land do languish. ⁵ The land is even polluted under her inhabitants; For they have transgressed the law, they have changed the decree; ⁶ They have broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath a curse devoured the land; Because they are guilty, that dwell in her. Therefore are the inhabitants of the land destroyed; And few are the mortals that are left in her. ⁷ The new wine mourneth; the vine languisheth; All, that were glad of heart, sigh. ⁸ The joyful sound of the tabour ceaseth; The noise of exultation is no more; The joyful sound of the harp ceaseth: ⁹ With songs they shall no more drink wine; The palm-wine shall be bitter to them that drink it. ¹⁰ The city is broken down; it is desolate: Every house is obstructed, so that no one can enter. ¹¹ There is a cry in the streets for wine; All gladness is passed away; The joy of the whole land is banished. ¹² Desolation is left in the city; And with a great tumult the gate is battered down. ¹³ Yea thus shall it be in the very centre of the land, in the midst of the people; As the shaking of the olive; as the gleaning, when the vintage is finished. ¹⁴ But these shall lift up their voice, they shall sing; The waters shall resound with the exaltation of JEHOVAH. ¹⁵ Wherefore in the distant coasts, glorify ye JEHOVAH; In the distant coasts of the sea, the name of JEHOVAH, the God of Israel. ¹⁶ From the uttermost part of the land, we have heard songs, Glory to the righteous! But I said, Alas, my wretchedness, my wretchedness! Wo is me! the plunderers plunder; Yea the plunderers still continue their cruel depredations. ¹⁷ The terror, the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the land: ¹⁸ And it shall be, that whoso fleeth from the terror, he shall fall into the pit; And whoso escapeth from the pit, he shall be taken in the snare: For the flood-gates from on high are opened; And the foundations of the earth tremble. ¹⁹ The land is grievously shaken; The land is utterly shattered to pieces; The land is violently shaken out of its place; ²⁰The land reeleth to and fro like a drunkard; And moveth this way and that, like a lodge for a night. For her iniquity lieth heavy upon her; And she shall fall, and rise no more. ²¹ And it shall come to pass in that day, JEHOVAH shall summon on high the host that is on high; And on earth the kings of the earth: And they shall be gathered together, as in a bundle for the pit; ²² And shall be closely imprisoned in the prison: And after many days, account shall be taken of them. ²³ And the moon shall be confounded, and the sun shall be ashamed; For JEHOVAH God of Hosts shall reign on Mount Sion, and in Jerusalem; And before his ancients shall he be glorified. 

CHAPTER 25     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ O JEHOVAH, thou art my God: I will exalt thee; I will praise thy name: For thou hast effected wonderful things; Counsels of old time, promises immutably true. ² For thou hast made the city an heap; The strongly fortified citadel a ruin: The palace of the proud ones, that it should be no more a city; That it never should be built up again. ³ Therefore shall the fierce people glorify thee; The city of the formidable nations shall fear thee; ⁴ For thou hast been a defence to the poor; A defence to the needy in his distress: A refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat; When the blast of the formidable rages like a winter storm. ⁵ As the heat in a parched land, the tumult of the proud shalt thou bring low; As the heat by a thick cloud, the triumph of the formidable shall be humbled. ⁶ And JEHOVAH God of Hosts shall make, for all the peoples, in this mountain, a feast of delicacies, a feast of old wines: Of delicacies exquisitely rich, of old wines perfectly refined. ⁷ And on this mountain shall he destroy the covering, that covered the face of all the peoples; And the vail, that was spread over all the nations. ⁸ He shall utterly destroy death forever; And the Lord JEHOVAH shall wipe away the tear from off all faces; And the reproach of his people shall he remove from off the whole earth: For JEHOVAH hath spoken it. ⁹ In that day shall they say: Behold, this is our God; We have trusted in him, and he hath saved us: This is JEHOVAH; we have trusted in him; We will rejoice, and triumph, in his salvation. ¹⁰ For the hand of JEHOVAH shall give rest upon this mountain; And Moab shall be threshed in his place, as the straw is threshed under the wheels of the car. ¹¹ And he shall stretch out his hands in the midst thereof, as he, that sinketh, stretcheth out his hands to swim: But God shall bring down his pride with the sudden gripe of his hands. ¹² And the bulwark of thy high walls shall he lay low: He shall bring them down to the ground; he shall lay them in the dust.

CHAPTER 26     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ IN that day shall this song be sung: In the land of Judah we have a strong city; Salvation shall he establish for walls and bulwarks. ² Open ye the gates, and let the righteous nation enter; ³ Constant in the truth, stayed in mind: Thou shalt preserve them in perpetual peace, because they have trusted in thee. ⁴ Trust ye in JEHOVAH for ever; For in JEHOVAH is never-failing protection. ⁵ For he hath humbled those, that dwell on high; The lofty city, he hath brought her down; He hath brought her down to the ground: He hath levelled her with the dust. ⁶ The foot shall trample upon her; The feet of the poor, the steps of the needy. ⁷ The way of the righteous is perfectly straight; Thou most exactly levellest the path of the righteous. ⁸ Even in the way of thy laws, O JEHOVAH, we have placed our confidence in thy name; And in the remembrance of thee is the desire of our soul. ⁹ With my soul have I desired thee in the night; Yea with my inmost spirit in the morn have I sought thee. For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. ¹⁰ Though mercy be shewn to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: In the very land of rectitude he will deal perversely; And will not regard the majesty of JEHOVAH. ¹¹ JEHOVAH, thy hand is lifted up, yet will they not see: But they shall see, with confusion, thy zeal for thy people; Yea the fire shall burn up thine adversaries. ¹² JEHOVAH, thou wilt ordain for us peace: For even all our mighty deeds thou hast performed for us. ¹³ O JEHOVAH, our God! Other lords, exclusive of thee, have had dominion over us: Thee only, and thy name, henceforth will we celebrate. ¹⁴ They are dead, they shall not live; They are deceased tyrants, they shall not rise. Therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them; And all memorial of them thou hast abolished. ¹⁵ Thou hast added to the nation, O JEHOVAH; Thou hast added to the nation; thou art glorified: Thou hast extended far all the borders of the land. ¹⁶ O JEHOVAH, in affliction have we sought thee; We have poured out humble supplication, when thy chastisement was upon us. ¹⁷ As a woman, that hath conceived, when her delivery approacheth, is in anguish, crieth out aloud, in her travail; Thus have we been before thee, O JEHOVAH. ¹⁸ We have conceived; we have been in anguish; we have, as it were, brought forth wind: Salvation is not wrought in the land; Neither are the inhabitants of the world fallen. ¹⁹ Thy dead shall live; my deceased, they shall rise: Awake, and sing, ye that dwell in the dust! For thy dew is as the dew of the dawn; But the earth shall cast forth, as an abortion, the deceased tyrants. ²⁰ Come, O my people; retire into thy secret apartments; And shut thy door after thee: Hide thyself for a little while, for a moment; Until the indignation shall have passed away. ²¹ For behold, JEHOVAH issueth forth from his place; To punish for his iniquity the inhabitant of the earth: And the earth shall disclose the blood that is upon her; And shall no longer cover her slain.

CHAPTER 27     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ In that day shall JEHOVAH punish with his sword; His well-tempered, and great, and strong sword; Leviathan the rigid serpent, and Leviathan the winding serpent: And shall slay the monster, that is in the sea. ² IN that day, to the beloved Vineyard, sing ye a responsive song. ³ J. It is I, JEHOVAH, that preserve her: I will water her every moment; I will take care of her by night; And by day I will keep guard over her. ⁴ V. I have no wall for my defence: O that I had a fence of the thorn and brier! J. Against them should I march in battle, I should burn them up together. ⁵ Ah! let her rather take hold of my protection. V. Let him make peace with me! Peace let him make with me! ⁶ J. They that come from the root of Jacob shall flourish, Israel shall bud forth; And they shall fill the face of the world with fruit. ⁷ Hath he smitten him, as he smiteth those that smote him? And like the slaughter of those, that slew him, is he slain? ⁸ In just measure, when thou inflictest the stroke, wilt thou debate with her; With due deliberation, even in the rough tempest, in the day of the east wind. ⁹ Wherefore on this condition shall the iniquity of Jacob be expiated; And so shall he reap the whole benefit of the removal of his sin; If he shall render all the stones of the altar, like the limestones scattered abroad; And if the groves and the images rise no more. ¹⁰ But the strongly fortified city shall be desolate; An habitation forsaken, and deserted as a wilderness. There shall the bullock feed, and there shall he lie down; And he shall browse on the tender shoots thereof. ¹¹ When her boughs are withered, they shall be broken: Women shall come, and set them on a blaze. Surely it is a people void of understanding; Wherefore he, that made him, shall not have pity on him; And he, that formed him, shall shew him no favour. ¹² And it shall come to pass in that day, JEHOVAH shall make a gathering of his fruit, from the flood of the river, to the stream of Egypt; And ye shall be gleaned up, one by one, O ye sons of Israel. ¹³ And it shall come to pass in that day, the great trumpet shall be sounded; And those shall come, who were perishing in the land of Assyria; And who were dispersed in the land of Egypt: And they shall bow themselves down before JEHOVAH, In the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 28     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ Wo to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of their glorious beauty! To those, that are at the head of the rich valley, that are stupefied with wine! ² Behold the mighty one, the exceedingly strong one! Like a storm of hail, like a destructive tempest; Like a rapid flood of mighty waters pouring down; He shall dash them to the ground with his hand. ³ They shall be trodden under foot, the proud crowns of the drunkards of Ephraim: ⁴ And the fading flower of their glorious beauty, which is at the head of the rich valley, shall be as the early fruit before the summer; Which whoso seeth, he plucketh it immediately; And it is no sooner in his hand, than he swalloweth it. ⁵ In that day shall JEHOVAH God of Hosts become a beauteous crown, and a glorious diadem, to the remnant of his people: ⁶ And a spirit of judgment, to them that sit in judgment; And strength to them, that repell the war to the gate [of the enemy]. ⁷ But even these have erred through wine, and through strong drink they have reeled; The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; They are overwhelmed with wine; they have reeled through strong drink: They have erred in vision, they have stumbled in judgment. ⁸ For all their tables are full of vomit; Of filthiness, so that no place is free. ⁹ “Whom [say they] would he teach knowledge; and to whom would he impart instruction? To such as are weaned from the milk, as are kept back from the breast? ¹⁰ For it is command upon command; command upon command; Line upon line; line upon line: A little here, and a little there.” ¹¹ Yea verily, with a stammering lip, and a strange tongue, he shall speak unto this people. ¹² For when he said unto them: This is the true rest; give ye rest unto the weary; And this is the refreshment; they would not hear. ¹³ Therefore shall the word of JEHOVAH be indeed unto them, command upon command, command upon command; Line upon line, line upon line; A little here, and a little there: That they may go on, and fall backward; And be broken, and snared, and caught. ¹⁴ Wherefore hear ye the word of JEHOVAH, ye scoffers; Ye of this people in Jerusalem, who utter sententious speeches: ¹⁵ Who say, we have entered into a covenant with death; And with the grave we have made a treaty: The overflowing plague, when it passeth through, shall not reach us: For we have made falsehood our refuge; And under deceit we have hidden ourselves. ¹⁶ Wherefore thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH: Behold, I lay in Sion for a foundation a stone, an approved stone; A corner-stone, precious, immoveably fixed: He, that trusteth in him, shall not be confounded. ¹⁷ And I will mete out judgment by the rule; And strict justice, by the plummet: And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of falsehood; And the hiding-place the waters shall overwhelm. ¹⁸ And your covenant with death shall be broken; And your treaty with the grave shall not stand: When the overflowing plague passeth through, by it shall ye be beaten down. ¹⁹ As soon as it passeth through, shall it seize you; Yea morning after morning shall it pass through, by day and by night; And even the report alone shall cause terror. ²⁰For the bed is too short, for one to stretch himself out at length; And the covering is too narrow, for one to gather himself up under it. ²¹ For as in Mount Peratsim, JEHOVAH will arise; As in the valley of Gibeon, shall he be moved with anger; That he may execute his work, his strange work; And effect his operation, his unusual operation. ²² And new, give yourselves up to scoffing no more, lest your chastisements become more severe: For a full and decisive decree have I heard, from the Lord JEHOVAH God of Hosts, on the whole land. ²³ Listen ye, and hear my voice; Attend, and hearken unto my words. ²⁴ Doth the husbandman plough every day that he may sow, opening, and breaking the clods of his field? ²⁵ When he hath made even the face thereof, doth not he then scatter the dill, and cast abroad the cummin; And sow the wheat in due measure; And the barley, and the rye, hath its appointed limit? ²⁶ For his God rightly instructeth him; he furnisheth him with knowledge. ²⁷ The dill is not beaten out with the corn-drag; Nor is the wheel of the wain made to turn upon the cummin: But the dill is beaten out with the staff; ²⁸ And the cummin with the flail: but the bread-corn with the threshing-wain. But not for ever will he continue thus to thresh it; Nor to vex it with the wheel of his wain; Nor to bruise it with the hoofs of his cattle. ²⁹ This also proceedeth from JEHOVAH God of Hosts: He sheweth himself wonderful in counsel, great in operation.

CHAPTER 29     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ Wo to Ariel, to Ariel, the city which David besieged! Add year to year; let the feasts go round in their course. ² Yet will I bring distress upon Ariel; And there shall be continual mourning and sorrow: And it shall be unto me as the hearth of the great altar. ³ And I will encamp against thee, like David; And I will lay siege against thee with a mound; And I will erect towers against thee. ⁴ And thou shalt be brought low; thou shalt speak as from beneath the earth: And from out of the dust thou shalt utter a feeble speech; And thy voice shall come out of the ground, like that of a necromancer: And thy words from out of the dust shall give a small shrill sound. ⁵ But the multitude of the proud shall be like the small dust; And like the flitting chaff the multitude of the terrible: Yea, the effect shall be momentary, in an instant. ⁶ From JEHOVAH God of Hosts there shall be a sudden visitation, with thunder, and earthquake, and a mighty voice; With storm, and tempest, and flame of devouring fire. ⁷ And like as a dream, a vision of the night, so shall it be with the multitude of all the nations, that fight against Ariel; And all their armies, and their towers, and those that distress her. ⁸ As when a hungry man dreameth; and lo! he seemeth to eat; But he awaketh, and his appetite is still unsatisfied: And as a thirsty man dreameth; and lo! he seemeth to drink; But he awaketh, and he is still faint, and his appetite still craving: So shall it be with the multitude of all the nations, which have set themselves in array against Mount Sion. ⁹ They are struck with amazement, they stand astonished; They stare with a look of stupid surprise: They are drunken, but not with wine; They stagger, but not with strong drink. ¹⁰ For JEHOVAH hath poured upon you a spirit of profound sleep; And hath closed up your eyes; The prophets, and the rulers; the seers hath he blindfolded. ¹¹ So that all the vision is to you, as the words of a book sealed up; Which if one delivers to a man, that knoweth letters, saying, Read this, I pray thee; He answereth, I cannot read it; for it is sealed up: ¹² Or should the book be given to one, that knoweth not letters, saying, Read this, I pray thee; He answereth, I know not letters. ¹³ Wherefore JEHOVAH hath said: Forasmuch as this people draweth near with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, while their heart is far from me; And vain is their fear of me, teaching the commandments of men: ¹⁴Therefore behold, I will again deal with this people, in a manner so wonderful and astonishing; That the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the prudence of the prudent shall disappear. ¹⁵ Wo unto them, that are too deep for JEHOVAH in forming secret designs; Whose deeds are in the dark; and who say, who is there, that seeth us; and who shall know us? ¹⁶ Perverse as ye are! shall the potter be esteemed as the clay? Shall the work say of the workman, He hath not made me? And shall the thing formed say of the former of it, He hath no understanding? ¹⁷ Shall it not be but a very short space, ere Lebanon become like Carmel, and Carmel appear like a desert? ¹⁸ Then shall the deaf hear the words of the book; And the eyes of the blind, covered before with clouds and darkness, shall see. ¹⁹ The meek shall increase their joy in JEHOVAH; And the needy shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. ²⁰ For the terrible one faileth, the scoffer is no more; And all that were vigilant in iniquity are utterly cut off. ²¹ Who bewildered the poor man in speaking; And laid snares for him, that pleaded in the gate; And with falsehood subverted the righteous. ²² Therefore thus saith JEHOVAH the God of the house of Jacob, he who redeemed Abraham: Jacob shall no more be ashamed; His face shall no more be covered with confusion: ²³ For when his children shall see the work of my hands, among themselves shall they sanctify my name: They shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and tremble before the God of Israel. ²⁴ Those, that were led away with the spirit of error, shall gain knowledge; And the malignant shall attend to instruction.

CHAPTER 30      (Selectează capitolul)

¹ Wo unto the rebellious children, saith JEHOVAH; Who form counsels, but not from me; Who ratify covenants, but not by my spirit: That they may add sin to sin. ² Who set forward to go down to Egypt; But have not inquired at my mouth: To strengthen themselves with the strength of Pharaoh; And to trust in the shadow of Egypt. ³ But the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame; And your trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. ⁴ Their princes were at Tsoan; And their ambassadors arrived at Hanes: ⁵ They were all ashamed of a people, that profited them not; Who were of no help, and of no profit; But proved even a shame, and a reproach unto them. ⁶ The burthen of the beasts travelling southward, through a land of distress and difficulty: Whence come forth the lioness, and the fierce lion; The viper, and the flying fiery serpent: They carry on the shoulder of the young cattle their wealth; And on the bunch of the camel their treasures: To a people, that will not profit them. ⁷ For Egypt is a mere vapour; in vain shall they help: Wherefore have I called her, Rahab the inactive. ⁸ Go now, write it before them on a tablet; And record it in letters upon a book: That it may be for future times; For a testimony for ever. ⁹ For this is a rebellious people, lying children; Children who choose not to hear the law of JEHOVAH: ¹⁰ Who say to the seers, See not; And to the prophets, Prophesy not right things: Speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits. ¹¹ Turn aside from the way; decline from the straight path; Remove from our sight the Holy One of Israel. ¹² Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel: Because ye have rejected this word; And have trusted in obliquity, and perversion; And have leaned entirely upon it: ¹³ Therefore shall this offence be unto you, like a breach threatening ruin; a swelling in a high wall; Whose destruction cometh suddenly, in an instant. ¹⁴ It shall be broken, as when one breaketh a potter’s vessel: He dasheth it to pieces, and spareth it not; So that there shall not be found a sherd among its fragments, to take up fire from the hearth, or to dip up water from the cistern. ¹⁵ Verily thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH, the Holy one of Israel: By turning from your ways, and by abiding quiet, ye shall be saved; In silence, and in pious confidence, shall be your strength: But ye would not hearken. ¹⁶ And ye said: Nay, but on horses will we flee; Therefore shall ye be put to flight: And on swift coursers will we ride; Therefore shall they be swift, that pursue you. ¹⁷ One thousand, at the rebuke of one; At the rebuke of five, ten thousand of you shall flee: Till ye be left as a standard on the summit of a mountain; And as a beacon on a high hill. ¹⁸ Yet for this shall JEHOVAH wait to shew favour unto you; Even for this shall he expect in silence, that he may have mercy upon you: (For JEHOVAH is a God of judgment; Blessed are all they that trust in him): ¹⁹ When a holy people shall dwell in Sion; When in Jerusalem thou shalt implore him with weeping: At the voice of thy cry he shall be abundantly gracious unto thee; No sooner shall he hear, than he shall answer thee. ²⁰ Though JEHOVAH hath given you bread of distress, and water of affliction; Yet the timely rain shall no more be restrained; But thine eyes shall behold the timely rain. ²¹ And thine ears shall hear the word prompting thee behind: Saying, This is the way; walk ye in it; Turn not aside, to the right, or to the left. ²² And ye shall treat as defiled the covering of your idols of silver; And the clothing of your molten images of gold: Thou shalt cast them away like a polluted garment; Thou shalt say unto them, Be gone from me. ²³ And he shall give rain for thy seed, with which thou shalt sow the ground; And bread of the produce of the ground: And it shall be abundant and plenteous. Then shall thy cattle feed in large pasture; ²⁴ And the oxen, and the young asses, that till the ground, shall eat well-fermented maslin, winnowed with the van and the sieve. ²⁵ And on every lofty mountain, and on every high hill, shall be disparting rills, and streams of water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the mighty fall. ²⁶ And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the meridian sun; And the light of the meridian sun shall be seven-fold: In the day when JEHOVAH shall bind up the breach of his people; And shall heal the wound, which his stroke hath inflicted. ²⁷ Lo! the name of JEHOVAH cometh from afar; His wrath burneth, and the flame rageth violently: His lips are filled with indignation; And his tongue is as a consuming fire. ²⁸ His spirit is like a torrent overflowing; It shall reach to the middle of the neck: He cometh to toss the nations with the van of perdition; And there shall be a bridle, to lead them astray, in the jaws of the people. ²⁹ Ye shall utter a song, as in the night when the feast is solemnly proclaimed; With joy of heart, as when one marcheth to the sound of the pipe; To go to the mountain of JEHOVAH, to the rock of Israel. ³⁰ And JEHOVAH shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and the lighting down of his arm to be seen; With wrath indignant, and a flame of consuming fire; With a violent storm, and rushing showers, and hailstones. ³¹ By the voice of JEHOVAH the Assyrian shall be beaten down; He, that was ready to smite with his staff. ³² And it shall be, that wherever shall pass the rod of correction, which JEHOVAH shall lay heavily upon him; It shall be accompanied with tabrets and harps; And with fierce battles shall he fight against them. ³³ For Tophet is ordained of old; Even the same for the king is prepared: He hath made it deep; he hath made it large; A fiery pyre, and abundance of fuel; And the breath of JEHOVAH, like a stream of sulphur, shall kindle it.

CHAPTER 31     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ Wo unto them, that go down to Egypt for help; Who trust in horses for their support: Who confide in chariots, because they are many; And in horsemen, because they are very strong: But look not unto the Holy One of Israel; And of JEHOVAH they ask not counsel. ² But he in his wisdom will bring evil upon them; And he will not set aside his word: But will rise against the house of the wicked; And against the helpers of those that work iniquity. ³ For the Egyptians are man, and not God; And their horses are flesh, and not spirit: And JEHOVAH shall stretch forth his hand; And the helper shall fall, and the holpen shall be overthrown; And together shall all of them be destroyed. ⁴ For thus hath JEHOVAH said unto me: Like as the lion growleth, even the young lion, over his prey; Though the whole company of shepherds be called together against him: At their voice he will not be terrified, nor at their tumult will he be humbled: So shall JEHOVAH God of Hosts descend to fight for Mount Sion, and for his own hill. ⁵ As the mother birds, hovering over their young, so shall JEHOVAH God of Hosts protect Jerusalem; Protecting, and delivering; leaping forward, and rescuing her. ⁶ Return unto him, from whom ye have so deeply engaged in revolt, O ye sons of Israel! ⁷ Verily in that day shall they cast away with contempt, every man his idols of silver, and his idols of gold; The sin, which their own hands have made. ⁸ And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword not of man; Yea a sword not of mortal shall devour him. And he shall betake himself to flight from the face of the sword; And the courage of his chosen men shall fail. ⁹ And through terror he shall pass beyond his stronghold; And his princes shall be struck with consternation at his flight. Thus saith JEHOVAH, who hath his fire in Sion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 32     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ BEHOLD, a king shall reign in righteousness; And princes shall rule with equity: ² And the man shall be as a covert from the storm, as a refuge from the flood; As canals of waters in a dry place; As the shadow of a great rock in a land fainting with heat: ³ And him the eyes of those, that see, shall regard; And the ears of those, that hear, shall hearken. ⁴ Even the heart of the rash shall consider, and acquire knowledge; And the stammering tongue shall speak readily and plainly. ⁵ The fool shall no longer be called honourable; And the niggard shall no more be called liberal: ⁶ For the fool will still utter folly; And his heart will devise iniquity: Practising hypocrisy, and speaking wrongfully against JEHOVAH; To exhaust the soul of the hungry, and to deprive the thirsty of drink. ⁷ As for the niggard, his instruments are evil: He plotteth mischievous devices; To entangle the humble with lying words; And to defeat the assertions of the poor in judgment. ⁸ But the generous will devise generous things; And he by his generous purposes shall be established. ⁹ O YE women, that sit at ease, arise, hear my voice! O ye daughters, that dwell in security, give ear unto my speech! ¹⁰ Years upon years shall ye be disquieted, O ye careless women: For the vintage hath failed, the gathering of the fruits shall not come. ¹¹ Tremble, O ye that are at ease; be ye disquieted, O ye careless ones! Strip ye, make ye bare; and gird ye sackcloth ¹² upon your loins, upon your breasts; Mourn ye for the pleasant field, for the fruitful vine. ¹³ Over the land of my people the thorn and the brier shall come up; Yea, over all the joyous houses, over the exulting city. ¹⁴ For the palace is deserted, the populous city is left desolate; Ophel and the watch-tower shall for a long time be a den, a joy of wild asses, a pasture for the flocks: ¹⁵ Till the spirit from on high be poured out upon us; And the wilderness become a fruitful field; And the fruitful field be esteemed a forest: ¹⁶ And judgment shall dwell in the wilderness; And in the fruitful field shall reside righteousness. ¹⁷ And the work of righteousness shall be peace; And the effect of righteousness perpetual quiet and security. ¹⁸ And my people shall dwell in a peaceful mansion, and in habitations secure, and in resting places undisturbed. ¹⁹ But the hail shall fall, and the forest be brought down; And the city shall be laid level with the plain. ²⁰ Blessed are ye, who sow your seed in every well-watered place; Who send forth the foot of the ox and the ass.

CHAPTER 33     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ Wo unto thee, thou spoiler, who hast not been spoiled thyself; And thou plunderer, who hast not been plundered: When thou hast ceased to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; When thou art weary of plundering, they shall plunder thee. ² O JEHOVAH, have mercy on us; we have trusted in thee; Be thou our strength every morning; Even our salvation in the time of distress. ³ From thy terrible voice the peoples fled; When thou didst raise thyself up, the nations were dispersed. ⁴ But your spoil shall be gathered, as the locust gathereth; As the caterpillar runneth to and fro, so shall they run, and seize it. ⁵JEHOVAH is exalted; yea, he dwelleth on high: He hath filled Sion with judgment and justice. ⁶ And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, the possession of continued salvation; The fear of JEHOVAH, this shall be thy treasure. ⁷ Behold the mighty men raise a grievous cry; The messengers of peace weep bitterly. ⁸ The highways are desolate; the traveler ceaseth: He hath broken the covenant; he hath rejected the offered cities; Of men he maketh no account. ⁹ The land mourneth, it languisheth; Libanus is put to shame, it withereth: Sharon is become like a desert; And Bashan and Carmel are stripped of their beauty. ¹⁰ Now will I arise, saith JEHOVAH; Now will I lift myself up on high; now will I be exalted. ¹¹ Ye shall conceive chaff; ye shall bring forth stubble; And my spirit like fire shall consume you. ¹² And peoples shall be burned, as the lime is burned; As the thorns are cut up, and consumed in the fire. ¹³ Hear, O ye that are afar off, my doings; And acknowledge, O ye that are near, my power. ¹⁴ The sinners in Sion are struck with dread; Terror hath seized the hypocrites: Who among us can abide this consuming fire? Who among us can abide these continued burnings? ¹⁵ He who walketh in perfect righteousness, and speaketh right things: Who detesteth the lucre of oppression; Who shaketh his hands from bribery; Who stoppeth his ears to the proposal of bloodshed; Who shutteth his eyes against the appearance of evil: ¹⁶ His dwelling shall be in the high places; The strongholds of the rocks shall be his lofty fortress: His bread shall be duly furnished; his waters shall not fail. ¹⁷ Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty; They shall see thine own land far extended. ¹⁸ Thine heart shall reflect on the past terror: Where is now the accomptant? where the weigher of tribute? Where is he, that numbered the towers? ¹⁹ Thou shalt see no more that barbarous people; The people of a deep speech, which thou couldst not hear; And of a stammering tongue, which thou couldst not understand. ²⁰ Thou shalt see Sion, the city of our solemn feasts; Thine eyes shall behold Jerusalem, the quiet habitation, the tabernacle unshaken: Whose stakes shall not be plucked up for ever, and of whose cords none shall be broken. ²¹ But the glorious name of JEHOVAH shall be unto us, a place of confluent streams, of broad rivers; Which no oared ship shall pass, neither shall any mighty vessel go through. ²² For JEHOVAH is our judge; JEHOVAH is our lawgiver; JEHOVAH is our king: he shall save us. ²³ Thy sails are loose; they cannot make them fast: Thy mast is not firm; they cannot spread the ensign. Then shall a copious spoil be divided; Even the lame shall seize the prey. ²⁴ Neither shall the inhabitant say, I am disabled with sickness: The people, that dwelleth therein, is freed from the punishment of their iniquity.

CHAPTER 34      (Selectează capitolul)

¹ DRAW near, O ye nations, and hearken; And attend unto me, O ye peoples! Let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof; The world, and all that spring from it. For the wrath of JEHOVAH is kindled against all the nations; And his anger against all the orders thereof: He hath devoted them; he hath given them up to slaughter. ³ And their slain shall be cast out; And from their carcasses their stink shall ascend; And the mountains shall melt down with their blood. ⁴ And all the host of heaven shall waste away; And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll: And all their host shall wither; As the withered leaf falleth from the vine, and as the blighted fruit from the fig-tree. ⁵ For my sword is made bare in the heavens: Behold, on Edom it shall descend; And on the people justly by me devoted to destruction. ⁶ The sword of JEHOVAH is glutted with blood; It is pampered with fat: With the blood of lambs, and of goats; With the fat of the reins of rams: For JEHOVAH celebrateth a sacrifice in Botsrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. ⁷ And the wild goats shall fall down with them; And the bullocks, together with the bulls: And their own land shall be drunken with their blood, and their dust shall be enriched with fat. ⁸ For it is the day of vengeance to JEHOVAH; The year of recompense to the defender of the cause of Sion. ⁹ And her torrents shall be turned into pitch, and her dust into Sulphur; And her whole land shall become burning pitch: ¹⁰ By night or by day it shall not be extinguished for ever shall her smoke ascend: From generation to generation she shall lie desert; To everlasting ages no one shall pass through her; ¹¹ But the pelican and the porcupine shall inherit her; And the owl and the raven shall inhabit there: And he shall stretch over her the line of devastation, and the plummet of emptiness over her scorched plains. ¹² No more shall they boast the renown of the kingdom; And all her princes shall utterly fail. ¹³ And in her palaces shall spring up thorns; The nettle and the bramble, in her fortresses: And she shall become an habitation for dragons, a court for the daughters of the ostrich. ¹⁴ And the jackals and the mountain-cats shall meet one another; And the satyr shall call to his fellow: There also the screech-owl shall pitch; And shall find for herself a place of rest. ¹⁵ There shall the night-raven make her nest, and lay her eggs; And she shall hatch them, and gather her young under her shadow: There also shall the vultures be gathered together; Every one of them shall join her mate. ¹⁶ Consult ye the book of JEHOVAH, and read: Not one of these shall be missed; Not a female shall lack her mate: For the mouth of JEHOVAH hath given the command; And his spirit itself hath gathered them. ¹⁷ And he hath cast the lot for them; And his hand hath meted out their portion by the line: They shall possess the land for a perpetual inheritance; From generation to generation shall they dwell therein.

CHAPTER 35     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THE desert, and the waste, shall be glad; And the wilderness shall rejoice, and flourish: ² Like the rose shall it beautifully flourish; And the well-watered plain of Jordan shall also rejoice: The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the beauty of Carmel and of Sharon: These shall behold the glory of JEHOVAH, the majesty of our God. ³ Strengthen ye the feeble hands, and confirm ye the tottering knees. ⁴ Say ye to the faint-hearted: Be ye strong; Fear ye not; behold your God! Vengeance will come; the retribution of God: He himself will come, and will deliver you. ⁵ Then shall be unclosed the eyes of the blind; And the ears of the deaf shall be opened: ⁶ Then shall the lame bound like the hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing: For in the wilderness shall burst forth waters, and torrents in the desert: ⁷ And the glowing sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty soil bubbling springs: And in the haunt of dragons shall spring forth the grass, with the reed, and the bulrush. ⁸ And a highway shall be there; And it shall be called the way of holiness: No unclean person shall pass through it: But He himself shall be with them, walking in the way, and the foolish shall not err therein. ⁹ No lion shall be there; Nor shall the tyrant of the beasts come up thither: Neither shall he be found there; But the redeemed shall walk in it. ¹⁰ Yea the ransomed of JEHOVAH shall return: They shall come to Sion with triumph; And perpetual gladness shall crown their heads. Joy and gladness shall they obtain; And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

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¹ IN the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Senacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. ² And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh, from Lachish to Jerusalem, to the king Hezekiah, with a great body of forces: and he presented himself at the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway that leads to the fuller’s field. ³ Then came out unto him Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder. ⁴ And Rabshakeh said unto them: Say ye to Hezekiah; Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria: What is this ground of confidence, in which thou confidest? ⁵ Thou hast said, (but they are vain words), I have counsel and strength sufficient for the war. Now in whom dost thou confide, that thou rebellest against me? ⁶ Thou certainly confidest in the support of this broken reed, in Egypt; on which if a man lean, it will pierce his hand, and go through it: such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that confide in him. ⁷ But if ye say to me, We confide in JEHOVAH our God; is it not He, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath removed; and hath commanded Judah and Jerusalem to worship only before this altar? ⁸ Enter now, I pray thee, into an engagement with my lord the king of Assyria; and I will give thee two thousand horses, on condition, that thou canst on thy part provide riders for them. ⁹ How then wilt thou turn back any one commander, among the least of my lord’s servants, advancing against thee? And trustest thou, that Egypt will supply thee with chariots and with horsemen? ¹⁰ And am I now come up without JEHOVAH against this land to destroy it? JEHOVAH hath said unto me, Go thou up against this land, and destroy it. ¹¹ Then said Eliakim, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh: Speak, we beseech thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it; and speak not to us in the Jewish language, in the hearing of the people, who are upon the wall. ¹² And Rabshakeh said, hath my lord sent me to thy lord and to thee, to speak these words? and not to the men, that sit on the wall, destined to eat their own dung, and drink their own urine, together with you? ¹³ Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jewish language, and said: Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. ¹⁴ Thus saith the king: Let not Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you. ¹⁵ And let not Hezekiah persuade you to trust in JEHOVAH; saying, JEHOVAH will certainly deliver us; this city shall not be given up into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹⁶ Hearken not unto Hezekiah; for thus saith the king of Assyria: Make peace with me, and come out unto me. And eat ye every one of his own vine, and every one of his own fig-tree; and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern: ¹⁷ until I come and take you to a land like your own land; a land of corn and of wine, a land of bread and of vineyards. ¹⁸ Nor let Hezekiah seduce you, saying, JEHOVAH will deliver us. Have the gods of the nations delivered each his own land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ²⁰ Who are there among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their own lands out of my hand; that JEHOVAH should deliver out of my hand Jerusalem? ²¹ But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s command was, answer him not. ²² Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah, with their clothes rent; and reported unto him the words of Rabshakeh.

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¹ And when king Hezekiah heard it, he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of JEHOVAH. ² And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah, the son of Amots, the prophet. ³ And they said unto him: Thus saith Hezekiah; This day is a day of distress, and of rebuke, and of contumely: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. ⁴ O that JEHOVAH thy God would hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his lord the king of Assyria hath sent to reproach the living God! and that he would refute the words, which JEHOVAH thy God hath heard! And do thou offer up thy prayer for the poor remains of the people. ⁵And the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶ And Isaiah said unto them; Thus shall ye say to your lord: Thus saith JEHOVAH, Be not afraid, because of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ⁷ Behold, I will infuse a spirit into him; and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. ⁸ But Rabshakeh returned; and found the king of Assyria besieging Libnah: for he had heard, that he had decamped from Lachish. ⁹ And when Senacherib had received advice concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, that he was advancing to give him battle; he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying; ¹⁰ Thus shall ye say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Let not thy God, in whom thou confidest, deceive thee; by assuring thee, that Jerusalem shall not be given up into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹ Thou hast certainly heard, what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, which they have utterly destroyed: and shalt thou be delivered? ¹² Have the gods of the nations delivered those, which my fathers have destroyed? Gozan, and Haran, and Retseph; and the sons of Eden, which were in Thelassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Henah, and of Ivah? ¹⁴ And Hezekiah received the letters from the hand of the messengers, and read them; and he went up to the house of JEHOVAH: and Hezekiah spread them before the presence of JEHOVAH. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed before JEHOVAH, saying: ¹⁶ O JEHOVAH, God of Hosts, thou God of Israel, who art seated on the cherubim! Thou art the God, thou alone, to all the kingdoms of the earth! Thou hast made the heavens, and the earth! ¹⁷ Incline, O JEHOVAH, thine ear, and hear; open, O JEHOVAH, thine eyes, and see: yea, hear all the words of Senacherib, which he hath sent to reproach the living God. ¹⁸ In truth, O JEHOVAH, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations, and their lands; ¹⁹ and have cast their gods into the fire: for they were not gods, but the work of the hands of man, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them. ²⁰ And now, O JEHOVAH, our God, save us, we beseech thee, from his hand; that all the kingdoms of the earth may know, that thou JEHOVAH art the only God. ²¹ Then Isaiah the son of Amots sent unto Hezekiah, saying: Thus saith JEHOVAH the God of Israel: Thy prayer unto me, concerning Senacherib king of Assyria, I have heard. ²² This is the word, which JEHOVAH hath spoken concerning him: THE virgin daughter of Sion hath despised thee, she hath laughed thee to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head behind thee. ²³ Whom hast thou reproached, and reviled; and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice? And hast lifted up thine eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel. ²⁴ By thy messengers hast thou reproached JEHOVAH, an said: By the multitude of my chariots have I ascended the highth of the mountains, the sides of Lebanon; And I will cut down his tallest cedars, his choicest firtrees; And I will penetrate into his extreme retreats, his richest forests. ²⁵ I have digged, and I have drunk strange waters; And I have dried up with the sole of my feet all the canals of fenced places. ²⁶ Hast thou not heard, of old, that I have disposed it? And, of ancient times, that I have formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldst be to lay waste Warlike nations, strong-fenced cities. ²⁷ Therefore were their inhabitants of small strength; they were dismayed and confounded: They were as the grass of the field, and as the greem herb; The grass of the house-top; and as the corn blasted before it groweth up. ²⁸ But thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me, I have known. ²⁹ Because thy rage against me , and thy insolence, is come up into mine ears; Therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy jaws; And I will turn thee back by the way in which thou camest. ³⁰ And this shall be a sign unto thee: Eat this year that which groweth of itself; And the second year, that which springeth up of the same; And in the third year sow ye, and reap; And plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. ³¹ And again shall the escaped, the remnant of the house of Judah, strike root downward, and bear fruit upward. ³² For from Jerusalem shall go forth the remnant; And the part escaped from Mount Sion: The zeal of JEHOVAH God of Hosts shall effect this. ³³ Therefore thus saith JEHOVAH concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not enter into this city; Nor shall he shoot an arrow there; Nor shall he present a shield before it; Nor shall he cast up a mound against it. ³⁴ By the way, in which he came, by the same shall he return; And into this city shall he not come; saith JEHOVAH. ³⁵ And I will protect this city to deliver it; For mine own sake, and for the sake of David my servant. ³⁶ And the angel of JEHOVAH went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and fourscore and five thousand men: and when the people arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. ³⁷ Then Senacherib king of Assyria decamped, and departed, and returned; and dwelt at Nineveh. ³⁸ And as he was worshipping in the temple of Nisroc his god, Adramelec and Sharetser, his sons, smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia; and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead. 

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¹ AT that time Hezekiah was seized with a mortal sickness: and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amots, came unto him; and said unto him: Thus saith JEHOVAH: Give orders concerning the affairs of thy family; for thou must die; thou shalt no longer live. ² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall; and made his supplication to JEHOVAH. ³ And he said: I beseech thee, O JEHOVAH, remember now, how I have endeavoured to walk before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart; and have done that which is good in thine eyes. And Hezekiah wept, and lamented grievously. ⁴ Now [before Isaiah was gone out into the middle court,] the word of JEHOVAH came unto him, saying: Go [back], and say unto Hezakiah: ⁵ Thus saith JEHOVAH, the God of David thy father: I have heard thy supplication; I have seen thy tears. Behold [I will heal thee; and on the third day thou shalt go up into the house of JEHOVAH. And] I will add unto thy days fifteen years. ⁶ And I will deliver thee, and this city, from the hand of the king of Assyria; And I will protect this city. ²² And [Hezekiah said: By what sign shall I know, that I shall go up into the house of JEHOVAH? And Isaiah said:] ⁷ This shall be the sign unto thee from JEHOVAH, that JEHOVAH will bring to effect this word which he hath spoken. ⁸ Behold, I will bring back the shadow of the degrees, by which the sun is gone down on the degrees of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. And the sun returned backward ten degrees, on the degrees by which it had gone down. ²¹And Isaiah said: Let them take a lump of figs: and they bruised them, and applied them to the boil; and he recovered. ⁹ THE WRITING OF HEZEKIAH KING OF JUDAH, WHEN HE HAD BEEN SICK, AND WAS RECOVERED FROM HIS SICKNESS. ¹⁰ I said, when my days were just going to be cut off, I shall pass through the gates of the grave; I am deprived of the residue of my years! ¹¹ I said, I shall no more see JEHOVAH in the land of the living! I shall no longer behold man, with the inhabitants of the world! ¹² My habitation is taken away, and is removed from me, like a shepherd’s tent: My life is cut off, as by the weaver; he will sever me from the loom; In the course of the day thou wilt finish my web. ¹³ I roared until the morning, like the lion; So did he break to pieces all my bones. ¹⁴ Like the swallow, like the crane did I twitter; I made a moaning like the dove. Mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, contend thou for me; be thou my surety. ¹⁵ What sall I say? he hath given me a promise, and he hath performed it. Through the rest of my years will I reflect on this bitterness of my soul. ¹⁶ For this cause shall it be declared, O JEHOVAH, concerning thee, that thou hast revived my spirit; That thou hast restored my health, and prolonged my life. ¹⁷ Behold my anguish is changed into ease! Thou hast rescued my soul from perdition; Yea thou hast cast behind thy back all my sins. ¹⁸ Verily the grave shall not give thanks unto thee; death shall not praise thee; They that go down into the pit shall not await thy truth: ¹⁹ The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day; The father to the children shall make known thy faithfulness. ²⁰ JEHOVAH was present to save me: therefore will we sing our songs to the harp, all the days of our life, in the house of JEHOVAH.

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¹ At that time Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan king of Babylon, sent letters, and ambassadors, and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. ² And Hezekiah was rejoiced at their arrival: and he shewed them his magazines, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and his whole arsenal, and all that was contained in his treasures: there was not any thing in his house, and in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not shew them. ³ And Isaiah the prophet came unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him: What say these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said: They are come to me from a distant country; from Babylon. ⁴ And he said: What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah said: They have seen every thing in my house: there is nothing in my treasures, which I have not shewn them. ⁵ And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah: Hear thou the word of JEHOVAH God of Hosts. ⁶ Behold, the day shall come, when all that is in thy house, and that thy fathers have treasured up unto this day, shall be carried away to Babylon: there shall not any thing be left, saith JEHOVAH. ⁷ And of thy sons, which shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take: and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. ⁸ And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah: Gracious is the word of JEHOVAH, which thou hast delivered! For, added he, there shall be peace, according to his faithful promise, in my days.

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¹ COMFORT ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God: ² Speak ye animating words to Jerusalem, and declare unto her, that her warfare is fulfilled; that the expiation of her iniquity is accepted; That she shall receive at the hand of JEHOVAH [Blessings] double to the punishment of all her sins. ³ A voice crieth: In the wilderness prepare ye the way of JEHOVAH! Make straight in the desert a highway for our God! ⁴ Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill be brought low; And the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places a smooth plain: ⁵ And the glory of JEHOVAH shall be revealed; And all flesh shall see together the salvation of our God: For the mouth of JEHOVAH hath spoken it. ⁶ A voice sayeth: Proclaim! And I said, What shall I proclaim? All flesh is grass, and all its glory like the flower of the field: ⁷ The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; When the wind of JEHOVAH bloweth upon it. Verily this people is grass. ⁸ The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; But the word of our God shall stand for ever. ⁹ Get thee up upon a high mountain, O daughter that bringest glad tidings to Sion: Exalt thy voice with strength, O daughter that bringest glad tidings to Jerusalem. Exalt it; be not afraid: Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God! ¹⁰ Behold, the Lord JEHOVAH shall come against the strong one, and his arm shall prevail over him. Behold, his reward is with him, and the recompense of his work before him. ¹¹ Like a shepherd shall he feed his flock; In his arm shall he gather up the lambs, and shall bear them in his bosom; the nursing ewes shall he gently lead. ¹² Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand; And hath meted out the heavens by his span; And hath comprehended the dust of the earth in a tierce; And hath weighed in scales the mountains, and the hills in a balance? ¹³ Who hath directed the spirit of JEHOVAH; And, as one of his council, hath informed him? ¹⁴ Whom hath he consulted, that he should instruct him, and teach him the path of judgment; That he should impart to him science, and inform him in the way of understanding? ¹⁵ Behold, the nations are as a drop from the bucket; As the small dust of the balance shall they be accounted: Behold, the islands he taketh up as an atom. ¹⁶ And Lebanon is not sufficient for the fire; Nor his beasts sufficient for the burnt-offering. ¹⁷ All the nations are as nothing before him; They are esteemed by him as less than nought, and vanity. ¹⁸ To whom therefore will ye liken God? And what is the model of resemblance, that ye will prepare for him? ¹⁹ The workman casteth an image; And the smith overlayeth it with plates of gold; And forgeth for it chains of silver. ²⁰ He that cannot afford a costly oblation, chooseth a piece of wood that will not rot; He procureth a skilful artist, to erect an image, which shall not be moved. ²¹ Will ye not know? will ye not hear? Hath it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have ye not understood it from the foundations of the earth? ²² It is He, that sitteth on the circle of the earth; And the inhabitants are to him as grasshoppers: That extendeth the heavens, as a thin veil; And spreadeth them out, as a tent to dwell in: ²³ That reduceth princes to nothing; That maketh the judges of the earth a mere inanity. ²⁴ Yea they shall not leave a plant behind them, they shall not be sown, their trunk shall not spread its root in the ground: If he but blow upon them, they instantly wither; And the whirlwind shall bear them away like the stubble. ²⁵ To whom then will ye liken me? And to whom shall I be equalled? saith the Holy One. ²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high; And see, who hath created these. He draweth forth their armies by number; He calleth them all by name: Through the greatness of his strength, and the mightiness of his power, not one of them faileth to appear. ²⁷ Wherefore sayest thou then, O Jacob, and why speakest thou thus, O Israel, my way is hidden from JEHOVAH, and my cause passeth unregarded by my God. ²⁸ Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that JEHOVAH is the everlasting God, the Creator of the bounds of the earth? That he neither fainteth, nor is wearied; And that his understanding is unsearchable! ²⁹ He giveth strength to the faint, and to the infirm he multiplieth force. ³⁰ The young men shall faint and be wearied; And the chosen youths shall stumble and fall: ³¹ But they that trust in JEHOVAH shall gather new strength; They shall put forth fresh feathers like the moulting eagle: They shall run, and not be wearied; They shall march onward, and shall not faint.

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¹ LET the distant nations repair to me with new force of mind; And let the peoples recover their strength. Let them draw near; then let them speak; Let us enter into solemn debate together. ² Who hath raised up the righteous man from the east; Hath called him to attend his steps? Hath subdued nations at his presence; And given him dominion over kings? Hath made them like the dust before his sword; And like the driven stubble before his bow? ³ He pursueth them; he passeth in safety; By a way never trodden before with his feet. ⁴ Who hath performed, and made these things, calling the several generations from the beginning? I JEHOVAH, the first; And with the last, I am the same. ⁵ The distant nations saw, and they were afraid; The remotest parts of the earth, and they were terrified. They drew near, they came together; ⁶ Every one assisted his neighbour, and said to his brother, Be of good courage. ⁷ The carver encourageth the smith; He that smootheth with the hammer, him that smiteth on the anvil; Saying of the solder, It is good; And he fixeth the idol with nails, that it shall not move. ⁸ But thou, Israel, my servant; Thou, Jacob, whom I have chosen; The seed of Abraham my friend: ⁹ Thou, whom I have led by the hand from the ends of the earth; And called from the extremities thereof; And I said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and will not reject thee: ¹⁰ Fear not, for I am with thee; Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I have strengthened thee, I have assisted thee; I have even supported thee with my faithful right hand. ¹¹ Behold, they, that were enraged against thee, shall be ashamed and confounded; They, that contended with thee, shall become as nothing, and shall utterly perish. ¹² Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even the men that strove with thee: They shall become as nothing, and as mere nought, even the men that opposed thee in battle. ¹³ For I am JEHOVAH thy God, that hold thee fast by thy right hand; That say unto thee, Fear not; I am thy helper. ¹⁴ Fear not, thou worm Jacob; ye mortals of Israel: I am thy helper, saith JEHOVAH; And thine avenger is the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵ Behold, I have made thee a thrashing wain; A new corn-drag armed with pointed teeth: Thou shalt thrash the mountains, and beat them smal; And reduce the hills to chaff: ¹⁶ Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall bear them away; And the tempest shall scatter them abroad: But thou shalt rejoice in JEHOVAH; In the Holy One of Israel shalt thou triumph. ¹⁷ The poor and the needy seek for water, and there is none; Their tongue is parched with thirst: I JEHOVAH will answer them; The God of Israel, I will not forsake them. ¹⁸ I will open in the high places rivers; And in the midst of the vallies, fountains: I will make the desert a standing pool; And the dry ground streams of waters. ¹⁹ In the wilderness I will give the cedar; The acacia, the myrtle, and the tree producing oil: I will plant the fir-tree in the desert; The pine, and the box together: ²⁰ That they may see, and that they may know; And may consider, and understand at once, that the hand of JEHOVAH hath done this, and that the Holy One of Israel hath created it. ²¹ Draw near, produce your cause, saith JEHOVAH: Produce these your mighty powers, saith the king of Jacob. ²² Let them approach, and tell us the things that shall happen; The things that shall first happen, what they are, let them tell us: And we will consider them; and we shall know the event. Or declare to us things to come hereafter: ²³ Tell us the things, that will come to pass in later times; Then shall we know that ye are Gods. Yea, do good, or do evil; Then shall we be struck at once with admiration and terror. ²⁴ But, behold, ye are less than nothing; And your operation is less than nought; Abhorred be the man that chooseth you! ²⁵ I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come; From the rising of the sun he shall invoke my name: And he shall trample on princes, like the mortar; Even as the potter treadeth down the clay. ²⁶ Who hath declared this from the beginning, that we should know it? And beforehand, that we might say, The prediction is true? There was not one, that foretold it; not one, that declared it; There was not one, that heard your words: ²⁷ I first to Sion [give the word], Behold they are here; And to Jerusalem I give the messenger of glad tidings. ²⁸ But I looked, and there was no man; And among the idols, and there was no one that gave warning; ²⁹ And I inquired of them, and [there was no one] that could return an answer. Behold, they are all of them vanity; their works are nought: Mere wind and emptiness are their molten images.

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¹ BEHOLD my servant, whom I will uphold; My chosen, in whom my soul delighteth: I will make my spirit rest upon him; And he shall publish judgment to the nations. ² He shall not cry aloud, nor raise a clamour, nor cause his voice to be heard in the public places: ³ The bruised reed he shall not break; And the dimly burning flax he shall not quench: He shall publish judgment, so as to establish it perfectly. ⁴ His force shall not be abated, nor broken; Until he hath firmly seated judgment in the earth: And the distant nations shall earnestly wait for his law. ⁵ Thus saith the God, even JEHOVAH, who created the heavens, and stretched them out; Who spread abroad the earth, and the produce thereof; Who giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that tread thereon: ⁶ I JEHOVAH have called thee for a righteous purpose; And I will take hold of thy hand, and will preserve thee; And I will give thee for a covenant to the people, for a light to the nations: ⁷ To open the eyes of the blind; To bring the captive out of confinement; And from the dungeon, those that dwell in darkness. ⁸ I am JEHOVAH, that is my name; And my glory will I not give to another, nor my praise to the graven images. ⁹ The former predictions, lo! they are come to pass; And new events I now declare: Before they spring forth, I make them known unto you. ¹⁰ Sing unto JEHOVAH a new song; His praise, from the ends of the earth: Ye that go down upon the sea, and all that fill it; Ye distant sea-coasts, and ye that dwell therein: ¹¹ Let the desert cry aloud, and the cities thereof; The villages, and they that dwell in Kedar: Let the inhabitants of the rocky country utter a joyful sound; Let them shout aloud from the top of the mountains: ¹² Let them ascribe glory to JEHOVAH; And among the distant nations make known his praise. ¹³JEHOVAH shall march forth like a hero; Like a mighty warrior shall he rouse his vengeance: He shall cry aloud; he shall shout amain; He shall exert his strength against his enemies. ¹⁴ I have long holden my peace; shall I keep silence for ever? Shall I still contain myself? I will cry out like a woman in travail; Breathing short, and drawing in my breath with violence. ¹⁵ I will make barren the mountains and hills; And burn up all the grass, that is upon them: I will make the rivers dry deserts; And scorch up the pools of water. ¹⁶ I will lead the blind in a way, which they have not known; And through paths, which they have not known, will I make them go: I will turn darkness into light before them; And the rugged ways into a smooth plain. These things will I do for them, and will not forsake them. ¹⁷ They are turned backward, they are utterly confounded, who trust in the graven image; Who say unto the molten image, Ye are our gods! ¹⁸ Hear, O ye deaf; And, ye blind, look attentively, that ye may see! ¹⁹ Who is blind, but my servant; And deaf, as he to whom I have sent my messengers? Who is blind, as he who is perfectly instructed; And deaf, as the servant of JEHOVAH? ²⁰ Thou hast seen indeed, yet thou dost not regard; Thine ears are open, yet thou will not hear. ²¹ Yet JEHOVAH was gracious unto him, for his truth’s sake: He hath exalted his own praise, and made it glorious. ²² But this is a people spoiled and plundered: All their chosen youths are taken in the toils, and are plunged in the dark dungeons: They are become a spoil, and there was none to rescue them; A plunder, and no one said, Restore. ²³ Who is there among you, that will listen to this; That will hearken, and attend to it, for the future? ²⁴ Who hath given Jacob for a spoil; And Israel to the plunderers? Was it not JEHOVAH; He, against whom they have sinned; In whose ways they would not walk; And whose law they would not obey? ²⁵ Therefore poured he out upon them the heat of his wrath, and the violence of war: And it kindled a flame round about him, yet he did not regard it; And it set him on fire, yet he did not consider it.

CHAPTER 43     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ Yet now, thus saith JEHOVAH; Who created thee, O Jacob; and who formed thee, O Israel: Fear thou not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. ² When thou passest through waters, I am with thee; And through rivers, they shall not overwhelm thee: When thou walkest in the fire, thou shalt not be scorched; And the flame shall not take hold of thee. ³ For I am JEHOVAH, thy God; The Holy One of Israel, thy redeemer: I have given Egypt for thy ransom; Cush, and Saba, in thy stead. ⁴ Because thou hast been precious in my sight, thou hast been honoured, and I have loved thee: Therefore will I give men instead of thee; And peoples instead of thy soul. ⁵ Fear thou not, for I am with thee: From the east I will bring thy children, and from the west I will gather thee together: ⁶ I will say to the north, Give up; And to the south, Withhold not: Bring my sons from afar; And my daughters from the ends of the earth: ⁷ Every one that is called by my name, whom for my glory I have created; Whom I have formed, yea whom I have made. ⁸ Bring forth the people, blind, although they have eyes; And deaf, although they have ears. ⁹ Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be collected. Who among them will declare this; And will tell us, what first shall come to pass? Let them produce their witnesses, that they may be justified: Or let them hear in their turn, and say, This is true. ¹⁰ Ye are my witnesses, saith JEHOVAH; Even my servant, whom I have chosen: That ye may know, and believe me; And understand, that I am He. Before me no god was formed; And after me none shall exist. ¹¹ I, even I, am JEHOVAH; And beside me there is no saviour. ¹² I declared my purpose, and I have saved: I made it known; nor was it any strange god among you: And ye are my witnesses, saith JEHOVAH, that I am God. ¹³ Even before time was, I am He; And there is none that can rescue out of my hand: I work; and who shall undo what I have done? ¹⁴ Thus saith JEHOVAH, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake have I sent unto Babylon; And I will bring down all her strong bars; And the Chaldeans, exulting in their ships: ¹⁵ I am JEHOVAH, your Holy One; The creator of Israel, your king. ¹⁶ Thus saith JEHOVAH; Who made a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; ¹⁷ Who brought forth the rider and the horse, the army and the warrior; Together they lay down, they rose no more; They were extinguished, they were quenched like tow: ¹⁸ Remember not the former things; And the things of ancient times regard not; ¹⁹ Behold, I make a new thing; Even now shall it spring forth: will ye not regard it? Yea I will make in the wilderness a way; In the desert, streams of water. ²⁰ The wild beast of the field shall glorify me; The dragons, and the daughters of the ostrich: Because I have given waters in the wilderness; And flowing streams in the desert; To give drink to my people, my chosen: ²¹ This people, whom I have formed for myself; Who shall recount my praise. ²² But thou hast not invoked me, O Jacob; Neither on my account hast thou laboured, O Israel. ²³ Thou hast not brought to me the lamb of thy burntoffering; Neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices: I have not burthened thee with exacting oblations; Nor wearied thee with demands of frankincense: ²⁴ Thou hast not purchased for me with silver the aromatic reed; Neither hast thou satiated me with the fat of thy sacrifices. On the contrary, thou hast burthened me with thy sins; Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. ²⁵ I, even I, am He; I blot out thy transgressions for mine own sake; And thy sins I will not remember. ²⁶ Remind me of thy plea: let us be judged on equal terms: Set forth thine own cause, that thou mayest clear thyself. ²⁷ Thy chief leader hath sinned; And thy public teachers have revolted from me; ²⁸ And thy princes have profaned my sanctuary: Therefore will I give up Jacob for a devoted thing, and Israel to reproach.

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¹ BUT hear now, O Jacob, my servant; And Israel, whom I have chosen: ² Thus saith JEHOVAH, thy maker; And he that formed thee from the womb, and will help thee: Fear thou not, O my servant Jacob; And, O Jeshurun, whom I have chosen: ³ For I will pour out waters on the thirsty; And flowing streams on the dry ground: I will pour out my spirit on thy seed; And my blessing on thine offspring. ⁴ And they shall spring up as the grass among the waters; As the willows beside the aqueducts. ⁵ One shall say; I belong to JEHOVAH; And another shall be called by the name of Jacob: And this shall inscribe his hand to JEHOVAH; And shall be surnamed by the name of Israel. ⁶ Thus saith JEHOVAH, the king of Israel; And his redeemer, JEHOVAH God of Hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; And beside me there is no God. ⁷ And who is like me, that he should call forth this event, and make it known beforehand, and dispose it for me, from the time that I appointed the people of the destined age? The things that are now coming, and are to come hereafter, let them declare unto us. ⁸ Fear ye not, neither be ye afraid: Have I not declared it unto you from the first? Yea, I have foreshewn it; and ye are my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no other sure protector; I know not any. ⁹ They that form the graven image are all of them vanity; And their most curious works shall not profit. Yea, their works themselves bear witness to them, that they see not, and that they understand not: ¹⁰ That every one may be ashamed, that he hath formed a god, and cast a graven image, that profiteth not. ¹¹ Behold, all his associates shall be ashamed; Even the workmen themselves shall blush: They shall assemble all of them; they shall present themselves; They shall fear, and be ashamed together. ¹² The smith cutteth off a portion of iron: He worketh it in the coals, and with hammers he formeth it; And he exerteth upon it the force of his arm. Yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth him; He drinketh no water, and he is faint. ¹³ The carpenter stretcheth his line; He marketh out the form of it with red ochre: He worketh it with the sharp tool; He figureth it with the compass: He maketh it according to the fashion of a man; According to the beauty of the human form, that it may abide in the house. ¹⁴ He heweth down cedars for his use: And he taketh the pine, and the oak; And layeth in good store of the trees of the forest. He planteth the ash, and the rain nourisheth it; ¹⁵ That it may be for the use of man, for fuel: And he taketh thereof, and warmeth himself; Yea he heateth the oven with it, and baketh bread: He also formeth a god, and worshippeth it: He maketh of it a graven image, and boweth down unto it. ¹⁶ Part of it he burneth in the fire; And with part of it he dresseth flesh, and eateth: He roasteth meat, and his hunger is satisfied; He also warmeth himself, and sayeth, Aha! I am warmed, I have enjoyed the fire: ¹⁷ And the remainder thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image; He boweth down to it, and worshippeth it: And he prayeth unto it, and sayeth; Deliver me, for thou art my God! ¹⁸ They know not, neither do they understand: Verily their eyes are closed up, that they cannot see; And their heart, that they cannot rightly discern: ¹⁹ Neither doth he consider in his heart; Neither hath he knowledge, nor understanding, to say: Part of it I have burned in the fire; I have also baked bread on the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and I have eaten: And shall I make the remnant an abomination? Shall I bow myself down to the stock of a tree? ²⁰ He feedeth on ashes; a deluded heart leadeth him aside; So that he cannot deliver his own soul, nor say, is there not a lie in my right hand? ²¹ Remember these things, O Jacob; And, Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art a servant unto me; O Israel, by me thou shalt not be forgotten. ²² I have made thy transgressions vanish away like a cloud; And thy sins like a vapour: Return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. ²³ Sing, O ye heavens, for JEHOVAH hath effected it; Utter a joyful sound, O ye depths of the earth: Burst forth into song, O ye mountains; Thou, forest, and every tree therein! For JEHOVAH hath redeemed Jacob; And will be glorified in Israel. ²⁴ Thus saith JEHOVAH, thy redeemer; Even he, that formed thee from the womb: I am JEHOVAH, who make all things; Who stretch out the heavens alone; Who spread the firm earth by myself: ²⁵ I am he, who frustrateth the prognostics of the impostors; And maketh the diviners mad: Who reverseth the devices of the sages, and infatuateth their knowledge: ²⁶ Who establisheth the word of his servant; And accomplisheth the counsel of his messengers: Who sayeth to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; And to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built; And her desolated places I will restore: ²⁷ Who sayeth to the deep, Be thou wasted; And I will make dry thy rivers: ²⁸ Who sayeth to Cyrus, Thou art my shepherd! And he shall fulfil all my pleasure: Who sayeth to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; And to the temple, Thy foundations shall be laid.

CHAPTER 45     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THUS saith JEHOVAH to his anointed; To Cyrus, whom I hold fast by the right hand: That I may subdue nations before him; And ungird the loins of kings: That I may open before him the valves; And the gates shall not be shut. ² I will go before thee; And make the mountains level: The valves of brass I will break in sunder; And the bars of iron will I hew down. ³ And I will give unto thee the treasures of darkness, and the stores deep hidden in secret places: That thou mayest know, that I am JEHOVAH; He that calleth thee by thy name, the God of Israel. ⁴ For the sake of my servant Jacob; And of Israel, my chosen; I have even called thee by thy name; I have surnamed thee, though thou knowest me not. ⁵ I am JEHOVAH, and none else; Beside me there is no God: I will gird thee, though thou hast not known me. ⁶ That they may know, from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me: I am JEHOVAH, and none else; ⁷ Forming light, and creating darkness; Making peace, and creating evil: I JEHOVAH am the author of all these things. ⁸Drop down, O ye heavens, the dew from above; And let the clouds shower down righteousness: Let the earth open her bosom, and let salvation produce her fruit; And let justice push forth her bud together: I JEHOVAH have created it. ⁹ Wo unto him, that contendeth with the power that formed him; The potsherd with the moulder of the clay! Shall the clay say to the potter, What makest thou and to the workman, Thou hast no hands? ¹⁰ Wo unto him that sayeth to his father, What begettest thou? And to his mother, What dost thou bring forth? ¹¹ Thus saith JEHOVAH, the Holy One of Israel; And he that formeth the things, which are to come: Do ye question me concerning my children? And do ye give me directions concerning the works of my hands? ¹² I have made the earth; And man upon it I have created: My hands have stretched out the heavens; And to all the host of them I have given command: ¹³ I have raised him up in righteousness; And I will make level all his ways. He shall build my city, and release my captives; Not for price, nor for reward: Saith JEHOVAH God of Hosts. ¹⁴ Thus saith JEHOVAH: The wealth of Egypt, and the merchandise of Cush, and the Sabeans tall of stature, shall come over to thee, and shall be thine: They shall follow thee; in chains shall they pass along; They shall bow down to thee, and in suppliant guise address thee: In thee alone is God; And there is no God besides whatever. ¹⁵ Verily, thou art a God that hidest thy counsels, O God of Israel, the saviour! ¹⁶ They are ashamed, they are even confounded, his adversaries, all of them; Together they retire in confusion, the fabricators of images. ¹⁷ But Israel shall be saved in JEHOVAH with eternal salvation: Ye shall not be ashamed, neither shall ye be confounded, to the ages of eternity. ¹⁸ For thus saith JEHOVAH, who created the heavens; he is God: Who formed the earth and made it; he hath established it: He created it not in vain; for he formed it to be inhabited: I am JEHOVAH, and none besides: ¹⁹ I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I have not said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I am JEHOVAH, who speak truth; who give direct answers. ²⁰ Assemble yourselves together, and come; Gather yourselves together, ye that are escaped from among the nations. They know nothing, that carry about the wood, which they have carved; That address themselves in prayer to a god, which cannot save. ²¹ Publish it abroad, and bring them near; and let them consult together: Who hath made this known long before, hath declared it from the first? Is it not I JEHOVAH, than whom there is no other God? A God, that uttereth truth, and granteth salvation; there is none beside me? ²² Look unto me, and be saved, O all ye remote people of the earth; For I am God, and there is none else. ²³ By myself have I sworn; truth is gone forth from my mouth; The word, and it shall not be revoked: Surely to me shall every knee bow, shall every tongue swear: ²⁴ Saying, Only to JEHOVAH belongeth salvation and power: To him they shall come; they shall be ashamed, all that are incensed against him: ²⁵ In JEHOVAH shall be justified, and make their boast, all the seed of Israel.

CHAPTER 46     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ BEL boweth down, Nebo croucheth; Their idols are laid on the beasts and the cattle; Their burthens are heavy, a grievous weight to the weary beast. ²They crouched, they bowed down together: They could not deliver their own charge; Even they themselves are gone into captivity. ³ Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob; And all ye the remnant of the house of Israel: Ye that have been borne by me from the birth; That have been carried from the womb. ⁴And even to your old age, I am the same; And even to your grey hairs, I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry, and will deliver you. ⁵ To whom will ye liken me, and equal me? And to whom will ye compare me, that we may be like? ⁶ Ye that lavish gold out of the bag; And that weigh silver in the balance? They hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god: They worship him; yea they prostrate themselves before him. ⁷ They bear him on the shoulder; they carry him about; They set him down in his place, and he standeth: From his place he shall not remove; To him that crieth unto him, he will not answer; Neither will he deliver him from his distress. ⁸ Remember this, and shew yourselves men: Reflect on it deeply, O ye apostates. ⁹ Remember the former things, of old time: Verily I am God, and none else; I am God, nor is there any thing like me. ¹⁰ From the beginning making known the end; And from early times, the things that are not yet done; Saying, My counsel shall stand; And whatever I have willed, I will effect. ¹¹ Calling from the east the eagle; And from a land far distant, the man of my counsel: As I have spoken, so will I bring it to pass; I have formed the design, and I will execute it. ¹²Hearken unto me, O ye stubborn of heart; Ye that are far distant from deliverance: ¹³ I bring my promised deliverance near, it shall not be far distant; And my salvation shall not be delayed. And I will give in Sion salvation; To Israel I will give my glory.

CHAPTER 47     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ DESCEND, and sit on the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; Sit on the bare ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: For thou shalt no longer be called the tender, and the delicate. ² Take the mill, and grind the corn: Uncover thy locks, disclose thy flowing hair; Make bare thy leg; wade through the rivers. ³ Thy nakedness shall be uncovered; even thy shame shall be seen: I will take full vengeance; neither will I suffer man to intercede with me. ⁴ Our avenger, JEHOVAH God of Hosts, the Holy One of Israel, is his name! ⁵ Sit thou in silence, go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; For thou shalt no longer be called the lady of the kingdoms. ⁶ I was angry with my people; I profaned my heritage; And I gave them up into thy hand: Thou didst not shew mercy unto them; Even upon the aged didst thou greatly aggravate the weight of thy yoke. ⁷ And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: Because thou didst not attentively consider these things; Thou didst not think on what was in the end to befall thee. ⁸ But hear now this, O thou voluptuous, that sittest in security; Thou that sayest in thy heart, I am, and there is none else; I shall not sit a widow; I shall not know the loss of children. ⁹Yet shall these two things come upon thee in a moment; In one day, loss of children and widowhood: On a sudden shall they come upon thee; Notwithstanding the multitude of thy sorceries, and the great strength of thine enchantments. ¹⁰ But thou didst trust in thy wickedness, and saidst, None seeth me: Thy wisdom and thy knowledge have perverted thy mind; So that thou hast said in thy heart, I am, and there is none besides. ¹¹ Therefore evil shall come upon thee, which thou shalt not know how to deprecate; And mischief shall fall upon thee, which thou shalt not be able to expiate; And destruction shall come upon thee suddenly, of which thou shalt have no apprehension. ¹² Persist now in thine enchantments; And in the multitude of thy sorceries, in which thou hast labored from thy youth: If peradventure thou mayest be profited, if thou mayest be strengthened by them. ¹³ Thou art wearied in the multiplicity of thy counsels: Let them stand up now, and save thee; The observers of the heavens, the gazers on the stars; They that prognosticate at every new moon, what are the events, that shall happen unto thee. ¹⁴ Behold they shall be like stubble; the fire shall burn them up: They shall not deliver their own souls from the power of the flame; Not a coal to warm one, not a fire to sit by, shall be left of them. ¹⁵ Such shall these be unto thee, with whom thou hast laboured; Thy negociators, with whom thou hast dealt from thy youth: Every one shall turn aside to his own business; none shall deliver thee.

CHAPTER 48     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ HEAR this, O house of Jacob; Ye that are called by the name of Israel: Ye that flow from the fountain of Judah; Ye that swear by the name of JEHOVAH, and publicly acknowledge the God of Israel; But not in sincerity, nor in truth: ² Who take their name from the Holy City, and make the God of Israel their support; JEHOVAH God of Hosts is his name: ³ The former things I shewed unto you from the first; And from my mouth they proceeded, and I declared them: On a sudden I effected them, and they came to pass. ⁴ Because I knew, that thou wast obstinate, and that thy neck was a sinew of iron, and that thy front was brass: ⁵ Therefore I shewed them unto thee from the first; Before they should come to pass, I made thee hear them: Lest thou shouldst say, Mine idol hath caused them; And my graven and my molten image hath directed them. ⁶ Thou didst hear it beforehand; behold, the whole is accomplished: And will ye not openly acknowledge this? From this time I make thee hear new things, kept secret hitherto, and of which thou hast no knowledge: ⁷ They are produced now, and not of old; And before this day thou hast not heard them: Lest thou shouldst say, Lo! I knew them. ⁸ Yea, thou hast not heard, thou hast not known, yea, from the first thine ear was not opened to receive them: For I knew, that thou wouldst certainly deal falsely, and that Apostate was thy name from thy birth. ⁹ For the sake of my name I will defer mine anger; And for the sake of my praise I will restrain it from thee, that I may not utterly cut thee off. ¹⁰ Behold, I have purified thee in the fire, but not as silver; I have tried thee in the furnace of affliction. ¹¹ For mine own sake will I do it; for how would my name be blasphemed? And my glory I will not give to another. ¹² Hearken unto me, O Jacob my servant; And Israel, whom I have called. I am He; I am the first, and I am the last: ¹³ Yea my hand hath founded the earth; And my right hand hath spanned the heavens: I summon them; they present themselves together. ¹⁴ Gather yourselves together all of you, and hear: Who among you hath predicted these things? He, whom JEHOVAH hath loved, will execute his will on Babylon, and his power on the Chaldeans. ¹⁵ I, even I, have spoken; yea I have called him: I have brought him, and his way shall prosper. ¹⁶ Draw near unto me, and hear ye this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; Before the time when it began to exist, I had decreed it. And now the Lord JEHOVAH hath sent me, and his Spirit. ¹⁷ Thus saith JEHOVAH, thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am JEHOVAH, thy God; Who teacheth thee what will tend to thy profit; Who directeth thee in the way wherein thou shouldst go. ¹⁸ O that thou hadst attended to my commands! Then had thy prosperity been like the river; And thy blessedness, as the floods of the sea: ¹⁹ And thy seed had been as the sand; And the issue of thy bowels, like that of the bowels thereof: Thy name should not be cut off, nor destroyed from before. ²⁰ Come ye forth from Babylon; flee ye from the land of the Chaldeans with the voice of joy: Publish ye this, and make it heard; utter it forth even to the end of the earth: Say ye, JEHOVAH hath redeemed his servant Jacob; ²¹ They thirsted not in the deserts, through which he made them go; Waters from the rock he caused to flow for them; Yea he clave the rock, and forth gushed the waters. ²² There is no peace, saith JEHOVAH, to the wicked.

CHAPTER 49     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ HEARKEN unto me, O ye distant lands; And ye peoples, attend from afar. JEHOVAH from the womb hath called me; From the bowels of my mother hath he mentioned my name. ² And he hath made my mouth a sharp sword; In the shadow of his hand he hath concealed me: Yea he hath made me a polished shaft; He hath laid me up in store in his quiver: ³ And he hath said unto me, Thou art my servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified. ⁴ And I said: I have laboured in vain; For nought, and for vanity, I have spent my strength: Nevertheless my cause is with JEHOVAH; And the reward of my work with my God. ⁵ And now thus saith JEHOVAH, (Who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring back again Jacob unto him, and that Israel unto him may be gathered: Therefore am I glorious in the eyes of JEHOVAH, and my God is my strength): ⁶ It is a small thing for thee, that thou shouldst be my servant, to raise up the scions of Jacob, and to restore the branches of Israel: I will even give thee for a light to the nations, to be my salvation to the end of the earth. ⁷ Thus saith JEHOVAH, the redeemer of Israel, his Holy One; To him, whose person is despised, whom the nation holds in abhorrence; To the subject of rulers: Kings shall see him, and rise up; Princes, and they shall worship him: For the sake of JEHOVAH, who is faithful; Of the Holy One of Israel, for he hath chosen thee. ⁸ Thus saith JEHOVAH: In the season of acceptance have I heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee; And I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people; To restore the land, to give possession of the desolate heritages. ⁹ Saying to the bounden, Go forth; And to those that are in darkness, Appear! They shall feed beside the ways, and on all the eminences shall be their pasture. ¹⁰ They shall not hunger, neither shall they thirst; Neither shall the glowing heat, or the sun, smite them: For he, that hath compassion on them, shall lead them; And shall guide them to the bursting springs of water. ¹¹ And I will make all my mountains an even way; And my causeways shall be raised on high. ¹² Lo! these shall come from afar; And lo! these from the north and the west; And these from the land of Sinim. ¹³ Sing aloud, O ye heavens; and rejoice, O earth; Ye mountains, burst forth into song: For JEHOVAH hath comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted. ¹⁴ But Sion sayeth: JEHOVAH hath forsaken me; And my Lord hath forgotten me. ¹⁵ Can a woman forget her sucking infant; That she should have no tenderness for the son of her womb? Even these may forget; But I will not forget thee. ¹⁶ Behold, on the palms of my hands have I delineated thee: Thy walls are for ever in my sight. ¹⁷ They, that destroyed thee, shall soon become thy builders; And they, that laid thee waste, shall become thine offspring. ¹⁸ Lift up thine eyes around, and see; All these are gathered together, they come to thee. As I live, saith JEHOVAH, surely thou shalt clothe thyself with them all, as with a rich dress; And bind them about thee, as a bride her jewels. ¹⁹ For thy waste, and thy desolate places, and thy land laid in ruins; Even now it shall be straitened with inhabitants; And they, that devoured thee, shall be removed far away. ²⁰ The sons, of whom thou wast bereaved, shall yet say in thine ears: This place is too strait for me; make room for me, that I may dwell. ²¹ And thou shalt say in thine heart: Who hath begotten me these? I was bereaved of my children, and solitary; An axile, and an outcast; who then hath nursed these up? Lo! I was abandoned, and alone; these then, where were they? ²² Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH: Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations; And to the peoples will I exalt my signal; And they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall be borne on their shoulder: ²³ And kings shall be thy foster-fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: With their faces to the earth they shall bow down unto thee, and shall lick the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know, that I am JEHOVAH; And that they, who trust in him, shall not be ashamed. ²⁴ Shall the spoil be taken away from the mighty? Or shall the prey seized by the terrible be rescued? ²⁵ Yea, thus saith JEHOVAH: Even the prey of the mighty shall be retaken; And the spoil seized by the terrible shall be rescued: For with those, that contend with thee, I will contend; And thy children I will deliver. ²⁶ And I will gorge thine oppressors with their own flesh; And with their own blood, as with new wine, will I drench them: And all flesh shall know, that I JEHOVAH am thy saviour; And that thy redeemer is the Mighty One of Jacob.

CHAPTER 50     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THUS saith JEHOVAH: Where is this bill of your mother’s divorcement, by which I dismissed her? Or who is he among my creditors, to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities are ye sold; And for your transgressions is your mother dismissed. ² Wherefore came I, and there was no man? Called I, and none answered? Is then my hand so greatly shortened, that I cannot redeem? And have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I make dry the sea; I make the rivers a desert: Their fish is dried up, because there is no water; And dieth away for thirst. ³ I clothe the heavens with blackness; And sackcloth I make their covering. ⁴ THE Lord JEHOVAH hath given me the tongue of the learned; That I might know how to speak a seasonable word to the weary. He wakeneth, morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear, to hearken with the attention of a learner. ⁵ The Lord JEHOVAH hath opened mine ear; And I was not rebellious; Neither did I withdraw myself backward. ⁶ I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: My face I hid not from shame and spitting. ⁷ For the Lord JEHOVAH is my helper; Therefore I am not ashamed. Therefore have I set my face as a flint; And I know, that I shall not be confounded. ⁸ He that justifieth me is near at hand: Who is he that will contend with me? let us stand forth together: Who is mine adversary? let him come on to the contest. ⁹ Behold, the Lord JEHOVAH is my advocate: Who is he that shall condemn me? Lo! all of them shall wax old as a garment; The moth shall consume them. ¹⁰ Who is there among you, that feareth JEHOVAH? Let him hearken unto the voice of his servant: That walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of JEHOVAH; And rest himself on the support of his God. ¹¹ Behold, all ye who kindle a fire; Who heap the fuel round about: Walk ye in the light of your fire, and of the fuel, which ye have kindled. This ye shall have at my hand; Ye shall lie down in sorrow.

CHAPTER 51     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ HEARKEN unto me, ye that pursue righteousness, ye that seek JEHOVAH. Look unto the rock, from whence ye were hewn; And to the hollow of the cave, whence ye were digged. ² Look unto Abraham your father; And unto Sarah, who bore you: For I called him, being a single person, and I blessed him, and I multiplied him. ³ Thus therefore shall JEHOVAH console Sion; He shall console all her desolations: And he shall make her wilderness like Eden; And her desert like the garden of JEHOVAH: Joy and gladness shall be found in her; Thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. ⁴ Attend unto me, O ye peoples; And give ear unto me, O ye nations: For the law from me shall proceed; And my judgment will I cause to break forth for a light to the peoples. ⁵ My righteousness is at hand; my salvation goeth forth; And mine arm shall dispense judgment to the peoples: Me the distant lands shall expect; And to mine arm shall they look with confidence. ⁶ Lift up unto the heavens your eyes; And look down unto the earth beneath: Verily the heavens shall dissolve, like smoke; And the earth shall wax old, like a garment; And its inhabitants shall perish, like the vilest insect: But my salvation shall endure for ever; And my righteousness shall not decay. ⁷ Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness; The people, in whose heart is my law: Fear not the reproach of wretched man; Neither be ye borne down by their revilings. ⁸ For the moth shall consume them, like a garment; And the worm shall eat them, like wool: But my righteousness shall endure for ever; And my salvation to the age of ages. ⁹ Awake, awake, clothe thyself with strength, O arm of JEHOVAH! Awake, as in the days of old, the ancient generations. Art thou not the same that smote Rahab, that wounded the dragon? ¹⁰ Art thou not the same, that dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep? That made the depths of the sea a path for the redeemed to pass through? ¹¹ Thus shall the ransomed of JEHOVAH return, and come to Sion with loud acclamation: And everlasting gladness shall crown their heads; Joy and gladness shall they obtain, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. ¹² I, even I, am he that comforteth you: Who art thou, that thou shouldst fear wretched man, that dieth; And the son of man, that shall become as the grass? ¹³ And shouldst forget JEHOVAH thy maker, who stretched out the heavens, and founded the earth; And shouldst every day be in continued fear, because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were just ready to destroy? And where now is the fury of the oppressor? ¹⁴ He marcheth on with speed, who cometh to set free the captive; That he may not die in the dungeon, and that his bread may not fail. ¹⁵ For I am JEHOVAH thy God; He, who stilleth at once the sea, though the waves thereof roar; JEHOVAH God of Hosts is his name. ¹⁶ I have put my words in thy mouth; And with the shadow of my hand have I covered thee: To stretch out the heavens, and to lay the foundations of the earth; And to say unto Sion, Thou art my people. ¹⁷ Rouse thyself, rouse thyself up; arise, O Jerusalem! Who hast drunken from the hand of JEHOVAH the cup of his fury: The dregs of the cup of trembling thou hast drunken, thou hast wrung them out. ¹⁸ There is not one to lead her, of all the sons which she hath brought forth; Neither is there one to support her by the hand, of all the sons which she hath educated. ¹⁹ These two things have befallen thee; who shall bemoan thee? Desolation, and destruction; the famine, and the sword; who shall comfort thee? ²⁰ Thy sons lie astounded; they are cast down; At the head of all the streets, like the oryx taken in the toils; Drenched to the full with the fury of JEHOVAH, with the rebuke of thy God. ²¹ Wherefore hear now this, O thou afflicted daughter; And thou drunken, but not with wine. ²² Thus saith thy Lord JEHOVAH; And thy God, who avengeth his people: Behold, I take from thy hand the cup of trembling; The dregs of the cup of my fury; Thou shalt drink of it again no more. ²³ But I will put it into the hand of them who oppress thee; Who say to thee, Bow down thy body, that we may go over: And thou layedst down thy back, as the ground; And as the street, to them that pass along.

CHAPTER 52     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ AWAKE, awake; be clothed with thy strength, O Sion: Clothe thyself with thy glorious garments, O Jerusalem, thou holy city! For no more shall enter into thee the uncircumcised and the polluted. ² Shake thyself from the dust, ascend thy lofty seat, O Jerusalem: Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion! ³ For thus saith JEHOVAH: For nought were ye sold; And not with money shall ye be ransomed. ⁴ For thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH: My people went down to Egypt, at the first, to sojourn there; And the Assyrian, at the last, hath oppressed them. ⁵ And now, what have I more to do, saith JEHOVAH: Seeing that my people is taken away for nought; And they, that are lords over them, make their boast of it, saith JEHOVAH; And continually every day is my name exposed to contempt? ⁶ Therefore shall my people know my name in that day: For I am he, JEHOVAH, that promised; and lo! here I am! ⁷ How beautiful appear on the mountains the feet of the joyful messenger; of him, that announceth peace! Of the joyful messenger of good tidings; of him, that announceth salvation! Of him, that sayeth unto Sion, Thy God reigneth! ⁸ All thy watchmen lift up their voice; they shout together: For face to face shall they see, when JEHOVAH returneth to Sion. ⁹ Burst forth into joy, shout together, ye ruins of Jerusalem! For JEHOVAH hath comforted his people; he hath redeemed Israel. ¹⁰ JEHOVAH hath made bare his holy arm, in the sight of all the nations; And all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. ¹¹ Depart, depart ye, go ye out from thence; touch no polluted thing: Go ye out from the midst of her; be ye clean, ye that bear the vessels of JEHOVAH! ¹² Verily not in haste shall ye go forth; And not by flight shall ye march along: For JEHOVAH shall march in your front; And the God of Israel shall bring up your rear. ¹³ BEHOLD, my servant shall prosper; He shall be raised aloft, and magnified, and very highly exalted. ¹⁴ As many were astonished at him; (To such a degree was his countenance disfigured, more than that of man; And his form, more than the sons of men); ¹⁵ So shall he sprinkle many nations: Before him shall kings shut their mouths; For what was not before declared to them, they shall see, and what they had not heard, they shall attentively consider.

CHAPTER 53     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ Who hath believed our report; And to whom hath the arm of JEHOVAH been manifested? ² For he groweth up in their sight like a tender sucker; And like a root from a thirsty soil: He hath no form, nor any beauty, that we should regard him; Nor is his countenance such, that we should desire him. ³Despised, nor accounted in the number of men; A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; As one that hideth his face from us: He was despised, and we esteemed him not. ⁴ Surely our infirmities he hath borne; And our sorrows, he hath carried them: Yet we thought him judicially stricken; Smitten of God, and afflicted. ⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions; Was smitten for our iniquities: The chastisement, by which our peace is effected, was laid upon him; And by his bruises we are healed. ⁶ We all of us like sheep have strayed; We have turned aside, every one to his own way; And JEHOVAH hath made to light upon him the iniquity of us all. ⁷ It was exacted, and he was made answerable; and he opened not his mouth: As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb; so he opened not his mouth. ⁸ By an oppressive judgment he was taken off; And his manner of life who would declare? For he was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgression of my people he was smitten to death. ⁹ And his grave was appointed with the wicked; But with the rich man was his tomb. Although he had done no wrong, neither was there any guile in his mouth; ¹⁰ Yet it pleased JEHOVAH to crush him with affliction. If his soul shall make a propitiatory sacrifice, he shall see a seed, which shall prolong their days, and the gracious purpose of JEHOVAH shall prosper in his hands. ¹¹ Of the travail of his soul he shall see [the fruit], and be satisfied: By the knowledge of him shall my servant justify many; For the punishment of their iniquities he shall bear. ¹² Therefore will I distribute to him the many for his portion; And the mighty people shall he share for his spoil: Because he poured out his soul unto death; And was numbered with the transgressors: And he bare the sin of many; And made intercession for the transgressors.

CHAPTER 54     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ SHOUT for joy, O thou barren, that didst not bear; Break forth into joyful shouting, and exult, thou that didst not travail: For more are the children of the desolate, than of the married woman, saith JEHOVAH. ² Enlarge the place of thy tent; And let the canopy of thy habitation be extended: Spare not; lengthen thy cords, and firmly fix thy stakes: ³ For on the right hand, and on the left, thou shalt burst forth with increase; And thy seed shall inherit the nations; And they shall inhabit the desolate cities. ⁴ Fear not, for thou shalt not be confounded; And blush not, for thou shalt not be brought to reproach: For thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth; And the reproach of thy widowhood thou shalt remember no more. ⁵ For thy husband is thy maker; JEHOVAH God of Hosts is his name: And thy redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. ⁶ For as a woman forsaken, and deeply afflicted, hath JEHOVAH recalled thee; And as a wife, wedded in youth, but afterwards rejected, saith thy God. ⁷ In a little anger have I forsaken thee; But with great mercies will I receive thee again: ⁸ In a short wrath I hid my face for a moment from thee; But with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee; Saith thy redeemer JEHOVAH. ⁹ The same will I do now, as in the days of Noah, when I sware, that the waters of Noah should no more pass over the earth: So have I sworn, that I will not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. ¹⁰ For the mountains shall be removed; And the hills shall be overthrown: But my kindness from thee shall not be removed; And the covenant of my peace shall not be overthrown; Saith JEHOVAH, who beareth towards thee the most tender affection. ¹¹ O thou afflicted, beaten with the storm, destitute of consolation! Behold I lay thy stones in cement of vermilion, and thy foundations with sapphires: ¹² And I will make of rubies thy battlements; And thy gates of carbuncles; And the whole circuit of thy walls shall be of precious stones. ¹³ And all thy children shall be taught by JEHOVAH; And great shall be the prosperity of thy children. ¹⁴ In righteousness shalt thou be established: Be thou far from oppression; yea thou shalt not fear it; And from terror; for it shall not approach thee. ¹⁵ Behold, they shall be leagued together, but not by my command; Whosoever is leagued against thee, shall come over to thy side. ¹⁶ Behold, I have created the smith, who bloweth up the coals into a fire, and produceth instruments according to his work; And I have created the destroyer to lay waste. ¹⁷ Whatever weapon is formed against thee, it shall not prosper; And against every tongue, that contendeth with thee, thou shalt obtain thy cause. This is the heritage of JEHOVAH’s servants, and their justification from me, saith JEHOVAH.

CHAPTER 55     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters! And that hath no silver, come ye, buy, and eat! Yea, come, buy ye without silver; And without price, wine and milk. ² Wherefore do ye weigh out your silver for that which is no bread? And your riches, for that which will not satisfy? Attend, and hearken unto me; and eat that which is truly good; And your soul shall feast itself with the richest delicacies. ³ Incline your ear, and come unto me; Attend, and your soul shall live: And I will make with you an everlasting covenant; I will give you the gracious promises made to David, which shall never fail. ⁴ Behold, for a witness to the peoples I have given him; A leader, and a lawgiver to the nations. ⁵ Behold, the nation, whom thou knewest not, thou shalt call; And the nation, who knew not thee, shall run unto thee, for the sake of JEHOVAH thy God; And for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. ⁶ Seek ye JEHOVAH, while he may be found; Call ye upon him, while he is near at hand: ⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return unto JEHOVAH, for he will receive him with compassion; And unto our God, for he aboundeth in forgiveness. ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts; Neither are your ways my ways, saith JEHOVAH. ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth; So are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. ¹⁰ Verily, like as the rain descendeth, and the snow, from the heavens; And thither it doth not return; But moisteneth the earth, and maketh it generate, and put forth its increase; That it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: ¹¹ So shall be the word, which goeth forth from my mouth; It shall not return unto me fruitless; But it shall effect what I have willed; And make the purpose succeed, for which I have sent it. ¹² Surely with joy shall ye go forth, and with peace shall ye be led onward: The mountains and the hills shall burst forth before you into song; And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. ¹³ Instead of the thorny bushes shall grow up the fir-tree; And instead of the bramble shall grow up the myrtle: And it shall be unto JEHOVAH for a memorial; For a perpetual sign, which shall not be abolished.

CHAPTER 56     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THUS saith JEHOVAH: Keep ye judgment, and practise righteousness; For my salvation is near, just ready to come; And my righteousness, to be revealed. ² Blessed is the mortal that doeth this; And the son of man that holdeth it fast; That keepeth the sabbath, and profaneth it not; And restraineth his hand from doing evil. ³ And let not the son of the stranger speak, that cleaveth unto JEHOVAH, saying: JEHOVAH hath utterly separated me from his people. Neither let the eunuch say: Behold, I am a dry tree. ⁴ For thus saith JEHOVAH to the eunuchs: Whoever of them shall have kept my sabbaths, and shall have chosen that in which I delight, and shall have steadfastly maintained my covenant; ⁵ To them I will give in my house, and within my walls, a memorial and a name, better than that of sons and daughters: An everlasting name will I give them, which shall never be cut off. ⁶ And the sons of the stranger, who cleave unto JEHOVAH; To minister unto him, and to love the name of JEHOVAH, and to become his servants: Every one that keepeth the sabbath, and profaneth it not; And that steadfastly maintaineth my covenant; ⁷ Them will I bring unto my holy mountain; And I will make them rejoice in my house of prayer: Their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on mine altar; For my house shall be called, The house of prayer for all the peoples. ⁸ Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH, who gathereth together the outcasts of Israel: Yet will I gather others unto him, beside those that are already gathered. ⁹ O ALL ye beasts of the field, come away; Come to devour, O all ye beasts of the forest! ¹⁰ His watchmen are blind, all of them; they are ignorant; They are all of them dumb dogs, they cannot bark: Dreamers, sluggards, loving to slumber. ¹¹ Yea these dogs are of untamed appetite; They know not to be satisfied. And the shepherds themselves cannot understand: They all of them turn aside to their own way; Each to his own lucre, from the highest to the lowest. ¹² Come on, let us provide wine; And let us swill strong drink: And as to-day, so shall be the cheer of to-morrow; Great, even far more abundant.

CHAPTER 57     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THE righteous man perisheth, and no one considereth; And pious men are taken away, and no one understandeth, that the righteous man is taken away, because of the evil. ² He shall go in peace: he shall rest in his bed; Even the perfect man; he that walketh in the strait path. ³ But ye, draw ye near hither, O ye sons of the sorceress; Ye seed of the adulterer, and of the harlot! ⁴ Of whom do ye make your sport? At whom do ye widen the mouth, and loll the tongue? Are ye not apostate children, a false seed? ⁵ Burning with the lust of idols under every green tree; Slaying the children in the vallies, under the clefts of the rocks? ⁶ Among the smooth stones of the valley is thy portion; These, these are thy lot: Even to these hast thou poured out thy libation, hast thou presented thine offering. Can I see these things with acquiescence? ⁷ Upon a high and lofty mountain hast thou set thy bed: Even thither hast thou gone up to offer sacrifice. ⁸ Behind the door and the door-posts hast thou set thy memorial: Thou hast departed from me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed; And thou hast made a covenant with them: Thou hast loved their bed; thou hast provided a place for it. ⁹ And thou hast visited the king with a present of oil; And hast multiplied thy precious ointments: And thou hast sent thine ambassadors afar; And hast debased thyself even to Hades. ¹⁰In the length of thy journeys thou hast wearied thyself; Thou hast said, There is no hope: Thou hast found the support of thy life by thy labour: Therefore thou hast not utterly fainted. ¹¹ And of whom hast thou been so anxiously afraid, that thou shouldst thus deal falsely? And hast not remembered me, nor revolved it in thy mind? Is it not because I was silent, and winked; and thou fearest me not? ¹² But I will declare my righteousness; And thy deeds shall not avail thee. ¹³ When thou criest, let thine associates deliver thee: But the wind shall bear them away; a breath shall take them off. But he that trusteth in me shall inherit the land, and shall possess my holy mountain. ¹⁴ Then will I say: Cast up, cast up the causeway; make clear the way; Remove every obstruction from the road of my people. ¹⁵ For thus saith JEHOVAH, the high, and the lofty; Inhabiting eternity; and whose name is the Holy One: The high and the holy place will I inhabit; And with the contrite, and humble of spirit: To revive the spirit of the humble; And to give life to the heart of the contrite. ¹⁶ For I will not alway contend; Neither for ever will I be wroth: For the spirit from before me would be overwhelmed; And the living souls, which I have made. ¹⁷ Because of his iniquity for a short time I was wroth: And I smote him; hiding my face in mine anger. And he departed, turning back in the way of his own heart. ¹⁸ I have seen his ways; and I will heal him, and will be his guide; And I will restore comforts, to him, and to his mourners. ¹⁹ I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him that is near, and to him that is afar off, saith JEHOVAH; and I will heal him. ²⁰ But the wicked are like the troubled sea; For it never can be at rest; But its waters work up filth and mire. ²¹ There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

CHAPTER 58      (Selectează capitolul)

¹ CRY aloud; spare not: Like a trumpet lift up thy voice: And declare unto my people their transgression; And to the house of Jacob their sin. ² Yet me day after day they seek; And to know my ways they take delight: As a nation that doeth righteousness, and hath not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They continually inquire of me concerning the ordinances of righteousness; They take delight to draw nigh unto God. ³ Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not? Have we afflicted our souls, and thou dost not regard? Behold, in the day of your fasting, ye enjoy your pleasure; And all your demands of labour ye rigorously exact. ⁴ Behold, ye fast for strife and contention; And to smite with the fist the poor. Wherefore fast ye unto me in this manner; To make your voice to be heard on high? ⁵ Is such then the fast which I choose; That a man should afflict his soul for a day? Is it, that he should bow down his head like a bulrush; And spread sackcloth and ashes for his couch? Shall this be called a fast, and a day acceptable to JEHOVAH? ⁶  Is not this the fast which I choose? To dissolve the bands of wickedness; To loosen the oppressive burthens; To deliver those that are crushed by violence; And that ye should break asunder every yoke? ⁷ Is it not to distribute thy bread to the hungry; And to bring the wandering poor into thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou clothe him; And that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? ⁸ Then shall thy light break forth like the morning; And thy wounds shall speedily be healed over: And thy righteousness shall go before thee; And the glory of JEHOVAH shall bring up thy rear. ⁹ Then shalt thou call, and JEHOVAH shall answer; Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Lo I am here! If thou remove from the midst of thee the yoke; The pointing of the finger, and the injurious speech: ¹⁰ If thou bring forth thy bread to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; Then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness shall be as the noon-day. ¹¹ And JEHOVAH shall lead thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in the severest drought; And he shall renew thy strength: And thou shalt be like a well-watered garden, and like a flowing spring, whose waters shall never fail. ¹² And they that spring from thee shall build the ancient ruins; The foundations of old times shall they raise up: And thou shalt be called the repairer of the broken mound; The restorer of paths to be frequented by inhabitants. ¹³ If thou restrain thy foot from the sabbath; From doing thy pleasure on my holy day: And shalt call the sabbath, a delight; And the holy feast of JEHOVAH, honourable: And shalt honour it, by refraining from thy purpose; From pursuing thy pleasure, and from speaking vain words: ¹⁴ Then shalt thou delight thyself in JEHOVAH; And I will make thee ride on the high places of the earth; And I will feed thee on the inheritance of Jacob thy father: For the mouth of JEHOVAH hath spoken it.

CHAPTER 59     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ BEHOLD, the hand of JEHOVAH is not contracted, so that he cannot save; Neither is his ear grown dull, so that he cannot hear. ² But your inquities have made a separation between you and your God; And your sins have hidden his face from you, that he doth not hear. ³ For your hands are polluted with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; Your lips speak falsehood, and your tongue muttereth wickedness. ⁴ No one preferreth his suit in justice, and no one pleadeth in truth: Trusting in vanity, and speaking lies; Conceiving mischief, and bringing forth iniquity. ⁵ They hatch the eggs of the basilisk, and weave the web of the spider: He that eateth of their eggs dieth; And when it is crushed, a viper breaketh forth. ⁶ Of their webs no garment shall be made; Neither shall they cover themselves with their works: Their works are works of iniquity, and the deed of violence is in their hands. ⁷ Their feet run swiftly to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood: Their devices are devices of iniquity; Destruction and calamity is in their paths. ⁸ The way of peace they know not; Neither is there any judgement in their tracks: They have made to themselves crooked paths; Whoever goeth in them, knoweth not peace. ⁹ Therefore is judgment far distant from us; Neither doth justice overtake us: We look for light, but behold darkness; For brightness, but we walk in obscurity. ¹⁰ We grope for the wall, like the blind; And we wander, as those that are deprived of sight: We stumble at mid-day, as in the twilight; In the midst of delicacies, as among the dead. ¹¹ We groan all of us, like the bears; And like the doves, we make a continued moan. We look for judgment, and there is none; For salvation, and it is far distant from us. ¹² For our transgressions are multiplied before thee; And our sins bring an accusation against us: For our transgressions cleave fast unto us; And our iniquities we acknowledge. ¹³ By rebelling, and lying, against JEHOVAH; And by turning backward from following our God: By speaking injury, and conceiving revolt; And by meditating from the heart lying words. ¹⁴ And judgment is turned away backwards; And justice standeth aloof: For truth hath stumbled in the open street; And rectitude hath not been able to enter. ¹⁵ And truth is utterly lost; And he that shunneth evil, exposeth himself to be plundered: And JEHOVAH saw it, and it displeased him, that there was no judgment. ¹⁶ And he saw, that there was no man; And he wondered, that there was no one to interpose: Then his own arm wrought salvation for him; And his righteousness, it supported him. ¹⁷ And he put on righteousness, as a breast-plate; And the helmet of salvation was on his head: And he put on the garments of vengeance for his clothing; And he clad himself with zeal, as with a mantle. ¹⁸ He is mighty to recompense; He that is mighty to recompense will requite: Wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; To the distant coasts a recompense will he requite. ¹⁹ And they from the west shall revere the name of JEHOVAH; And they from the rising of the sun, his glory; When ha shall come, like a river straitened in his course, which a strong wind driveth along. ²⁰And the Redeemer shall come to Sion; And shall turn away iniquity from Jacob; saith JEHOVAH. ²¹ And this is the covenant, which I make with them, saith JEHOVAH: My spirit, which is upon thee, and my words, which I have put in thy mouth; They shall not depart from thy mouth, nor from the mouth of thy seed, nor from the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith JEHOVAH; From this time forth for ever.

CHAPTER 60     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ ARISE, be thou enlightened; for thy light is come; And the glory of JEHOVAH is risen upon thee. ² For behold, darkness shall cover the earth; And a thick vapour the nations: And upon thee shall JEHOVAH arise; And his glory upon thee shall be conspicuous. ³ And the nations shall walk in thy light; And kings in the brightness of thy sun-rising. ⁴ Lift up thine eyes round about, and see; All of them are gathered together, they come unto thee: Thy sons shall come from afar; And thy daughters shall be carried at the side. ⁵ Then shalt thou fear, and overflow with joy; And thy heart shall be ruffled, and dilated; When the riches of the sea shall be poured in upon thee; When the wealth of the nations shall come unto thee. ⁶ An inundation of camels shall cover thee; The dromedaries of Midian and Epha; All of them from Saba shall come: Gold and frankincense shall they bear; And the praise of JEHOVAH shall they joyfully proclaim. ⁷ All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered unto thee; Unto thee shall the rams of Nebaioth minister: They shall ascend with acceptance on mine altar; And my beauteous house I will yet beautify. ⁸ Who are these, that fly like a cloud? And like doves upon the wing? ⁹ Verily the distant coasts shall await me; And the ships of Tarshish among the first: To bring thy sons from afar; Their silver and their gold with them: Because of the name of JEHOVAH thy God; And of the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee. ¹⁰ And the sons of the stranger shall build up thy walls; And their kings shall minister unto thee: For in my wrath I smote thee; But in my favour I will embrace thee with the most tender affection. ¹¹ And thy gates shall be oben continually; By day, or by night, they shall not be shut: To bring unto thee the wealth of the nations; And that their kings may come pompously attended. ¹² For that nation, and that kingdom, which will not serve thee, shall perish; Yea, those nations shall be utterly desolated. ¹³ The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee; The fir-tree, the pine, and the box together: To adorn the place of my sanctuary; And that I may glorify the place, whereon I rest my feet. ¹⁴ And the sons of thine oppressors shall come bending before thee; And all, that scornfully rejected thee, shall do obeisance to the soles of thy feet: And they shall call thee, The City of JEHOVAH; The Sion of the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵ Instead of thy being forsaken, and hated, so that no one passed through thee; I will make thee an everlasting boast; A subject of joy for perpetual generations. ¹⁶ And thou shalt suck the milk of nations; Even at the breast of kings shalt thou be fostered: And thou shalt know, that I JEHOVAH am thy saviour; And that thy redeemer is the Mighty One of Jacob. ¹⁷ Instead of brass, I will bring gold; And instead of iron, I will bring silver: And instead of wood, brass; And instead of stones, iron. And I will make thine inspectors peace; And thine exactors, righteousness. ¹⁸ Violence shall no more be heard in thy land; Destruction and calamity, in thy borders: But thou shalt call thy walls, Salvation; And thy gates, Praise. ¹⁹ No longer shalt thou have the sun for a light by day; Nor by night shall the brightness of the moon enlighten thee: For JEHOVAH shall be to thee an everlasting light, and thy God shall be thy glory. ²⁰ Thy sun shall no more go down; Neither shall thy moon wane: For JEHOVAH shall be thine everlasting light; And the days of thy mourning shall be ended. ²¹ And thy people shall be all righteous; For ever shall they possess the land: The cion of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. ²² The little one shall become a thousand; And the small one a strong nation: I JEHOVAH in due time will hasten it.

CHAPTER 61      (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THE spirit of JEHOVAH is upon me, because JEHOVAH hath anointed me. To publish glad tidings to the meek hath he sent me; To bind up the broken hearted: To proclaim to the captives freedom; And to the bounden, perfect liberty: ² To proclaim the year of acceptance with JEHOVAH; And the day of vengeance of our God. To comfort all those that mourn; ³ To impart [gladness] to the mourners of Sion: To give them a beautiful crown, instead of ashes; The oil of gladness instead of sorrow; The clothing of praise, instead of the spirit of heaviness. That they may be called trees approved; The plantation of JEHOVAH for his glory. ⁴ And they that spring from thee shall build up the ruins of old times; They shall restore the ancient desolations: They shall repair the cities laid waste; The desolations of continued ages. ⁵ And strangers shall stand up and feed your flocks; And the sons of the alien shall be your husbandmen and vine-dressers. ⁶ But ye shall be called the priests of JEHOVAH; The ministers of our God, shall be your title. The riches of the nations shall ye eat; And in their glory shall ye make your boast. ⁷ Instead of your shame, ye shall receive a double inheritance; And of your ignominy, ye shall rejoice in their portion: For in their land a double share shall ye inherit; And everlasting gladness shall ye possess. ⁸ For I am JEHOVAH, who love judgment; Who hate rapine and iniquity: And I will give them the reward of their work with faithfulness; And an everlasting covenant I will make with them: ⁹ And their seed shall be illustrious among the nations; And their offspring, in the midst of the peoples. And they that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are a seed which JEHOVAH hath blessed. ¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice in JEHOVAH; My soul shall exult in my God. For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; He hath covered me with the mantle of righteousness: As the bridegroom decketh himself with a priestly crown; And as the bride adorneth herself with her costly jewels. ¹¹ Surely, as the earth pusheth forth her tender shoots; And as a garden maketh her seed to germinate: So shall the Lord JEHOVAH cause righteousness to spring forth; And praise, in the presence of all the nations.

CHAPTER 62      (Selectează capitolul)

¹ FOR Sion’s sake I will not keep silence; And for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest: Until her righteousness break forth as a strong light; And her salvation, like a blazing torch. ² And the nations shall see thy righteousness; And all the kings, thy glory: And thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of JEHOVAH shall fix upon thee. ³ And thou shalt be a beautiful crown in the hand of JEHOVAH; And a royal diadem in the grasp of thy God. ⁴No more shall it be said unto thee, Thou forsaken! Neither to thy land shall it be said any more, Thou desolate! But thou shalt be called, The object of my delight; And thy land, The wedded matron: For JEHOVAH shall delight in thee; And thy land shall be joined in marriage. ⁵ For as a young man weddeth a virgin, so shall thy restorer wed thee: And as the bridegroom rejoiceth in his bride, so shall thy God rejoice in thee. ⁶ Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, have I set watchmen all the day: And all the night long they shall not keep silence. O ye, that proclaim the name of JEHOVAH! ⁷ Keep not silence yourselves, nor let him rest in silence; Until he establish, and until he render, Jerusalem a praise in the earth. ⁸ JEHOVAH hath sworn by his right hand, and by his powerful arm: I will no more give thy corn for food to thine enemies; Nor shall the sons of the stranger drink thy must, for which thou hast labored: ⁹ But they, that reap the harvest, shall eat it, and praise JEHOVAH; And they, that gather the vintage, shall drink it in my sacred courts. ¹⁰ Pass ye, pass through the gates; prepare the way for the people! Cast ye up, cast up the causeway; clear it from the stones! Lift up on high a standard to the nations! ¹¹ Behold, JEHOVAH hath thus proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say ye to the daughter of Sion, Lo thy saviour cometh! Lo! his reward is with him, and the recompense of his work before him. And they shall be called, The holy people, the redeemed of JEHOVAH; ¹² And thou shalt be called, The much dasired, The city unforsaken.

CHAPTER 63     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ CHO. WHO is this, that cometh from Edom? With garments deeply dyed from Botsra? This, that is magnificent in his apparel; Marching on in the greatness of his strength? MES. I, who publish righteousness, and am mighty to save. ² CHO. Wherefore is thine apparel red? And thy garments, as of one that treadeth the wine-vat? ³ MES. I have trodden the vat alone; And of the peoples there was not a man with me. And I trod them in mine anger; And I trampled them in mine indignation: And their life-blood was sprinkled upon my garments; And I have stained all mine apparel. ⁴ For the day of vengeance was in my heart; And the year of my redeemed was come. ⁵ And I looked, and there was no one to help; And I was astonished, that there was no one to uphold: Therefore mine own arm wrought salvation for me, and mine indignation itself sustained me. ⁶ And I trod down the peoples in mine anger; And I crushed them in mine indignation; And I spilled their life-blood on the ground. ⁷ THE mercies of JEHOVAH will I record, the praise of JEHOVAH; According to all that JEHOVAH hath bestowed upon us: And the greatness of his goodness to the house of Israel; Which he hath bestowed upon them, through his tenderness and great kindness. ⁸ For he said: Surely they are my people, children that will not prove false; And he became their saviour in all their distress. ⁹ It was not an envoy, nor an angel of his presence, that saved them: Through his love, and his indulgence, he himself redeemed them; And he took them up, and he bare them, all the days of old. ¹⁰ But they rebelled, and grieved his holy spirit; ¹⁰ So that he became their enemy; and he fought against them. ¹¹ And he remembered the days of old, Moses his servant; How he brought them up from the sea, with the shepherd of his flock; How he placed in his breast his holy spirit: ¹² Making his glorious arm to attend Moses on his right hand in his march; Cleaving the waters before them, to make himself a name everlasting; ¹³ Leading them through the abyss, like a courser in the plain, without obstacle. ¹⁴  As the herd descendeth to the valley, the spirit of JEHOVAH conducted them: So didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a name illustrious. ¹⁵ Look down from heaven, and see, from thy holy and glorious dwelling: Where is thy zeal, and thy mighty power; The yearning of thy bowels, and thy tender affections? are they restrained from us? ¹⁶Verify, Thou art our father; for Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us. Thou, O JEHOVAH, art our father: O deliver us for the sake of thy name! ¹⁷ Wherefore, O JEHOVAH, dost thou suffer us to err from thy ways? To harden our hearts from the fear of thee? Return for the sake of thy servants; For the sake of the tribes of thine inheritance. ¹⁸ It is little, that they have taken possession of thy holy mountain; That our enemies have trodden down thy sanctuary: ¹⁹ We have long been as those, whom thou hast not ruled; Who have not been called by thy name.

CHAPTER 64     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ O! that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst descend; That the mountains might flow down at thy presence! ² As the fire kindleth the dry fuel; As the fire causeth the waters to boil: To make known thy name to thine enemies; That the nations might tremble at thy presence. ³ When thou didst wonderful things, which we expected not; Thou didst descend; at thy presence the mountains flowed down. ⁴For never have men heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor hath eye seen, a God beside thee, who doeth such things for those that trust in him. ⁵ Thou meetest with joy those who work righteousness; Who in thy ways remember thee. Lo! Thou art angry; for we have sinned: Because of our deeds; for we have been rebellious. ⁶ And we are all of us as a polluted thing; And like a rejected garment are all our righteous deeds: And we are withered away, like a leaf, all of us; And our sins, like the wind, have borne us away. ⁷ There is no one that invoketh thy name; That rouseth himself up to lay hold on thee: Therefore thou hast hidden thy face from us; And hast delivered us up into the hand of our iniquities. ⁸  Bout thou, O JEHOVAH, thou art our father; We are the clay, and thou hast formed us: We are all of us the work of thy hands. ⁹ Be not wroth, O JEHOVAH, to the uttermost; Nor forever remember iniquity. Behold, look upon us, we beseech thee; we are all thy people. ¹⁰ Thy holy cities are become a wilderness; Sion is become a wilderness; Jerusalem is desolate. ¹¹ Our holy and glorious temple, wherein our fathers praised thee, is utterly burnt up wiith fire; And all the objects of our desire are become a devastation. ¹² Wilt thou contain thyself at these things, O JEHOVAH? Wilt thou keep silence, and still grievously afflict us? 

CHAPTER 65     (Selectează capitolul)

¹  I AM made known to those, that asked not for me; I am found of those, that sought me not: I have said: Behold me, here I am, to the nation, which never invoked my name: ² I have stretched out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in an evil way , after their own devices. ³ A people, who provoke me to my face continually; Sacrificing in the gardens, and burning incense on the tiles: ⁴ Who dwell in the sepulchres, and lodge in the caverns; Who eat the flesh of the swine; And the broth of abominable meats is in their vessels: ⁵ Who say: Keep to thyself; come not near me; for I am holier than thou. These kindle a smoke in my nostrils, a fire burning all the day long. ⁶ Behold, this is recorded in writing before me: I will not keep silence, but will certainly requite; ⁷ I will requite into their bosom their iniquities; And the iniquities of their fathers together, saith JEHOVAH: Who burnt incense on the mountains, and dishonoured me upon the hills: Yea, I will pour into their bosom the full measure of their former deeds. ⁸ Thus saith JEHOVAH: As when one findeth a good grape in the cluster; And sayeth, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: So will I do for the sake of my servants; I will not destroy the whole. ⁹ So will I bring forth from Jacob a seed; And from Judah an inheritor of my mountain: And my chosen shall inherit the land; And my servants shall dwell there. ¹⁰ And Sharon shall be a fold for the flock, and the valley of Achor a resting for the herd; For my people, who have sought after me. ¹¹ But ye, who have deserted JEHOVAH; And have forgotten my holy mountain: Who set in order a table for Gad; And fill out a libation to Meni: ¹² You will I number out to the sword; And all of you shall bow down to the slaughter. Because I called, and ye answered not; I spake, and ye would not hear: But ye did that, which is evil in my sight; And that, in which I delighted not, ye chose. ¹³ Wherefore thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH: Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be famished; Behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; Behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be confounded: ¹⁴ Behold, my servants shall sing aloud, for gladness of heart; But ye shall cry aloud, for grief of heart; And in the anguish of a broken spirit shall ye howl. ¹⁵ And ye shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen: And the Lord JEHOVAH shall slay you; And his servants shall he call by another name. ¹⁶ Whoso blesseth himself upon the earth, shall bless himself in the God of truth; And whoso sweareth upon the earth, shall swear by the God of truth. Because the former provocations are forgotten; And because they are hidden from mine eyes. ¹⁷ For behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth: And the former ones shall not be remembered, neither shall they be brought to mind any more. ¹⁸ But ye shall rejoice and exult in the age to come, which I create: For lo! I create Jerusalem a subject of joy, and her people of gladness; ¹⁹ And I will exult in Jerusalem, and rejoice in my people. And there shall not be heard any more therein, the voice of weeping, and the voice of a distressful cry: ²⁰ No more shall be there an infant short-lived; Nor an old man who hath not fulfilled his days: For he, that dieth at an hundred years, shall die a boy; And the sinner that dieth at an hundred years, shall be deemed accursed. ²¹ And they shall build houses, and shall inhabit them; And they shall plant vineyards, and shall eat the fruit thereof. ²² They shall not build, and another inhabit; They shall not plant, and another eat: For as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people; And they shall wear out the works of their own hands. ²³My chosen shall not labour in vain; Neither shall they generate a short-lived race: For they shall be a seed blessed of JEHOVAH; They, and their offspring with them. ²⁴ And it shall be, that before they call, I will answer; They shall be yet speaking, and I shall have heard. ²⁵ The wolf and the lamb shall feed together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox: But as for the serpent, dust shall be his food. They shall not hurt, neither shall they destroy, in all my holy mountain, saith JEHOVAH. 

CHAPTER 66     (Selectează capitolul)

¹ THUS saith JEHOVAH: The heavens are my throne; and the earth is my footstool: Where is this house, which ye build for me? And where is this place of my rest? ² For all these things my hand hath made; And all these things are mine, saith JEHOVAH. But such a one will I regard, even him that is humble, and of a contrite spirit, and that revereth my word. ³ He that slayeth an ox, killeth a man; That sacrificeth a lamb, beheadeth a dog; That maketh an oblation, [offereth] swine’s blood; That burneth incense, blesseth an idol: Yea, they themselves have chosen their own ways; And in their abominations their soul delighteth. ⁴ I will also choose their calamities; And what they dread, I will bring upon them; Because I called, and no one answered; I spake, and they would not hear: And they have done what is evil in my sight; And that, in which I delighted not, they have chosen. ⁵ Hear ye the word of JEHOVAH, ye that revere his word: Say ye to your brethren, that hate you; And that thrust you out, for my name’s sake: JEHOVAH will be glorified, and he will appear; To your joy [will he appear], and they shall be confounded. ⁶ A voice of tumult from the city! a voice from the temple! The voice of JEHOVAH! Rendering recompense to his enemies. ⁷ Before she was in travail, she brought forth; Before her pangs came, she was delivered of a male. ⁸ Who hath heard such a thing? and who hath seen things like of these things? Is a country brought forth in one day? Is a nation born in an instant? For no sooner was Sion in travail, than she brought forth her children. ⁹ Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith JEHOVAH: Shall I, who beget, restrain the birth? saith thy God. ¹⁰ Rejoice with Jerusalem, and exult on her account, all ye that love her; Be exceedingly joyful with her, all ye that mourn over her: ¹² That ye may suck, and be satisfied, from the breast of her consolations; That ye may draw forth the delicious nourishment from her abundant stores. ¹² For thus saith JEHOVAH: Behold, I spread over her prosperity, like the great river; And like the overflowing stream the wealth of the nations: And ye shall suck at the breast; Ye shall be carried by the side; And on the knees shall ye be dandled. ¹³ As one, whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you: And in Jerusalem shall ye receive consolation. ¹⁴ And ye shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice; And your bones shall flourish, like the green herb: And the hand of JEHOVAH shall be manifested to his servants; And he will be moved with indignation against his enemies. ¹⁵ For, behold! JEHOVAH shall come, as a fire; And his chariot, as a whirlwind: To breathe forth his anger in a burning heat, and his rebuke in flames of fire. ¹⁶ For by fire shall JEHOVAH execute judgment; And by his sword, upon all flesh: And many shall be the slain of JEHOVAH. ¹⁷ They who sanctify themselves, and purify themselves, in the gardens, after the rites of Achad; In the midst of those who eat swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the field-mouse; Together shall they perish, saith JEHOVAH. ¹⁸ For I know their deeds, and their devices: And I come to gather all the nations and tongues together; And they shall come, and shall see my glory. ¹⁹ And I will impart to them a sign; And of those that escape I will send to the nations: To Tarshish, Phul, and Lud, who draw the bow; Tubal, and Javan, the far distant coasts: To those, who never heard my name; And who never saw my glory: And they shall declare my glory among the nations. ²⁰And they shall bring all your brethren, from all the nations, for an oblation to JEHOVAH; On horses, and in litters, and in counes; On mules, and on dromedaries; To my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith JEHOVAH: Like as the sons of Israel brought the oblation, in pure vessels, to the house of JEHOVAH. ²¹ And of them will I also take, for priests, and for Levites, saith JEHOVAH. ²² For like as the new heavens, and the new earth, which I make, stand continually before me, saith JEHOVAH; So shall continue your seed, and your name. ²³ And it shall be, from new moon to new moon, and from sabbath to sabbath; All flesh shall come to worship before me, saith JEHOVAH. ²⁴ And they shall go forth, and shall see the carcasses of the men who rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched; And they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.