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