The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have
nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The
ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know,
my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a
seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD,
they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away
backward.
Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole
head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto
the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying
sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with
ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land,
strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by
strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a
lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the LORD of hosts
had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and
we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our
God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your
sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams,
and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of
lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath
required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations;
incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling
of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a
trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your
hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will
not hear: your hands are full of blood.
Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before
mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the
oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye
be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and
rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath
spoken it.
How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment;
righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross,
thy wine mixed with water: Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of
thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not
the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will
ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:
And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take
away all thy tin: And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy
counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of
righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and
her converts with righteousness.
And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together,
and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. For they shall be ashamed
of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the
gardens that ye have chosen. For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and
as a garden that hath no water. And the strong shall be as tow, and the
maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall
quench them.
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's
house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted
above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go
and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house
of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his
paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from
Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many
people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the
light of the LORD.
Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be
replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they
please themselves in the children of strangers. Their land also is full of silver
and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of
horses, neither is there any end of their chariots: Their land also is full of idols;
they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have
made: And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth
himself: therefore forgive them not.
Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the
glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the
haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be
exalted in that day. For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one
that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be
brought low: And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up,
and upon all the oaks of Bashan, And upon all the high mountains, and upon
all the hills that are lifted up, And upon every high tower, and upon every
fenced wall, And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant
pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness
of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the
rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of
his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man
shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one
for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; To go into the clefts of
the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for
the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. Cease ye
from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted
of?
For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and
from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay
of water, The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet,
and the prudent, and the ancient, The captain of fifty, and the honourable
man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by
his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and
the base against the honourable. When a man shall take hold of his brother
of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and
let this ruin be under thy hand: In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be
an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler
of the people. For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their
tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare
their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have
rewarded evil unto themselves. Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well
with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it
shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O
my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy
paths. The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people. The
LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes
thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your
houses. What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces
of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and
walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as
they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: Therefore the Lord will smite
with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will
discover their secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of
their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires
like the moon, The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, The bonnets,
and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the
earrings, The rings, and nose jewels, The changeable suits of apparel, and the
mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, The glasses, and the fine
linen, and the hoods, and the vails. And it shall come to pass, that instead of
sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of
well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and
burning instead of beauty. Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in
the war. And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall
sit upon the ground.
And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach. In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.
Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard.
My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and
gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and
built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he
looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And
now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt
me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I
have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth
grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to; I will tell you what I will
do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten
up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will
lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers
and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For
the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah
his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for
righteousness, but behold a cry.
Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no
place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! In mine ears
said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great
and fair, without inhabitant. Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,
and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong
drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! And the harp, and the
viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the
work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.
Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no
knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude
dried up with thirst. Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her
mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their
pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. And the mean man shall be
brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the
lofty shall be humbled: But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment,
and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness. Then shall the lambs
feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers
eat.
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with
a cart rope: That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may
see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that
we may know it!
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light,
and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe
unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle
strong drink: Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the
righteousness of the righteous from him! Therefore as the fire devoureth the
stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as
rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast
away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of
Israel. Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he
hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the
hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For
all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them
from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep;
neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes
be broken: Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses'
hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind: Their
roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar,
and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if
one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is
darkened in the heavens thereof.
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne,
high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the
seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with
twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto
another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full
of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried,
and the house was filled with smoke.
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips,
and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen
the King, the LORD of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a
live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And
he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine
iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord,
saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I;
send me.
And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not;
and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and
make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be
healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be
wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be
utterly desolate, And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a
great forsaking in the midst of the land.
But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil
tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves:
so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.
And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah,
king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah,
king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not
prevail against it. And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is
confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his
people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. Then said the LORD
unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub thy son, at
the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field;
And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted
for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin
with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son
of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, Let us go up against
Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in
the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal: Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall not
stand, neither shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and
the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall
Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people. And the head of Ephraim is
Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye will not believe,
surely ye shall not be established.
Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the LORD
thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will
not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD. And he said, Hear ye now, O house of
David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall
conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and
honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the
land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.
The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's
house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from
Judah; even the king of Assyria. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the
LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt,
and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they shall come, and shall
rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and
upon all thorns, and upon all bushes. In the same day shall the Lord shave
with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of
Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the
beard. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young
cow, and two sheep; And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that
they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat
that is left in the land. And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place
shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall
even be for briers and thorns. With arrows and with bows shall men come
thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns. And on all hills
that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of
briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the
treading of lesser cattle.
Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a
man's pen concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz. And I took unto me faithful
witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.
And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then
said the LORD to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz. For before the
child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of
Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of
Assyria.
The LORD spake also unto me again, saying, Forasmuch as this people
refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and
Remaliah's son; Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the
waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his
glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:
And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall
reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the
breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give
ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces;
gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and
it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with
us.
For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I
should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy,
to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their
fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your
fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a
stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for
a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them
shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait upon
the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for
wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.
And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits,
and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto
their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they
speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And
they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to
pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse
their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth;
and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be
driven to darkness.
Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at
the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and
afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond
Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have
seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon
them hath the light shined. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not
increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as
men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For thou hast broken the yoke of his
burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day
of Midian. For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and
garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. For
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be
upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The
mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of
his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David,
and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with
justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will
perform this.
The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. And all the
people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in
the pride and stoutness of heart, The bricks are fallen down, but we will build
with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into
cedars. Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him,
and join his enemies together; The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind;
and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not
turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek
the LORD of hosts. Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail,
branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and
the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people
cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed. Therefore the
Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their
fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and
every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his
hand is stretched out still.
For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and
shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the
lifting up of smoke. Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land
darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare
his brother. And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he
shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every
man the flesh of his own arm: Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh:
and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned
away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness
which they have prescribed; To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to
take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their
prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! And what will ye do in the day of
visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye
flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? Without me they shall bow
down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his
anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine
indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the
people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the
prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he
meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to
destroy and cut off nations not a few. For he saith, Are not my princes
altogether kings? Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not
Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and
whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; Shall I not,
as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his
whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the
stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. For he saith,
By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am
prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed
their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And
my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth
eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that
moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. Shall the axe boast itself
against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him
that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or
as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. Therefore shall the
Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his
glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. And the light of Israel
shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour
his thorns and his briers in one day; And shall consume the glory of his
forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when
a standardbearer fainteth. And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few,
that a child may write them.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as
are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that
smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The
remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For
though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them
shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For
the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the
midst of all the land.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion,
be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up
his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. For yet a very little while,
and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction. And the
LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of
Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it
up after the manner of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, that his
burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy
neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. He is come
to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:
They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba;
Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled. Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim:
cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth. Madmenah is removed; the
inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee. As yet shall he remain at Nob
that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem. Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough
with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the
haughty shall be humbled. And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest
with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall
grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit
of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of
knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick
understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of
his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness
shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth:
and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of
his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his
loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the
lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young
lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow
and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion
shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the
asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full
of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign
of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. And
it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the
second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from
Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam,
and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he
shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of
Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of
the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah
shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex
Ephraim. But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the
west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon
Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. And the LORD
shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind
shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams,
and make men go over dryshod. And there shall be an highway for the
remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel
in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.
The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. Lift ye up a
banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand,
that they may go into the gates of the nobles. I have commanded my
sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them
that rejoice in my highness. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as
of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered
together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. They come from
a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his
indignation, to destroy the whole land.
Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from
the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall
melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them;
they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at
another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh,
cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall
destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the
constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in
his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will
punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will
cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of
the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than
the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth
shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the
day of his fierce anger. And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that
no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee
every one into his own land. Every one that is found shall be thrust through;
and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. Their children
also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled,
and their wives ravished. Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which
shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. Their bows
also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the
fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency,
shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be
inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither
shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold
there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be
full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance
there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses,
and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her
days shall not be prolonged.
For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set
them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they
shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the people shall take them, and bring
them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of
the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives,
whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. And it
shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy
sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast
made to serve,
That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say,
How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! The LORD hath
broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote
the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in
anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. The whole earth is at rest, and is
quiet: they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the
cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up
against us. Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it
stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath
raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak
and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like
unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols:
the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou
fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to
the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will
sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou
shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall
narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made
the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a
wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his
prisoners? All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one
in his own house. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable
branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a
sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy
land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.
Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do
not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. For I
will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon
the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD. I will also make
it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the
besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.
The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it
come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: That I will break the
Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall
his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their
shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and
this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the LORD of
hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched
out, and who shall turn it back? In the year that king Ahaz died was this
burden.
Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is
broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his
fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. And the firstborn of the poor shall feed,
and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and
he shall slay thy remnant. Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art
dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be
alone in his appointed times. What shall one then answer the messengers of
the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall
trust in it.
The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off. In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly. And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh: their voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz: therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out; his life shall be grievous unto him. My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old: for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction. For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing. Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows. For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; the howling thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim. For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.
Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto
the mount of the daughter of Zion. For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird
cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.
Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst
of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth. Let mine
outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the
spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors
are consumed out of the land. And in mercy shall the throne be established:
and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and
seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.
We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his
haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.
Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the
foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken. For the
fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen
have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto
Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out,
they are gone over the sea.
Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will
water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy
summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen. And gladness is taken away, and
joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing,
neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their
presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease. Wherefore my bowels
shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.
And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high
place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.
This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.
But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an
hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great
multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.
The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city,
and it shall be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be
for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. The fortress
also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the
remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the
LORD of hosts. And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob
shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. And it shall be
as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his
arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.
Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or
three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost
fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel. At that day shall a man
look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.
And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall
respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.
In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost
branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be
desolation. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast
not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant
pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: In the day shalt thou make
thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish:
but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of
the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing
of mighty waters! The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but
God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the
chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the
whirlwind. And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is
not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.
Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the
waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a
people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and
trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled! All ye inhabitants of the
world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the
mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. For so the LORD said
unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a
clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. For
afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in
the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with 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, a
joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle. All
thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found
in thee are bound together, which have fled from far. Therefore said I, Look
away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the
spoiling of the daughter of my people. For it is a day of trouble, and of
treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of
vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains. And Elam
bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the
shield. And it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys shall be full of
chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.
And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to
the armour of the house of the forest. Ye have seen also the breaches of the
city of David, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of the
lower pool. And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses
have ye broken down to fortify the wall. Ye made also a ditch between the
two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the
maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago. And
in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to
baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: And behold joy and gladness, slaying
oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink;
for to morrow we shall die. And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of
hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the
Lord GOD of hosts.
Thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto
Shebna, which is over the house, and say, What hast thou here? and whom
hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that
heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for
himself in a rock? Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty
captivity, and will surely cover thee. He will surely violently turn and toss thee
like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of
thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house. And I will drive thee from thy
station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son
of Hilkiah: And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy
girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a
father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. And the key
of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none
shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him as a
nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.
And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring
and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to
all the vessels of flagons. In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail
that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and
the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.
The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that
there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to
them. Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon,
that pass over the sea, have replenished. And by great waters the seed of
Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations. Be
thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea,
saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young
men, nor bring up virgins. As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be
sorely pained at the report of Tyre. Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye
inhabitants of the isle. Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient
days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn. Who hath taken this
counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose
traffickers are the honourable of the earth? The LORD of hosts hath purposed
it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable
of the earth. Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is
no more strength. He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the
kingdoms: the LORD hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to
destroy the strong holds thereof. And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O
thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there
also shalt thou have no rest. Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people
was not, 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 Esar-haddon his
son reigned in his stead.
In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son
of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine
house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. Then Hezekiah turned his face
toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, And said, Remember now, O LORD,
I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect
heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying, Go, and say to Hezekiah,
Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I
have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. And I will
deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will
defend this city. And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the
LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken; Behold, I will bring again the
shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten
degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was
gone down.
The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was
recovered of his sickness: I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the
gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I shall not
see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no
more with the inhabitants of the world. Mine age is departed, and is removed
from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut
me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of
me. I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from
day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. Like a crane or a swallow, so
did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O
LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me. What shall I say? he hath both
spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the
bitterness of my soul. O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things
is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live. Behold,
for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it
from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For
the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down
into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise
thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.
The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the
stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD. For
Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the
boil, and he shall recover. Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall
go up to the house of the LORD?
At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent
letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick,
and was recovered. And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the
house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the
precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in
his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that
Hezekiah shewed them not.
Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What
said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said,
They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon. Then said he,
What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in
mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have
not shewed them.
Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the
days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid
up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left,
saith the LORD. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt
beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the
king of Babylon. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD
which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and
truth in my days.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her
iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all
her sins.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be
exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD
shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD
hath spoken it. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is
grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass
withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it:
surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the
word of our God shall stand for ever.
O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O
Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up,
be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord
GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his
reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a
shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his
bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out
heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure,
and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath
directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With
whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path
of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of
understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are
counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a
very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof
sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing; and they
are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over
with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath
no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning
workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. Have ye not
known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning?
have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth
upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers;
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a
tent to dwell in: That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of
the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be
sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow
upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as
stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy
One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things,
that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the
greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the
LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD,
the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no
searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that
have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be
weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD
shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they
shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let
them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to
judgment. Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his
foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave
them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow. He pursued
them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I
the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he. The isles saw it, and feared; the
ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came. They helped every one
his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage. So the
carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the
hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he
fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved. But thou, Israel, art my
servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. Thou
whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief
men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee,
and not cast thee away.
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will
strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee
shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that
strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them,
even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as
nothing, and as a thing of nought. For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right
hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob,
and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the
Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument
having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt
make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them
away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD,
and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel. When the poor and needy seek
water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear
them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high
places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a
pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness
the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the
desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: That they may
see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the
LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the
King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let
them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and
know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Shew the
things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do
good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. Behold, ye
are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth
you. I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising
of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as
upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay. Who hath declared from the
beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is
righteous? yea, there is none that sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth,
yea, there is none that heareth your words. The first shall say to Zion, Behold,
behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings. For I
beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no
counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word. Behold, they are
all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and
confusion.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I
have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A
bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he
shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till
he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them
out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that
giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: I
the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will
keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the
Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison,
and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am the LORD: that is
my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven
images. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I
declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them. Sing unto the LORD a new
song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea,
and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. Let the
wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth
inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the
mountains. Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the
islands.
The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of
war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies. I have long
time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry
like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once. I will make waste
mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers
islands, and I will dry up the pools. And I will bring the blind by a way that
they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make
darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do
unto them, and not forsake them.
They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven
images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.
Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who is blind, but my
servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is
perfect, and blind as the LORD's servant? Seeing many things, but thou
observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not. The LORD is well pleased
for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.
But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes,
and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth;
for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? who
will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and
Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for
they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of
battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it
burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.
But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed
thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy
name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with
thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest
through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I
gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast
precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee:
therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not: for I am
with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I
will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons
from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is
called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him;
yea, I have made him.
Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. Let
all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who
among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring
forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is
truth. Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have
chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he:
before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I,
am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. I have declared, and have
saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you:
therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God. Yea, before the
day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work,
and who shall let it?
Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I
have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the
Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. I am the LORD, your Holy One, the
creator of Israel, your King. Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the
sea, and a path in the mighty waters; Which bringeth forth the chariot and
horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not
rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I
will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of
the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in
the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my
chosen. This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my
praise.
But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me,
O Israel. Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings;
neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to
serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. Thou hast bought me
no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy
sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied
me with thine iniquities. I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions
for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance:
let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified. Thy first
father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.
Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob
to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.
Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus saith
the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help
thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground:
I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: And
they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. One
shall say, I am the LORD's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob;
and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself
by the name of Israel. Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his
redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me
there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order
for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming,
and shall come, let them shew unto them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have
not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my
witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.
They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable
things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor
know; that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god, or molten a
graven image that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his fellows shall be
ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered
together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed
together. The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth
it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is
hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint. The
carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it
with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the
figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the
house. He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak,
which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he
planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to
burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and
baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a
graven image, and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire;
with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he
warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: And the
residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down
unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for
thou art my god. They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their
eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor
understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have
baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and
shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock
of a tree? He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that
he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed
thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have
blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins:
return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD
hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye
mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed
Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel. Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and
he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things;
that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by
myself; That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that
turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; That
confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his
messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities
of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof: That
saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers: That saith of Cyrus, He is
my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem,
Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden,
to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open
before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go
before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the
gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the
treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest
know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For
Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy
name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee,
though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the
sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there
is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create
evil: I the LORD do all these things. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and
let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring
forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have
created it. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive
with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it,
What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands? Woe unto him that saith
unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou
brought forth?
Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to
come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command
ye me. I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands,
have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. I have
raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my
city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD
of hosts. Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of
Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and
they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over,
and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee,
saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God. Verily
thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour. They shall be
ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion
together that are makers of idols. But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an
everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without
end. For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that
formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain,
he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else. I have not
spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of
Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things
that are right.
Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of
the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven
image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. Tell ye, and bring them near;
yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient
time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God
else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto
me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none
else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in
righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every
tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and
strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him
shall be ashamed. In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall
glory.
Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon
the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary
beast. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the
burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.
Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of
Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the
womb: And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry
you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may
be like? They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and
hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.
They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place,
and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto
him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble. Remember this,
and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am
God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and
from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall
stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the
man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will
also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring
near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry:
and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.
Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the
ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no
more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones, and grind meal:
uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take
vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. As for our redeemer, the LORD
of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. Sit thou silent, and get thee into
darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The
lady of kingdoms.
I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them
into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou
very heavily laid thy yoke.
And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these
things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore
hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that
sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow,
neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two things shall come to
thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall
come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for
the great abundance of thine enchantments.
For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy
wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in
thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.
Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it
riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put 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. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people
their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily,
and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook
not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they
take delight in approaching to God.
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we
afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your
fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and
debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this
day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have
chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a
bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a
fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? Is not this the fast that I have
chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to
let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy
bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy
house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide
not thyself from thine own flesh?
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring
forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the
LORD shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer;
thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst
of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And if
thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall
thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the LORD
shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy
bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water,
whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste
places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou
shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my
holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and
shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure,
nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and
I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with
the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear
heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you
and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips
have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for
justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they
conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and
weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is
crushed breaketh out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments,
neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of
iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and
they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of
iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they
know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them
crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait
for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We
grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we
stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but
there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. For our transgressions are
multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions
are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; In transgressing and
lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking
oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of
falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar
off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth;
and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it,
and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no
intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his
righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of
vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a 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 hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint
unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of
joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they
might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might
be glorified.
And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former
desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many
generations. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of
the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be
named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye
shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast
yourselves.
For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in
their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double:
everlasting joy shall be unto them. For I the LORD love judgment, I hate
robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make
an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the
Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall
acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath
clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a
bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her
bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth;
so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all
the nations.
For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not
rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation
thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness,
and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the
mouth of the LORD shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the
hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no
more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed
Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the
LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the
bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, And
give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the
earth. The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength,
Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons
of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured: But
they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have
brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.
Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up,
cast up the 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.