Chapter XLIII: Part 43

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

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

THE SIN AND THE FOLLY OF ANCIENT ISRAEL IN SEEKING FOREIGN AID AGAINST THEIR ENEMIES.--CHAPS. XXX., XXXI.

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

8. And now go, write it with them on a table, and inscribe it in a book, and let it be for a future day, for ever, to eternity. 9. For a rebellious people is it, lying children, children who are not willing to learn the law of Jehovah; 10. who say to the seers, Ye shall not see, and to the viewers, Ye shall not view for us right things: speak unto us smooth things, view deceits, 11. depart from the way, sever from the path, cause to cease from before us the Holy One of Israel. 12. Therefore, thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because of your rejecting this word, and (because) ye have trusted in oppression and perverseness and have relied thereon, 13. therefore shall their iniquity be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking may come suddenly, at (any) instant. 14. And it is broken like the breaking of a potter's vessel, broken unsparingly, so that there is not found among its fragments a sherd to take up fire from a hearth, and to dip up water from a pool. 15. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest shall ye be saved, in remaining quiet and in confidence shall be your strength; and ye would not. 16. And ye said, No, for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee; and upon swift will we ride; therefore shall your pursuers be swift. 17. One thousand shall flee from before the menace of one, from before the rebuke of five shall ye flee, until ye are left like a pole on the top of the mountain, and like the signal on the hill. 18. And therefore will Jehovah wait to have mercy upon you, and therefore will He rise up to pity you, for a God of judgment is Jehovah; blessed are all that wait for Him. 19. For the people in Zion shall dwell in Jerusalem; thou shalt weep no more; He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; as He hears it He will answer thee. 20. And the Lord will give you bread of affliction and water of oppression, and no more shall thy teachers hide themselves, and thine eyes shall see thy teachers. 21. And thine ears shall hear a voice from behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right and when ye turn to the left. 22. And ye shall defile the covering of thy idols of silver and the case of thy image of gold; thou shalt scatter them as an abominable thing. Away! shalt thou say to it. 23. And He shall give the rain of thy seed, with which thou shalt sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, and it shall be fat and rich; thy cattle shall feed that day in an enlarged pasture. 24. And the oxen and the asses working the ground shall eat salted provender which has been winnowed with the sieve and fan. 25. And there shall be, on every high mountain, and on every elevated hill, channels, streams of waters, in the day of great slaughter, when towers fall. 26. And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day of Jehovah's binding up the breach of His people, and the stroke of His wound He will heal.

27. Behold, the name of Jehovah cometh from afar, burning His anger, and heavy the ascent (of smoke); His lips are full of wrath, and His tongue as a devouring fire. 28. And His breath, like an overflowing stream, shall divide as far as the neck, to sift the nations in the sieve of falsehood, and a misleading bridle on the jaws of the people. 29. Your song shall be like the night of the consecration of a feast, and your joy shall be like (that of) one marching with the pipe to go into the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel. 30. And Jehovah shall cause to be heard the majesty of His voice, and the descent of His arm shall He cause to be seen, with indignation of anger and a flame of devouring fire, scattering, and rain, and hailstones. 31. For at the voice of Jehovah shall Assyria be broken, with the rod shall He smite. 32. And every passage of the rod of doom, which Jehovah shall lay upon him, shall be with tabrets and harps, and with fights of shaking it is fought therein. 33. Not arranged since yesterday is Tophet: even for the king it is prepared; He has deepened, He has widened (it); its pile fire and wood in plenty; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, kindles it.

XXXI.--1. Woe to those going down to Egypt for help, and on horses they rely and trust in cavalry, because it is numerous, and on horsemen, because they are very strong, and they look not to the Holy One of Israel, and Jehovah they seek not. 2. And (yet) He too is wise, and brings evil, and His words He removes not, and He rises up against the house of evil-doers, and against the help of the workers of iniquity. 3. And Egypt (is) man, and their horses flesh and not spirit: and Jehovah shall stretch out His hand, and the helper shall stumble, and the helped fall, and together all of them shall cease.

4. For thus saith Jehovah unto me, As a lion growls, and a young lion over his prey, against whom a multitude of shepherds is called forth, at their voice he is not frightened, and at their noise he is not humbled, so will Jehovah of hosts come down, to fight upon mount Zion and upon her hill. 5. As birds flying (over or around their nests), so will Jehovah cover over Jerusalem, cover and rescue, pass over and save.

6. Return unto Him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. 7. For in that day they shall reject, a man his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your sinful hands have made for you [or, which your own hands have made for you as sin]. 8. And Assyria shall fall by no man's sword, and no mortal's work shall devour him, and he shall flee from before the sword, and his young men shall become tributary. 9. And his rock from fear shall pass away, and his chiefs shall be afraid of a standard, saith Jehovah, to whom there is a fire in Zion and a furnace in Jerusalem.

CONTINUATION OF PROMISES.--CHAP. XXXII. 1-8.

1. Behold, for righteousness shall reign a king, and rulers for justice shall rule. 2. And a man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the rain (or storm), as channels of water in a dry place (or in drought), as the shadow of a heavy rock in a weary land.

3. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. 4. And the heart (or, mind) of the rash (heedless or reckless) shall understand to know (or, understand knowledge), and the tongue of stammerers shall hasten to speak clear things.

5. The fool will no longer be called noble, and the churl will no longer be spoken of (or, to) as liberal. 6. The fool (is one who) will speak folly, and his heart will do iniquity, to do wickedness and to speak error unto (or, against) Jehovah, to starve (or, leave empty) the soul of the hungry, and the drink of the thirsty he will suffer to fail. 7. And as for the churl, his arms (or, instruments) are evil. He deviseth plots to destroy the oppressed (or afflicted) with words of falsehood, even in the poor (man's) speaking right. 8. The noble (or, generous) man devises noble (or, generous) things, and in noble (or, generous) things he perseveres.

THREATENINGS ADDRESSED TO THE WOMEN OF JUDAH.--CHAP. XXXII. 9-20.

9. Careless women, arise, hear my voice; confiding daughters, give ear unto my speech.

10. In a year and more ye shall tremble, ye confiding ones, for the vintage fails, the gathering shall not come. 11. Tremble, ye careless (women); quake, ye confiding (ones); strip you and make you bare, and gird (sackcloth) on your loins. 12. Mourning for the breasts (or, beating on the breasts), for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. 13. Upon the land of my people, thorn (and) thistle shall come up, for (they shall even come up) upon all (thy) houses of pleasure, O joyous city (or, upon all houses of pleasure _in_ the joyous city). 14. For the palace is forsaken, the crowd of the city (or, the crowded city) left, hill and watch-tower (are) for caves (or, dens) for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks.

15. Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is reckoned to the forest. 16. And justice shall abide in the wilderness, and righteousness in the fruitful field shall dwell. 17. And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness rest and assurance (or, security) for ever. 18. And my people shall abide in a house of peace, in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places.

19. And it shall hail in the downfall of the forest, and the city shall be low in a low place (or, humbled with humiliation). 20. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth the foot of the ox and the ass.

THREATENINGS OF RETRIBUTION TO THE ENEMIES OF GOD'S PEOPLE.--CHAP. XXXIII.

1. Woe to thee spoiling and thou wast not spoiled, deceiving and they did not spoil thee! When thou shalt cease to spoil thou shalt be spoiled, and when thou art done deceiving they shall deceive thee. 2. Jehovah, favour us, for on Thee we wait; be their arm in the mornings, also our salvation in times of trouble. 3. At the noise of tumult (or, tumultuous noise) the people flee; at Thy rising the nations are scattered. 4. And your spoil shall be gathered (like) the gathering of the devourer; like the running of locusts running on it. 5. Exalted is Jehovah because dwelling on high; He fills (or, has filled) Zion with judgment and righteousness. 6. And He shall be the security of thy times, strength of salvations, wisdom and knowledge, the fear of Jehovah, that is his treasure.

7. Behold, their valiant ones cry without; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly. 8. The highways are wasted, the wayfarer ceaseth; he breaks the covenant, despises cities, values no man. 9. The land mourneth, languisheth; Lebanon is ashamed, it pines away; Sharon is like a wilderness, and Bashan and Carmel cast (their leaves). 10. Now will I arise, saith Jehovah, now will I be lifted up, now will I exalt Myself. 11. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble; your breath as stubble shall devour you. 12. And nations shall be like lime-kilns (or, like burnings of lime); thorns cut up, in the fire they shall burn. 13. Hear, ye far, what I have done, and know, ye near, my might.

14. Afraid in Zion are the sinners; trembling has seized the impious. Who of us can dwell with the devouring fire, who of us can dwell with everlasting burnings? 15. Walking righteousnesses, and speaking right things, rejecting with contempt the gain of oppressions (or, extortions), shaking his hands from taking hold of the bribe, stopping his ears from hearing bloods, shutting his eyes from looking at evil, 16. he high places shall inhabit; fastnesses of rocks (shall be) his lofty place; his bread is given, his water sure. 17. A king in his beauty shall thine eyes behold, they behold a land of distances. 18. Thy heart shall meditate terror. Where is he that counted? Where is he that weighted? Where is he that counted the towers? 19. The fierce (or, determined) people thou shalt not see; a people deep of lip from hearing, of barbarous tongue without meaning.

20. Behold Zion, the city of our festivals! Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet home, a tent that shall not be removed. Its stakes shall not be pulled up for ever, and all its cords shall not be broken. 21. But there shall Jehovah be mighty for us; a place of rivers, streams broad (on) both sides; there shall not go in it an oared vessel, and a gallant ship shall not pass through it. 22. For Jehovah our Judge, Jehovah our Lawgiver, Jehovah our King, He will save us.

23. Thy ropes are cast loose; they do not hold upright their mast; they do not spread the sail; then is shared plunder of booty in plenty; the lame spoil the spoil.

24. And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick. The people dwelling in it (is) forgiven (its) iniquity.

THREATENINGS AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH, WITH PROMISES TO THE CHURCH ITSELF.--CHAPS. XXXIV., XXXV.

1. Come near, ye nations, to hear; and ye peoples hearken. Let the earth hear, and its fulness, the world and all its issues. 2. For Jehovah is angry against all the nations, and has wrath against all their host; He has doomed them, He has given them to the slaughter. 3. And their slain shall be cast out, and their carcasses, their stench shall go up; and mountains shall be melted with their blood. 4. And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll, and all their host shall fade like the fading of a leaf from off a vine, and like a fading (leaf) or a withered (fig) from a fig-tree.

5. For My sword is steeped in heaven; behold, upon Edom shall it come down, and upon the people of My curse. 6. Jehovah has a sword; it is full of blood, it is smeared with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Jehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7. And unicorns shall come down with them, and bullocks with blood, and their dust with fat shall be fattened. 8. For there is a day of vengeance to Jehovah, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. 9. And her streams shall be turned to pitch, and her dust to brimstone, and her land shall become burning pitch. 10. Day and night it shall not be quenched; for ever shall its smoke go up; from generation to generation shall it lie waste; for ever and ever there shall be no one passing through it. 11. Then shall possess it the pelican and the porcupine, the crane and the crow shall dwell in it. And One shall stretch upon it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. 12. Her caves--and there is no one there they will (still) call a kingdom, and all her chiefs will cease to be. 13. And in her palaces shall come up thorns, nettles, and brambles in her fortresses; and she shall be a home of wolves, a grass-plot for ostriches. 14. And wild creatures shall (there) meet with howling creatures, and the shaggy monster shall call to his fellow; only there reposes the night-monster, and finds for herself a resting place. 15. [As to the particular species of animals referred to in this whole passage, there is no need, as Calvin well observes, of troubling ourselves much about them. The general sense evidently is, that a human population should be succeeded by wild and lonely animals, who should not only live but breed there, implying total and continued desolation.] 16. Seek ye out of the book of Jehovah and read; by number will Jehovah call them. For My mouth, it has commanded; and His Spirit it has gathered them. 17. He too has cast the lot for them and His hand has divided it to them by line. For ever shall they hold it as a heritage, to all generations they shall dwell therein.

XXXV.--1. Desert and waste shall rejoice (for) them; and the wilderness shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. 2. (It shall) blossom, it shall blossom and rejoice; yea (with) joy and shouting. The glory of Lebanon is given unto it, the beauty of Carmel and of Sharon. They shall see the glory of Jehovah, the beauty of our God.

3. Strengthen hands (now) sinking, and knees (now) tottering make firm. 4. Say ye to the hasty of heart, Be firm, fear not; behold your God; He (Himself) is coming, and will save you.

5. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6. Then shall the lame bound as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall shout (for joy), because waters have burst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

7. And the mirage shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water, (even) in the haunt of wolves, their lair, a court for reeds and rushes. 8. And there shall be there a highway and a way; it shall be called the Way of Holiness; and there shall not pass through it an unclean (thing or person); it shall be for them; the travellers, yea, those who are ignorant (or foolish) shall not be able to go astray. 9. There shall not be there a lion, and a ravenous beast shall not ascend it, nor be found there; and (there) shall walk redeemed (ones).

10. And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return and come to Zion with shouting, and everlasting joy upon their head; gladness and joy shall overtake (them), and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

HISTORICAL APPENDIX TO THE FIRST PART OF ISAIAH'S PROPHECIES.--CHAPS. XXXVI.-XXXIX.

XXXVI.--1. And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. 2. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, to king Hezekiah, with a strong force, and he stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field. 3. Then there came forth Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.

4. And Rabshakeh said to them: say now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What is this confidence which thou confidest in? 5. I say, mere word of lips (is your) counsel and strength for the war; now on whom hast thou confided, that thou hast rebelled against me? 6. Behold, thou hast trusted in the support of this broken reed, in Egypt, which, (if) a man lean upon it, will go into his hand and pierce it; so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all those trusting in him. 7. And if thou say to me, We trust in Jehovah our God; is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, Before this altar shall ye worship? 8. And now, engage, I pray thee, with my lord the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. 9. And how wilt thou turn away the face of one governor of the least of my master's servants? So hast thou reposed thyself on Egypt, with respect to chariots and horses. 10. And now (is it) without Jehovah I have come up against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.

11. Then said Eliakim, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Pray speak unto thy servants in Aramean, for we understand (it), and speak not unto us in Jewish, in the ears of the people who (are) on the wall.

12. And Rabshakeh said: Is it to thy master and to thee that my master sent me to speak these words? Is it not to the men sitting on the wall to eat their own dung and to drink their own water with you?

13. Then Rabshakeh stood and called with a loud voice in Jewish, and said, Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14. Thus saith the king: Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15. And let not Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will certainly save us, this city shall not be given up into the hand of the king of Assyria, 16. Hearken not to Hezekiah, for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make with me a blessing, and come out unto me, and eat ye (every) man his own vine and (every) man his own fig-tree, and drink ye (every) man the waters of his own cistern; 17. 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. 18. Let not Hezekiah seduce you, saying Jehovah will deliver us. Have the gods of the nations delivered every one his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19. Where (are) the gods of Hamath and Arpad? where the gods of Sepharvaim? and (when or where was it) that they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20. Who (are they) among all the gods of these lands that have delivered their land out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

21. And they held their peace, and did not answer him a word, for such was the commandment of the king, Ye shall not answer him.

22. Then came Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, who (was) over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder, unto Hezekiah, with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

XXXVII.--1. And it came to pass when king Hezekiah heard, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah. 2. And he sent Eliakim who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the people covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet. 3. And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, A day of anguish and rebuke and contempt (is) this day, for the children are come to the places of birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 4. If peradventure Jehovah thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which Jehovah thy God hath heard, then shalt thou lift up a prayer for the remnant (that is still) found (here).

5. And the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6. And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith Jehovah, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, (with) which the servants of the king of Assyria hath blasphemed me. 7. Behold, I am putting a spirit in him, and he shall hear a noise, and shall return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

8. And Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that he had decamped from Lachish. 9. And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee; and he heard (it), and sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10. Thus shall ye say to Hezekiah, king of Judah, Let not thy God deceive thee, in whom thou trustest, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given unto the hand of the king of Assyria. 11. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, by utterly destroying them, and thou shalt be delivered! 12. Did the gods of the nations deliver them, which my fathers destroyed, (to wit) Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which is in Telassar? 13. Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city Sepharvaim, Henah, and Ivrah?

14. And Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it, and went up (to) the house of Jehovah, and Hezekiah spread it before Jehovah. 15. And Hezekiah prayed to Jehovah, saying, 16. Jehovah of hosts, God of Israel, dwelling between the cherubim, Thou art He, the God, Thou alone, to all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou hast made the heavens and the earth. 17. Bow down Thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open Thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to reproach the living God. 18. It is true, O Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have wasted all the lands and their land, 19. and given their gods into the fire--for they (were) no gods, but wood and stone, the work of men's hands--and destroyed them. 20. And now, O Jehovah, our God, save us from his hand, and all the kingdoms of the earth shall know that Thou alone art Jehovah.

21. And Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, (as to) what thou has prayed to the (with respect to) Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22. this is the word which Jehovah hath spoken against him, The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee, she hath laughed thee to scorn, the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head after thee. 23. Who hast thou reproached and reviled, and against whom hast thou raised (thy) voice, and lifted thine eyes (on) high towards the Holy One of Israel? 24. By the hand of thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord and said, With the multitude of my chariots I have ascended the height of mountains, the sides of Lebanon, and I will cut down the loftiness of its cedars and the choice of its fire, and I will reach its extreme height, its garden-forest. 25. I have digged and drunk water, and I will dry up with the sole of my feet all the streams of Egypt. 26. Hast thou not heard? From afar I have done it, from the days of old, and formed it, now I have caused it to come, and it shall be, to lay waste, (as) desolate heaps, fortified cities. 27. And their inhabitants are short of hand; they are broken and confounded; they are grass of the field and green herbage, grass of the house-tops and a field before the stalk. 28. And thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy coming in, I have known, and thy raging against Me. 29. Because of thy raging against Me, and (because) thy arrogance has come up into My ears, I will put My hook in thy nose, and My bridle in thy lips, and I will cause thee to return by the way by which thou camest.

30. And this to thee, the sign: eat, the (present) year, that which 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. 31. And the escaped of the house of Jacob, that is left, shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward; 32. for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and an escape from Mount Zion; the zeal of Jehovah of hosts shall do this.

33. Therefore thus saith Jehovah (with respect) to the king of Assyria, He shall not come to this city, and shall not shoot an arrow there, and shall not come before it with a shield, and shall not cast up a mound against it. 34. By the way that he came shall he return, and to this city shall he not come, saith Jehovah. 35. And I will cover over this city, (so as) to save it, for My sake, and for the sake of David My servant.

36. And the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of Assyria an hundred and eighty and five thousand, and they rose up early in the morning and behold all of them were dead corpses. 37. Then decamped, and departed, and returned, Sennacherib king of Assyria, and dwelt in Nineveh. 38. And he was worshipping (in) the house of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat, and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

XXXVIII.--1. In those days Hezekiah was sick unto death, and Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet, came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Order thy house, for thou (art) dying, and art not to live. 2. And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Jehovah. 3. And he said, Ah, Jehovah, remember, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a whole heart, and that which is good in Thine eyes have I done; and Hezekiah wept a great weeping.

4. And the word of Jehovah came to Isaiah, saying, 5. Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I am adding unto thy days fifteen years. 6. And out of the hand of the king of Assyria I will save thee and this city, and I will cover over this city.

7. And this shall be to thee the sign from Jehovah, that Jehovah will perform this word which He hath spoken: 8. Behold, I am causing the shadow to go back, the degree which it has gone down on the degrees of Ahaz with the sun, ten degrees backward; and the sun returned ten degrees on the degrees which it had gone down.

9. A writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he was sick, and recovered from his sickness:--

10. I said in the pause of my days, I shall go into the gate of the grave, I am deprived of the residue of my years. 11. I said I shall not see Jah, Jah in the land of the living; I shall not behold man again with the inhabitants of the world. 12. My dwelling is plucked up and uncovered by me like a shepherd's tent. I have rolled up, like the weaver, my life; from the thrum He will cut me off; from day to night Thou wilt finish me.

13. I set (Him before me) till the morning as a lion (saying), So will He break all my bones; from day to night Thou wilt make an end of me. 14. Like a swallow (or) like a twittering sparrow, so I chirp; I moan like a dove; my eyes are weak (with looking) upward; O Jehovah; I am oppressed, undertake for me.

15. What shall I say? He hath both spoken to me, and Himself hath done (it); I shall go softly all my days in the bitterness of my soul. 16. Lord, upon them they live, and as to everything in them is the life of my spirit, and Thou wilt recover me and make me to live. 17. Behold to peace (is turned) my bitter bitterness, and Thou hast loosed my soul from the pit of destruction, because Thou hast cast behind Thy back all my sins.

18. For the grave shall not confess Thee (nor) death praise Thee; they that go down to the pit shall not hope for Thy truth. 19. The living, the living, he shall thank Thee, as I do to-day; fathers to sons shall make known with respect to Thy truth. 20. Jehovah (listened) to save me! And my songs we will play, all the days of our life, at the house of Jehovah.

21. And Isaiah said, Let him take a lump of figs, and lay them softened on the boil, and he shall live. 22. And Hezekiah said, What sign (is there) that I shall go up (to) the house of Jehovah?

XXXIX.--1. In that time, Merodach Baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, and he heard that he was sick and was recovered.

2. And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them his house of rarities, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the ointment, and all his house of arms, and all that was found in his treasures; there was not a thing which Hezekiah did not show them, in his house, and in all his dominion.

3. Then came Isaiah the prophet to the king Hezekiah, and said to him, What said these men, and whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, From a far country came they unto me, from Babylon. 4. And he said, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah said, All that is in my house have they seen; there is not a thing that I have not showed them in my treasures.

5. And Isaiah said, Hear the word of Jehovah of hosts, 6. Behold days are coming when all that (is) in thy house, and that which thy fathers have hoarded until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; there shall not be left a thing, saith Jehovah. 7. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt begat, shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

8. And Hezekiah said, Good is the word of Jehovah which thou hast spoken. And he said, for there shall be peace and truth in my days.

XL.--[A glorious change awaits the Church, consisting in a new and gracious manifestation of Jehovah's presence, for which His people are exhorted to prepare, vers. 1-5. Though one generation perish after another, this promise shall eventually be fulfilled, because it rests not upon human but Divine authority, vers. 6-8. Zion may even now see Him approaching as the conqueror of His enemies, and at the same time as the shepherd of His people, vers. 9-11. The fulfilment of these pledges is insured by His infinite wisdom, His Almighty power, and His independence both of individuals and nations, vers. 12-17. How much more is He superior to material images, by which men represent Him or supply His place, vers. 18-25. The same power which supports the heavens is pledged for the support of Israel, vers. 26-31.]

1. Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. 2. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she hath received from the hand of Jehovah double for all her sins. 3. A voice crying--in the wilderness--Clear the way of Jehovah--make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4. Every valley shall be raised, and every mountain and hill brought low, and the uneven shall become level, and the ridges a plain. 5. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see (it) together, for the mouth of Jehovah speaks.

6. A voice saying, Cry! And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all its favour like the flower of the field! 7. Dried is the grass, faded is the flower; for the breath of Jehovah has blown upon it. Surely the people is grass. 8. Dried is the grass, faded the flower, and the word of our God shall stand for ever.

9. Upon a high mountain, get thee up, bringer of good news, O Zion! Raise with strength thy voice, bringer of good news, Jerusalem! Raise (it), fear not; say to the towns of Judah, Lo, your God! 10. Lo, the Lord Jehovah is coming in (the person of) a strong one, and His arm (is) ruling for Him. Lo, His hire is with Him, and His wages before Him. 11. Like a shepherd His flock will He feed, with His arm will He gather the lambs, and in His bosom carry (them): the nursing (ewes) He will (gently) lead.

12. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended in a measure the dust of the earth, and weighed in a balance the mountains, and the hills in scales? 13. Who hath measured the Spirit of Jehovah, and (who, as) the man of His counsel, will teach Him? 14. Whom did He consult, and he made Him understand, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and the way of understanding (who) will make Him know? 15. Lo, nations are as a drop from a bucket, and as dust on scales are reckoned; lo, islands as an atom He will take up. 16. And Lebanon is not enough for burning, and its beasts are not enough for a sacrifice. 17. All the nations (are) as nothing before Him, less than nothing and vanity are counted to Him.

18. And (now) to whom will ye liken God, and what likeness will ye compare to Him? 19. The image a carver has wrought, and a gilder with gold shall overlay it, and chains of silver (he is) casting. 20. (As for) the man impoverished (by) offering, a tree (that) will not rot he chooses, a wise carver he seeks for it, to set up an image (that) shall not be moved. 21. Will you not know? Will you not hear? has it not been told you from the first? have you not understood (from) the foundations of the earth? 22. The (One) sitting over the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants (are) as locusts; the One spreading like an awning the heavens, and He stretches them out like a tent to dwell in; 23. the One bringing princes to nothing, the judges of the earth like emptiness He has made. 24. Not even planted were they, not even sown, not even rooted in the ground their stock, and He just breathed upon them, and they withered, and a whirlwind like the chaff shall take them up. 25. And now to (whom) will ye liken Me, and to (whom) shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

26. Lift up on high your eyes and see--who hath created these?--and who is the (One) bringing out by number their host?--to all of them by name will He call--from abundance of might and because strong in power--not one faileth. 27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and why (thus) speak, O Israel? Hidden is my way from Jehovah, and from my God my cause will pass away. 28. Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? The God of eternity, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, will not faint, and will not tire; there is no search (with respect) to His understanding. 29. Giving to the weary strength, and to the powerless might will He increase. 30. And (yet) weary shall youths be and faint, and chosen (youths) shall be weakened, be weakened. 31. And (on the other hand) those waiting for Jehovah shall gain new strength; they shall raise the pinion like the eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

XLI.--[Until the ends of Israel's national existence are accomplished, that existence must continue in spite of hostile nations and their gods, who shall all perish sooner than the chosen people, vers. 1-16. However, feeble Israel may be in herself, Jehovah will protect him, and raise up the necessary instruments for his deliverance and triumph.]

1. Be silent to Me, O islands, and the nations shall gain new strength; they shall approach, then shall they speak, together to the judgment-seat will we draw near. 2. Who hath raised up from the east? Righteousness shall call Him to its foot; it shall give nations before Him, and cause Him to tread upon kings; it shall give (them) as dust to His sword, and as driven stubble to His bow. 3. He shall pursue them; He shall pass (in) safety; a path with His feet He shall not go. 4. Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I Jehovah, the First and with the Last, I (am) He.

5. The isles have seen it and are afraid, the ends of the earth tremble: they have approached and come. 6. A man his neighbour they will help, and to his brother (one) will say, Be strong! 7. And the carver has strengthened the gilder, the smoother with the hammer, the smiter on the anvil; he says of the solder, It is good; and he sharpeneth it with nails; it shall not be moved. 8. And thou Israel My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend; 9. thou whom I have grasped from the ends of the earth, and from its sides have I called thee, My servant (art) thou; I have chosen thee, and not rejected thee.

10. Fear thou not, for I (am) with thee; look not around, for I (am) thy God; I have strengthened thee, yea, I have helped thee, yea, I have upheld thee with the right hand of My righteousness. 11. Lo, ashamed and confounded shall be all those inflamed against thee; they shall be as though they were not, and destroyed shall be they that strive with thee. 12. Thou shalt seek them and not find them, the men of quarrel; they shall be as nothing and as nought, thy men of war. 13. For I, Jehovah thy God, (am) holding fast thy right hand; the (one) saying to thee, Fear not, I have helped thee. 14. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I have helped thee, saith Jehovah, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 15. Behold I have placed thee for a threshing-sledge, sharp, new, possessed of teeth; thou shalt thresh mountains and beat (them) small, and hills like the chaff shalt thou make. 16. Thou shalt fan them, and a wind shall take them up, and a whirlwind shall scatter them, and thou shalt joy in Jehovah, and in the Holy One of Israel shalt thou boast.

17. The suffering and the poor (are) seeking water, and it is not; their tongue with thirst is parched. I Jehovah will answer them. 18. I will open upon bare hills streams, and in the midst of valleys fountains; I will convert the desert into a pool of water, and the dry land into springs of water. 19. I will give in the wilderness cedar, acacia, and myrtle, and oil tree; I will place in the desert fir, pine, and box together. 20. That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

21. Present your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forward your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. 22. Let them bring forward and show forth to us the (things) which are to happen; the former things, when they were, show forth, and we will set our heart, and know the issue; or (else) the coming events make us to hear. 23. Show forth the (things) to come hereafter, and we will know that ye are gods; yes, ye shall do good or evil, and we will look about and see together. 24. Lo, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you. 25. I have raised up (one) from the north, and he has come; from the rising of the sun shall he call upon My name; and he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and as a potter treadeth clay. 26. Who hath declared from the beginning? (Say) and we will know; and beforehand, and we will say, True! Nay, there was none that told; nay, there was none that uttered; nay, there was none that heard your words. 27. (I am the) first (to say) to Zion, Behold, behold them! and (to give) to Jerusalem a bringer of good news. 28. And I will look, but there is no man; and of these, but there is no one advising; and I will ask them, and (perhaps) they will return an answer. 29. Lo, they (are) all nought, nothing their words, wind and emptiness their molten images.

XLII.--[This chapter exhibits to our view the servant of Jehovah, _i.e.,_ the Messiah and His people, as a complex person, and as the messenger or representative of God among the nations. His mode of operation is described, vers. 1-4. The effects of His influence are represented, as not natural but spiritual, vers. 5-9. The power of God is pledged for His success, notwithstanding all appearances of inaction or indifference on His part, vers 10-17. In the latter portion of the chapter, the Church or Body of Christ, as distinguished from its Head, and representing Him until He came, is charged with unfaithfulness to its great trust, and this unfaithfulness declared to be the cause of what it suffered, vers. 18-25.]

1. Behold My servant! I will hold Him fast; My chosen One, (in whom) My soul delights; I have put My Spirit upon Him; judgment to the nations shall He cause to go forth. 2. He shall not cry, and He shall not raise (His voice), and He shall not let His voice be heard in the street. 3. A broken reed shall He not break, and a dim wick will He not quench; by the truth He will bring forth judgment. 4. He shall not be dim, and He shall not be crushed, until He shall set judgment in the earth, and for His law the isles shall wait.

5. Thus saith the mighty (God), Jehovah, creating the heavens and stretching them out, spreading the earth and its issues, giving breath to the people on it, and spirit to those walking in it. 6. I, Jehovah, have called Thee in righteousness, and will lay hold of Thy hand, and will keep Thee, and will give Thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles. 7. to open blind eyes, to bring out from prison the bondman, from the house of confinement the dwellers in darkness. 8. I am Jehovah, that is My name, and My glory to another will I not give, and My praise to graven images. 9. The former things--lo, they have come, and new things I (am) telling; before they spring forth I will let you hear (them).

10. Sing to Jehovah a new song, His praise from the end of the earth, (ye) going down to the sea and its fulness, isles and their inhabitants! 11. The desert and its towns shall raise (the voice), the enclosures (in which) Kedar dwells; the dwellers in the rock shall shout, from the top of the mountains shall they cry aloud. 12. They shall give to Jehovah honour, and His praise in the islands they shall show forth. 13. Jehovah, like a strong one, will go forth; like a warrior He will cry; against His foes will show Himself strong. 14. I have long been still, (saying) I will hold my peace, I will restrain myself. (But now), like the travailing (woman) I will shriek, I will pant and gasp at once. 15. I will lay waste mountains and hills, and all their herbage will I dry up; I will turn streams to islands, and pools will I dry up. 16. And I will make the blind walk in a way they know not, in paths they know not I will make them tread; I will turn darkness before them to light, and obliquities to straightness. These are the words; I have made them, and have not left them. 17. They shall be turned back, they shall be utterly ashamed, those trusting in the graven image, those saying to the molten images, Ye are our gods!

18. Ye deaf, hear! and, ye blind, look to see! 19. Who (is) blind but My servant, and deaf like My messenger (whom) I will send? Who (is) blind like the devoted are, and blind like the servant of Jehovah? 20. Thou hast seen many things and wilt not observe. (Sent) to open ears! and he will not hear! 21. Jehovah (is) willing for His righteousness' sake; He will magnify the law and make it honourable.