Chapter XLVI: Part 46

PROPHECIES RELATING TO THE ONWARD COURSE OF THE GREAT MASS OF THE PEOPLE TOWARDS HARDENING OF HEART.--CHAPS. I.-VI.

_Opening Address Concerning the Ways of Jehovah with His Ungrateful and Rebellious Nation._--CHAP. I. 2., _sqq._

2. Hear, O heavens; and give ear, O earth; for Jehovah speaketh! I have brought up children, and raised them high, and they have fallen away from Me. 3. An ox knoweth its owner, and an ass its master's crib: Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

4. Woe upon the sinful nation, the guilt-laden people, the miscreant race, the children acting corruptly! They have forsaken Jehovah, blasphemed Israel's Holy One, turned away backwards.

5. Why would ye be perpetually smitten, multiplying rebellion? Every head is diseased, and every heart is sick. 6. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it: cuts, and stripes, and festering wounds; they have not been pressed out, nor bound up, nor has there been any soothing with oil. 7. Your land . . . a desert; your cities . . . burned with fire; your field . . . foreigners consuming it before your eyes, and a desert like overthrowing by strangers. 8. And the daughter of Zion remains like a hut in a vineyard; like a hammock in a cucumber field, as a besieged city. 9. Unless Jehovah of hosts had left us a little of what had escaped, we had become like Sodom, we were like Gomorrah.

10. Hear the word of Jehovah, ye Sodom judges; give ear to the law of our God, O Gomorrah nation! 11. What is the multitude of your slain offerings to Me? saith Jehovah. I am satiated with the whole offerings of rams, and the fat of stalled calves; and blood of bullocks and sheep and he-goats I do not like. 12. When ye come to appear before My face, who hath required this at your hands, to tread My courts? 13. Continue not to bring lying meat offering; abomination incense is it to Me. New-moon and Sabbath, calling of festal meetings . . . I cannot bear ungodliness and a festal crowd. 14. Your new-moons and your festive seasons My soul hateth; they have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. 15. And if ye stretch out your hands, I hide Mine eyes from you; if ye make ever so much praying, I do not hear: your hands are full of blood.

16. Wash, clean yourselves; put away the badness of your doings from the range of My eyes; cease to do evil; 17. learn to do good, attend to judgment, set the oppressor right, do justice to the orphan, conduct the cause of the widow.

18. O come, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah. If your sins come forth like scarlet cloth, they shall become white as snow; if they are red as crimson, they shall come forth like wool! 19. If ye then shall willingly hear, ye shall eat the good of the land; 20. if ye shall obstinately rebel, ye shall be eaten by the sword! for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.

21. How is she become an harlot, the faithful citadel! she, full of right, lodged in righteousness, and now----murderers. 22. Thy silver has become dross, thy drink mutilated with water. 23. Thy rulers are rebellious and companions of thieves; every one loveth presents, and hunteth after payment; the orphan they right not, and the cause of the widow has no access to them.

24. Therefore, saying of the Lord, of Jehovah of hosts, of the Strong One of Israel; Ah! I will relieve Myself on Mine adversaries, and will avenge Myself upon Mine enemies; 25. and I will bring My hand over thee, and will smelt out thy dross as with alkali, and will clear away all thy lead. 26. And I will bring back thy judges as in the olden time, and thy counsellors as in the beginning; afterwards thou wilt be called City of Righteousness, Faithful Citadel.

27. Zion will be redeemed through judgment, and her returning ones through righteousness; 28. and breaking up of the rebellious and sinners together; and those who forsake Jehovah will perish. 29. For they become ashamed of the terebinths, in which ye had your delight; and ye must blush for the gardens, in which ye took pleasure. 30. For ye shall become like a terebinth with withered leaves, and like a garden that hath no water. 31. And the rich man becomes tow, and his work the spark; and they will both burn together, and no one extinguishes them.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Reprinted from the _Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies
of Isaiah,_ by Franz Delitzsch, D.D. Translated from the
German by the Rev. James Martin, B.A. 2 vols. 8vo.
Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.

THE WAY OF GENERAL JUDGMENT; OR THE COURSE OF ISRAEL FROM FALSE GLORY TO THE TRUE--CHAPS. II.-IV.

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

2. And it cometh to pass at the end of the days, the mountain of the house of Jehovah will be set at the top of the mountains, and exalted over hills; all nations pour unto it. 3. And peoples in multitude go and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; let Him instruct us out of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for instruction will go out from Zion, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. 4. And He will judge between the nations, and deliver justice to many peoples; and they forge their swords into coulters, and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nation lifts not up sword against nation, neither do they exercise themselves in war any more.

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

6. For Thou hast rejected Thy people, the house of Jacob; for they are filled with things from the east and are conjurors like the Philistines; and with the children of foreigners they go hand in hand. 7. And their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end in their treasures; and their land is filled with horses, and there is no end of their chariots. 8. And their land is filled with ---- idols; the work of their own hands they worship, that which their own fingers have made.

9. Thus, then, men are bowed down, and lords are brought low; and forgive them--no, that Thou wilt not. 10. Creep into the rock, and bury thyself in the dust, before the terrible look of Jehovah, and before the glory of His majesty. 11. The people's eyes of haughtiness are humbled, and the pride of their lords is bowed down; and Jehovah, He only, stands exalted in that day.

12. For Jehovah of hosts hath a day over everything towering and lofty, and over everything exalted; and it becomes low. 13. As upon all the cedars of Lebanon, the lofty and exalted, so upon all the oaks of Bashan; 14. as upon all mountains, the lofty ones, so upon all hills the exalted ones; 15. as upon every high tower, so upon every fortified wall; 16. as upon all ships of Tarshish, so upon all works of curiosity. 17. And the haughtiness of the people is bowed down, and the pride of the lords brought low; and Jehovah, He alone, stands exalted in that day.

18. And the idols pass utterly away. 19. And they will creep into caves in the rocks, and cellars in the earth, before the terrible look of Jehovah, and before the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to put the earth in terror. 20. In that day will a man cast away his idols of gold; and his idols of silver, which they made for him to worship, to the moles and to the bats; 21. to creep into the cavities of the stone-blocks, and into the clefts of the rocks, before the terrible look of Jehovah and before the glory of His majesty, when He arises to put the earth in terror.

22. Oh then, let man go, in whose nose is a breath, for what is he to be estimated at? III.--1. For, behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supporter and means of support, every support of bread and every support of water; 2. hero and man of war, judge and prophet, and soothsayer and elder; 3. captains of fifty, and the highly distinguished, and counsellors, and masters in art, and those skilled in muttering. 4. And I will give the boys for princes, and caprices shall rule over them. 5. And the people oppress one another, one this and another that; the boy breaks out violently upon the old man, and the despised upon the honoured. 6. When a man shall take hold of his brother in his father's house, Thou hast a coat, thou shalt be our ruler, and take this ruin under thy hand; 7. he will cry out in that day, I do not want to be a surgeon; there is neither bread nor coat in my house: ye cannot make me the ruler of the people.

8. For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to defy the eyes of His glory. 9. The look of their faces testifies against them, and their sin they make known like Sodom, without concealing it: woe to their soul! for they do themselves harm. 10. Say of the righteous, that it is well with him; for they will enjoy the fruit of their doings. 11. Woe to the wicked! it is ill; for what his hands have wrought will be done to him. 12. My people, its oppressors are boys, and women rule over it; my people, thy leaders are misleaders, who swallow up the way of thy paths.

13. Jehovah has appeared to plead, and stands up to judge the nations. 14. Jehovah will proceed to judgment with the elders of His people, and its princes. And ye, ye have eaten of the vineyard; prey of the suffering is in your houses. 15. What mean ye that ye crush My people, and grind the face of the suffering? thus saith the Lord of hosts.

16. Jehovah hath spoken: because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk about with extended throat, and blinking with the eyes, walk about with tripping gait, and tinkle with their foot-ornaments: 17. the Lord of all makes the crown of the daughters of Zion scabbed, and Jehovah will uncover their shame. 18. On that day the Lord will put away the show of the ankle-clasps, and of the head-bands, and of the crescents; 19. the ear-rings, and the arm-chains, and the light veils; 20. the diadems, and the stepping-chains, and the girdles, and the smelling-bottles, and the amulets; 21. the finger-rings and the nose-rings; 22. the gala dresses, and the sleeve-frocks, and the wrappers, and the pockets; 23. the hand-mirrors, and the Sindu-cloths, and the turbans, and the gauze mantles. 24. And instead of balmy scent there will be mouldiness, and instead of artistic ringlets a baldness, and instead of the dress-cloak a frock of sack-cloth, branding instead of beauty. 25. Thy men fall by the sword, and thy might in war. 26. Then will her gates lament and mourn, and desolate is she and sits down upon the ground. IV.--1. And seven women lay hold of one man in that day, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothes; only let thy name be named upon us, take away our reproach.

2. In that day will the Sprout of Jehovah become an ornament and glory, and the fruit of the land pride and splendour for the redeemed of Israel. 3. And it will come to pass, whoever is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem, holy will he be called, all who are written down for life in Jerusalem: 4. when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged away the blood-guiltiness of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of sifting. 5. And Jehovah creates over every spot of mount Zion, and over its festal assemblies, a cloud by day, and smoke, and the shining and flaming fire by night; for over all the glory comes a canopy; 6. and it will be a booth for shade by day and covert from storm and from rain.

JUDGMENT OF DEVASTATION UPON THE VINEYARD OF JEHOVAH.--CHAP. V.

_Closing Words of the First Cycle of Prophecies._

1. Arise, I will sing of my beloved, a song of my dearest touching His vineyard.

My beloved had a vineyard on a flatly-nourished mountain-horn, 2. and dug it up and cleared it of stones, and planted it with noble vines, and built a tower in it, and also hewed out a winepress therein; and hoped that it would bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

3. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between Me and My vineyard! 4. What could have been done more to My vineyard that I have not done in it! Wherefore did I hope that it would bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes?[1]

5. Now then, I will tell you what I will do at once to My vineyard: Take away its hedges, and it shall be for grazing; pull down its wall, and it shall be for treading down; 6. and I will put an end to it: it shall not be pruned nor dragged, and it shall break out in thorns and thistles, and I will command the clouds to rain no rain over it. 7. For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plantation of His delight: He waited for justice, and behold, grasping; for righteousness, and behold, a shriek!

8. Woe unto them that join house to house, who lay field to field, till there is no more room, and ye alone are dwelling in the midst of the land. 9. Into mine ears, Jehovah of hosts: Of a truth many houses shall become a wilderness, great and beautiful ones deserted. 10. For ten yokes of vineyard will yield one pailful, and a quarter of seed-corn will produce a bushel.

11. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning to run after strong drink: who continue till late at night with wine inflaming them! 12. And guitar and harp, kettle-drum, and flute, and wine is in their feast; but they regard not the work of Jehovah, and see not the purpose of His hands.

13. Therefore My people go into banishment without knowing; and their glory will become starving men, and their tumult men dried up with thirst. 14. Therefore the under-world opens its jaws wide, and stretches open its mouth immeasurably wide; and the glory of Jerusalem descends, and its tumult, and noise, and those who rejoice within it. 15. Then are mean men bowed down, and lords humbled, and the eyes of lofty men are humbled. 16. And Jehovah of hosts shows Himself exalted in judgment, and God the Holy One sanctifies Himself in righteousness; 17. and lambs feed as upon their pasture, and nomad shepherds eat the waste places of the fat ones.[2]

18. Woe unto them that draw crime with cords of lying, and sin as with the rope of the waggon; 19. who say, Let Him hasten, accelerate His work, that we may see; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may experience it.

20. Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who give out darkness for light, and light for darkness; who give out bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.

21. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight.

22. Woe unto those who are heroes to drink wine, and brave men to mingle strong drink; 23. who acquit criminals for a bribe, and take away from every one the righteousness of the righteous.

24. Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours stubble, and hay sinks together in the flame, their root will become like mould, and their blossom fly up like dust; for they have despised the law of Jehovah of hosts, and scornfully rejected the proclamation of the Holy One of Israel. 25. Therefore is the wrath of Jehovah kindled against His people, and He stretches His hand over them, and sites them; then the hills tremble, and their carcass become like sweepings in the midst of the streets.

For all this His anger is not appeased, and His hand is stretched out still, 26. and lifts up a banner to the distant nations, and hisses to it from the end of the earth; and, behold, it comes with haste swiftly. 27. There is none exhausted, and none stumbling among them: it gives itself no slumber, and no sleep; and to none is the girdle of his hips loosed; and to none is the lace of his shoes broken; 28. he whose arrows are sharpened, and all his bows strung; the hoofs of his horses are counted like flint, and his wheels like the whirlwind. 29. Roaring issues from it as from the lioness: it roars like lions, and utters a low murmur; seizes the prey, carries it off, and no one rescues. 30. And it utters a deep roar over it in that day like the roaring of the sea: and it looks to the earth, and behold darkness, tribulation, and light; it becomes night over it in the clouds of heaven.[3]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Barnes, Birks, Henderson, Kay, Strahey, and the _Revised
English Bible,_ translate this clause substantially as it
is in the A. V.:--_e.g., Henderson,_ "Why, when I expected
it to produce grapes did it produce bad grapes?"

[2] Henderson's translation of this paragraph is especially
vigorous and beautiful:--

13. Therefore My people are led captive at unaware
Their nobility are starvelings,
And their multitude are parched with thirst.

14. Therefore Sheol enlarges her appetite,
And gapes immeasurably with her mouth;
And down go her nobility and her multitude.
Her noisy throng, and whoever in her that exultest.

15. The man of mean condition is bowed down,
And the man of rank is brought low;
And the eyes of the haughty are humbled.
16. But Jehovah of hosts is exalted through justice,
And the Holy God is sanctified through righteousness.

17. The lambs shall feed wherever they are driven,
And the waste fields of the rich, strange flocks
shall consume.

[3] And one shall look to the earth,
And lo! darkness! trouble!
And the light is obscured by the gloomy clouds.--_Barnes._

And one shall look unto the earth, _and, behold, darkness;_
even the light is an adversary (or, is anguish); dark is it
amidst the clouds thereof.--_Kay._

THE PROPHET'S ACCOUNT OF HIS OWN DIVINE MISSION.--CHAP. VI.

1. The year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord of all sitting upon a high and exalted throne, and His borders filling the temple. 2. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. 3. And one cried to the other, and said,

Holy, holy, holy! is Jehovah of hosts!
Filling the whole earth is His glory.

4. And the foundation of the threshold shook with the voice of them that cried; and the house became full of smoke.

5. Then said I, Woe unto me! for I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I am dwelling among a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.

6. And one of the seraphim flew to me with a red-hot coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7. And he touched my mouth with it, and said, Behold, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away; and so thy sin is expiated.

8. Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Behold me here; send me!

9. He said, Go, and tell this people, Hear on, and understand not; and look on, but perceive not. 10. Make ye the heart of this people greasy, and their ears heavy, and their eyes sticky; that they may not see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and their heart understand, and they be converted, and one heal them.

11. Then said I, Lord, how long?

And He answered, Until towns are wasted without inhabitant, and houses are without men, and the ground shall be laid waste, a wilderness, 12. and Jehovah shall put men far away, and there shall be many forsaken places within the land. 13. And is there still a tenth therein, this also is given up to destruction, like the terebinth and like the oak, of which, when they are felled, only a root stump remains: such a root stump is the holy seed.[1]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] And though there be only a tenth part in it, even that
shall be again consumed; yet as a teil-tree, and as an oak,
whose stocks [stumps] remain to them, when they are felled,
so the holy seed shall be the stock [stump]
thereof.--_Strachey._

_PART II._

CONSOLATION OF IMMANUEL IN THE MIDST OF THE ASSYRIAN OPPRESSIONS.--CHAPS. VII.-XII.

_Divine Sign of the Virgin's Wondrous Son._--CHAP. VII.

1. 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 Aramæa, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, and (he) could not make war upon it. 2. And it was told the house of David, Aram has settled down upon Ephraim: then his heart shook, and the heart of the people, as trees of the wood shake before the wind.

3. Then said Jehovah to Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and Shear-jashub thy son, to the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool, to the road of the fuller's field; 4. and say unto him, Take heed, and keep quiet; and let not thy heart become soft from these two smoking firebrand stumps! at the fierce anger of Rezin, and Aram, and the son of Remaliah. 5. Because Aram hath determined evil over thee, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying, 6. We will march against Judah, and terrify it, and conquer it for ourselves, and make the son of Tabeal king in the midst of it: 7. thus saith the Lord Jehovah, It will not be brought about, and will not take place. 8. For head of Aram is Damascus, and head of Damascus Rezin, and in five-and-sixty years will Ephraim as a people be broken to pieces. 9. And head of Ephraim is Samaria, and head of Samaria the son of Remaliah; if ye believe not, surely ye will not remain.

10. And Jehovah continued speaking to Ahaz as follows: 11. Ask thee a sign of Jehovah thy God, going deep down into Hades, or high up to the height above. 12. But Ahaz replied, I dare not ask, and dare not tempt Jehovah. 13. And he spake, Hear ye now, O house of David! Is it too little to you to weary men, that ye weary my God also? 14. Therefore the Lord, He will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin conceives, and bears a son, and calls his name Immanuel. 15. Butter and honey will he eat, at the time that he knows to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16. For before the boy shall understand to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land will be desolate, of whose two kings thou art afraid.

17. Jehovah will bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days such as have not come since the day when Ephraim broke away from Judah--the king of Asshur. 18. And it comes to pass in that day, Jehovah will hiss for the fly which is at the end of the Nile-arms of Egypt, and the bees that are in the land of Asshur; 19. and they come and settle all of them in the valleys of the slopes, and in the clefts of the rocks, and in all the thorn-hedges, and upon all grass-plats. 20. In that day will the Lord shave with a razor, the thing for hire on the shore of the river, with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet: and even the beard it will take away. 21. And it will come to pass in that day, that a man will keep a small cow and a couple of sheep; 22. and it comes to pass, for the abundance of the milk they will give he will eat cream: for butter and honey will every one eat that is left within the land. 23. And it will come to pass in that day, every place where a thousand vines stood at a thousand silverlings will have become thorns and thistles. 24. With arrows and with bows will men go, for the whole land will have become thorns and thistles. 25. And all the hills that were accustomed to be hoed with the hoe, thou wilt not go to them for fear of thorns and thistles; and it has become a gathering-place for oxen, and a treading-place for sheep.

TWO OMENS OF THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE.--CHAP. VIII. 1-4.

1. Then Jehovah said to me, Take a large slab, and write upon it with common strokes, "In speed spoil, booty hastens:" 2. and I will take to me trustworthy witnesses, Uriyah the priest, and Zehcaryahu the son of Yeberechyahu.

3. And I drew near to the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son: and Jehovah said to me, Call his name In-speed-spoil-booty-hastens (Maher-shalal-hash-baz): 4. for before the boy shall know how to cry, My father, and my mother, they will carry away the riches of Damascus, and the spoil of Samaria, before the king of Asshur.

ESOTERIC ADDRESSES--CHAP. VIII. 5-XII.

_A.--Consolation of Immanuel in the Coming Darkness._--CHAP. VIII. 5-IX. 6.

5. And Jehovah proceeded still further to speak to me, as follows:--

6. Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Siloah that go softly, and regardeth as a delight the alliance with Rezin and the son of Remalyahu, 7. therefore, behold! the Lord of all bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, the mighty and the great, the king of Assyria, and all his military power: and he riseth over all his channels, and goeth over all his banks, 8. and presses forward into Judah, overflows and pours onward, till it reaches the neck, and the spreadings out of its wings fill the breadth of thy land, Immanuel.

9. Exasperate yourselves, O nations, and go to pieces; and see it, all who are far off in the earth! Gird yourselves, and go to pieces; gird yourselves, and go to pieces! 10. Consult counsel, and it comes to nought; speak the word, and it is not realised: for with us is God.

11. For Jehovah hath spoken thus to me, overpowering me with God's hand, and instructing me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, 12. Call ye not conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy; and what is feared by it, fear ye not, neither think ye dreadful. 13. Jehovah of hosts, sanctify Him; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your terror. 14. So will He become a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence (vexation) to both the houses of Israel, a snare and a trap to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15. And many among them shall stumble, and shall fall; and be dashed to pieces, and be snared and taken.

16. Bind up the testimony, seal the lesson in my disciples. 17. And I will wait upon Jehovah, who hides His face before the house of Jacob, and hope for Him. 18. Behold, I and the children which God hath given me for signs and types in Israel, from Jehovah of hosts, who dwelleth upon mount Zion. 19. And when they shall say to you, Inquire of the necromancers, and of the soothsayers that chirp and whisper:--should not a people inquire of its God? for the living to the dead? 20. To the teaching of God, and to the testimony! If they do not accord with this word, they are a people for whom no morning dawns. 21. And it goes about therein hardly pressed and hungry: and it comes to pass, when hunger befalls it, it frets itself, and curses by its king and by its God, and turns its face upward, 22. and looks to the earth, and behold distress and darkness, benighting with anguish, and thrust out into darkness.

IX.--1. For it does not remain dark where there is now distress: in the first time He brought into disgrace the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and in the last He brings to honour the road by the sea, the other side of Jordan, the circle of the Gentiles.

2. The people that walk about in darkness see a great light; they who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light shines. 3. Thou multipliest the nation, preparest it great joy; they rejoice before Thee like the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they share the spoil. 4. For the yoke of its burden and the stick of its neck, the splinters, as in the day of Midian. 5. For every boot of those who tramp with boots in the tumult of battle, and cloak rolled in blood, shall be for burning, a food of fire. 6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government rests upon His shoulder: and they call His name Wonder, Counsellor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7. To the increase of government and to peace without end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to strengthen it, and to support it through judgment and righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The jealousy of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.

_B.--Jehovah's Outstretched Hand._--CHAP. IX. 8-X. 4.

8. The Lord sends out a word against Jacob, and it descends into Israel. 9. And all the people must make atonement, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, saying in pride and haughtiness of heart, 10. "Bricks are fallen down, and we build with square stones; sycamores are hewn down, and we put cedars in their place." 11. Jehovah raises Rezin's oppressors high above him; and pricks up his enemies: 12. Aram from the east, and Philistines from the west; they devour Israel with full mouth. For all this His anger is not turned away, and His hand is stretched out still.

13. But the people turneth not into Him that smiteth it, and they seek not Jehovah of hosts. 14. Therefore Jehovah rooteth out of Israel head and tail, palm-branch and rush, in one day. 15. Elders and highly distinguished men, this is the head; and prophets, lying teachers, this is the tail. 16. The leaders of this people have become leaders astray, and their followers swallowed up. 17. Therefore the Lord will not rejoice in their young men, and will have no compassion on their orphans and widows: for all together are profligate and evil-doers, and every mouth speaketh blasphemy. With all this His anger is not turned away, and His hand is stretched out still.

18. For the wickedness burneth up like fire: it devours thorns and thistles, and burns in the thickets of the wood; and they smoke upwards in a lofty volume of smoke. 19. Through the wrath of Jehovah of hosts the land is turned into coal, and the nation has become like the food of fire: not one spares his brother. 20. They hew on the right, and are hungry; and devour on the left, and are not satisfied: they devour the flesh of their own arm: 21. Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: these together over Judah. With all this His anger is not turned away, and His hand is stretched out still.

X.--1. Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who prepare trouble; 2. to force away the needy from demanding justice, and to rob the suffering of my people of their rightful claims, that widows may become their prey, and they plunder orphans! 3. And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the storm that cometh from afar? To whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye deposit your glory? 4. There is nothing left but to bow down under prisoners, and they fall under the slain. With all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.

_C.--Destruction of the Imperial Kingdom of the World, and Rise of the Kingdom of Jehovah in His Anointed._--CHAP. X. 5-XII.

5. Woe to Asshur, the rod of Mine anger, and it is a staff in their hand, Mine indignation. 6. Against a wicked nation will I send them, and against the people of My wrath give them a charge, to spoil spoil, and to make it trodden down like street-mire. 7. Nevertheless he meaneth not so, neither does his heart think so; for it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. 8. For he saith, Are not my generals all kings? 9. Is not Calno as Carchemish, or Hamath as Arpad, or Samaria as Damascus? 10. As my hand hath reached the kingdoms of the idols, and their graven images were more than those of Jerusalem and Samaria; 11. shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, do likewise to Jerusalem and her idols?

12. And it will come to pass, when the Lord shall have brought to an end all His work upon mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, I will come to punish over the fruit of the pride of heart of the king of Asshur, and over the haughty look of his eyes. 13. For he hath said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my own wisdom; for I am prudent: and I removed the bounds of the nations, and I plundered their stores, and threw down rulers like a bull. 14. And my hand extracted the wealth of the nations like a nest: and as men sweep up forsaken eggs, have I swept the whole earth; there was none that moved the wing, and opened the mouth, and chirped.

15. Dare the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith, or the saw magnify itself against him that useth it? As if a staff were to swing those that lift it up, as if a stick should lift up not--wood! 16. Therefore will the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send consumption against his fat men; and under Asshur's glory there burns a brand like a firebrand. 17. And the light of Israel becomes a fire, and his Holy One a flame; and it sets on fire and devours its thistles and thorns in one day. 18. And the glory of his forest and his garden-ground will He destroy, even to soul and flesh, so that it is as when a sick man dieth. 19. And the remnant of the trees of his forest can be numbered, and a boy could write them.

20. And it will come to pass in that day, the remnant of Israel, and that which has escaped of the house of Jacob, will not continue to stay itself upon its chastiser, and will stay itself upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21. The remnant will turn, the remnant of Jacob, to God the Mighty. 22. For if thy people were even as the sea-sand, the remnant thereof will turn: destruction is firmly determined, flowing away righteousness. 23. For the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, completes the finishing-stroke and that which is firmly determined, within the whole land.

24. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, My people that dwellest on Zion, be not afraid of Asshur, if it shall smite thee with the rod, and lift up its stick against thee, in the manner of Egypt. 25. For yet a very little while the indignation is past, and my wrath turns to destroy them: 26. and Jehovah of hosts moves the whip over it, as He smite Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff stretches out over the sea. 27. And it will come to pass in that day, its burden will remove from thy shoulder, and its yoke from thy neck; and the yoke will be destroyed from the pressure of the fat.

28. He comes upon Ayyath, passes through Migron; in Michmash he leaves his baggage. 29. They go through the pass: let Geba be our quarters for the night! Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul flees. 30. Scream aloud, O daughter of Gallim. Only listen, O Laysha! Poor Anathoth! 31. Madmenah hurries away; the inhabitants of Gebim rescue. 32. He still halts in Nob to-day; swings his hand over the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

33. Behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, lops down the branches with terrific force; and those of towering growth are hewn down, and the lofty are humbled. 34. And He fells the thickets of the forest with iron; and Lebanon, it falls by a Majestic One.

XI.--1. And there cometh forth a twig out of the stump of Jesse, and a shoot from the roots bringeth forth fruit. 2. And the Spirit of Jehovah descends upon Him, spirit of wisdom and understanding, spirit of counsel and might, spirit of knowledge and fear of Jehovah; 3. and fear of Jehovah is fragrance to Him; and He judges not according to outward sight, neither does He pass sentence according to outward hearing; 4. and judges the poor with righteousness, and passes sentence with equity for the humble in the land; and smites the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He slays the wicked. 5. And righteousness is the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His hips.

6. And the wolf dwells with the lamb, and the leopard lies down with the kid; and calf and lion and stalled ox together; a little boy drives them. 7. And cow and bear go to the pasture; their young ones lie down together: and the lion eats chopped straw like the ox. 8. And the suckling plays by the hole of the adder, and the weaned child stretching its hand to the pupil of the basilisk-viper. 9. They will not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain: for the land is filled with knowledge of Jehovah, like the waters covering the sea.

10. And it will come to pass in that day: the root-sprout of Jesse, which stands as a banner of the people's, for it will nations ask, and its place of rest is glory.

11. And it will come to pass in that day, the Lord will stretch out His hand a second time to redeem the remnant of His people that shall be left, out of Asshur, and out of Egypt, and out of Pathros, and out of Ethiopia, and out of Elam, and out of Shinar, and out of Hamath, and out of the islands of the sea. 12. And He raises a banner for the nations, and fetches home the outcasts of Israel; and the dispersed of Judah will He assemble from the four borders of the earth. 13. And the jealousy of Ephraim is removed, and the adversaries of Judah are cut off; Ephraim will not show jealousy towards Judah, and Judah will not oppose Ephraim. 14. And they fly upon the shoulder of the Philistines seawards; unitedly they plunder the sons of the East: they seize upon Edom and Moab, and the sons of Amon are subject to them. 15. And Jehovah pronounces the ban upon the sea-tongue of Egypt, and swings His hand over the Euphrates in the glow of His breath, and smites it into seven brooks, and makes it so that men go through in shoes. 16. And there will be a road for the remnant of His people that shall be left, out of Asshur, as it was for Israel in the day of its departure out of the land of Egypt.

XII.--1, 2. And in that day thou wilt say,

I thank thee, O Jehovah, that Thou wast angry with me:
Thine anger is turned away, and Thou hast comforted me.
Behold, the God of my salvation;
I trust, and am not afraid;
For Jah Jehovah is my pride and song,
And He became my salvation.

3. And with rapture ye will draw water out of the wells of salvation. 4-6. And ye will say in that day,

Praise Jehovah, proclaim His name,
Make known His doings among the nations,
Boast that His name is exalted.
Harp to Jehovah; for He has displayed majesty:
Let this be known in all lands.
Shout and be jubilant, O inhabitant of Zion:
For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

_PART III._

COLLECTION OF ORACLES CONCERNING THE HEATHEN.--CHAPS. XIII.-XXIII.

_Oracle concerning the Chaldeans, the Heirs of the Assyrians._--CHAP. XIII. 1-XIV. 17.

XIII.--1. Oracle concerning Babel, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

2. On woodless mountain lift ye up a banner, call to them with a loud sounding voice, shake the hand, that they may enter into the gates of princes! 3. I, I have summoned My sanctified ones, also called My heroes to My wrath, My proudly rejoicing ones. 4. Hark, a rumbling on the mountains after the manner of a great people! hark, a rumbling of kingdoms met together! Jehovah of hosts musters an army, 5. those that have come out of a distant land, from the end of heaven: Jehovah and His instruments of wrath, to destroy the whole earth. 6. Howl; for the day of Jehovah is near; like a destructive force from the Almighty it comes. 7. Therefore all arms hang loosely down, and every human heart melts away. 8. And they are troubled: they fall into cramps and pangs; like a woman in labour they twist themselves: one stares at the other; their faces are faces of flame. 9. Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, a cruel one, and wrath and fierce anger, to turn the earth into a wilderness: and its sinners He destroys out of it.

10. For the stars of heaven, and its Orions, will not let their light shine: the sun darkens itself at its rising, and the moon does not let its light shine. 11. And I visit the evil upon the world, and upon sinners their guilt, and sink into silence the pomp of the proud; and the boasting of tyrants I throw to the ground. 12. I make men more precious than fine gold, and people than a jewel of Ophir. 13. Therefore I shake the heavens, and the earth trembles away from its place, because of the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and because of the day of His fierce anger. 14. And it comes to pass as a gazelle which is scared, and as a flock without gatherers: they turn every one to his people, and they flee every one to his land. 15. Every one that is found is pierced through, and every one that is caught falls by the sword. 16. And their infants are dashed to pieces before their eyes, their homes plundered, and their wives ravished. 17. Behold, I rouse up the Medes over them, who do not regard silver, and take no pleasure in gold. 18. And bows dash down young men; and they have no compassion on the fruit of the womb: their eye has no pity on children.

19. And Babel, the ornament of kingdoms, the proud boast of the Chaldeans, becomes like Elohim's overthrowing judgments upon Sodom and Gomorrah. 20. She remains uninhabited for ever, and unoccupied into generation of generations; and not an Arab pitches his tent there, and shepherds do not make their folds there. 21. And there lie beasts of the desert, and horn-owls fill their houses; and ostriches dwell there, and field-devils hop about there. 22. And jackals howl in her castles, and wild dogs in palaces of pleasure; and her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.

XIV.--1. For Jehovah will have mercy on Jacob, and will once more choose Israel, and will settle them down in their own land: and the foreigner will associate with them, and they will cleave to the house of Jacob. 2. And nations take them, and accompany them to their place; and the house of Israel takes them to itself in the land of Jehovah for servants and maid-servants: and they hold in captivity those who led them away captive; and become lords over their oppressors. 3. And it cometh to pass, on the day that Jehovah giveth thee the rest from thy plague, and from thy cares, and from the heavy bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, 4. that thou shalt raise such a song of triumph concerning the king of Babel and say--

How hath the oppressor ceased! the place of torture ceased! 5. Jehovah hath broken the rod of the wicked, the ruler's staff, 6. which smote nations in wrath with strokes without ceasing, subjugated nations wrathfully with hunting that never stays. 7. The whole earth rests, is quiet: they break forth into singing. 8. Even the cypresses rejoice at thee, the cedars of Lebanon: "Since thou hast gone to sleep, no one will come up to lay axe upon us."

9. The kingdom of the dead below is all in uproar on account of thee, to meet thy coming; it stirs up the shades for thee, all the he-goats of the earth; it raiseth up from their throne-seats all the kings of the nations. 10. They all rise up and say to thee, Art thou also made weak like us? Art thou become like us? 11. Thy pomp is cast down to the region of the dead, the noise of the harps: maggots are spread under thee, and they that cover thee are worms. 12. How art thou fallen from the sky, thou star of light, son of the dawn, hurled down to the earth, thou that didst throw down nations from above! 13. And thou, thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend unto heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and sit down on the mount of the assembly of gods in the corner of the earth; 14. I will ascend to the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High. 15. Nevertheless, thou wilt be cast down into the region of the dead, into the corner of the pit. 16. They that see thee look, considering thee, look at thee thoughtfully: "Is this the man that set the earth trembling, and kingdoms shaking, 17. that made the world a wilderness, and destroyed its cities, and did not release its prisoners (to their) home?"

18. All the kings of the nations, they are all interred in honour, every one in his house: 19. but thou art cast away far from thy sepulchre like a shoot hurled away, clothed with slain, with those pierced through with the sword, those that go down to the stones of the pit; like a carcass trodden under feet. 20. Thou art not united with them in burial, for thou hast destroyed thy land, murdered thy people.

The seed of evil-doers will not be named for ever. 21. Prepare a slaughter-house for his sons, because of the iniquity of their fathers! They shall not rise and conquer lands, and fill the face of the earth with cities.

22. And I will rise up against them, saith Jehovah of hosts, and root out in Babel name and remnant, sprout and shoot, saith Jehovah. 23. And I will make it the possession of hedgehogs and marshes of water, and sweep it away with the besom of destruction, saith Jehovah of hosts.

24. Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, that takes place; 25. to break Asshur in pieces in My land, and upon My mountain will I tread him under foot; then his yoke departs from them, and his burden will depart from their neck. 26. This is the purpose that is purposed over the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out over all nations. 27. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who could bring it to nought? and His hand that is stretched out, who can turn it back?

THE ORACLE CONCERNING PHILISTIA.--CHAP. XIV. 28-32.

28. In the year of the death of King Ahaz the following oracle was uttered.

29. Rejoice not so fully, O Philistia, that the rod which smote thee is broken to pieces; for out of the serpent's root comes forth a basilisk, and its fruit is a flying dragon. 30. And the poorest of the poor will feed, and needy ones lie down in peace; and I kill thy root through hunger, and he slays thy remnant.

31 Howl, O gate! cry, O city! O Philistia, thou must melt entirely away; for from the north cometh smoke, and there is no isolated one among his hosts. 32. And what answer do the messengers of the nations bring? that Jehovah hath founded Zion, and that the afflicted of His people are hidden therein.

THE ORACLE CONCERNING MOAB.--CHAPS. XV., XVI.

XV.--1. Oracle concerning Moab! for in a night Ar-Moab is laid waste, destroyed; for in a night Kir-Moab is laid waste, destroyed. 2. They go up to the temple-house and Dibon, up to the heights to weep: upon Nebo and upon Medebah of Moab there is weeping: on all heads baldness, every beard is mutilated. 3. In the markets of Moab they gird themselves with sackcloth; on the roofs of the land, and in the streets, everything wails, melting into tears. 4. Heshbon cries, and 'Elâle; even to Jahaz they hear their howling; even the armed men of Moab break out into mourning thereat; its soul trembles within it. 5. My heart, towards Moab it crieth out; its bolts reach to Zoar, the three-year-old heifer. For the mountain-slope of Luhith they ascend with weeping; for on the road to Horonaijim they lift up a cry of despair. 6. For the waters of Nimrim are waste places from this time forth: for the grass is dried up, the vegetation wasteth away, the green is gone. 7. Therefore what has been spared, what has been gained, and their provision, they carry it over the willow-brook. 8. For the scream has gone round in the territory of Moab; the wailing of Moab resounds to Eglayim, and his wailing to Beēr-Elim. 9. For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; for I suspend over Dimon a new calamity, over the escaped of Moab a lion, and over the remnant of the land.

XVI.--1. Send a land-ruler's tribute of lambs from Sela desert-wards to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. 2. And the daughters of Moab will be like birds fluttering about, a scared nest, at the fords of Arnon. 3. Give counsel, for a decision, make thy shadow like night in the midst of noon: hide the outcasts, do not betray the wanderers. 4. Let mine outcasts tarry in thee, Moab; be a covert to it from before the spoiler. For the extortioner is at an end, desolation has disappeared, treaders down are away from the land. 5. And a throne is established by grace, and there sits thereon in truth in the tent of David one judging, and zealous for right, and practised in righteousness.