Chapter LXIII: Book 23: Isaiah (2)

23:016:008 For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.

23:016:009 Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.

23:016:010 And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.

23:016:011 Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.

23:016:012 And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.

23:016:013 This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.

23:016:014 But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.

23:017:001 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

23:017:002 The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

23:017:003 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.

23:017:004 And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.

23:017:005 And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.

23:017:006 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel.

23:017:007 At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

23:017:008 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.

23:017:009 In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.

23:017:010 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:

23:017:011 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

23:017:012 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

23:017:013 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

23:017:014 And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

23:018:001 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

23:018:002 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

23:018:003 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.

23:018:004 For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

23:018:005 For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.

23:018:006 They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

23:018:007 In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.

23:019:001 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

23:019:002 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

23:019:003 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.

23:019:004 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.

23:019:005 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.

23:019:006 And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.

23:019:007 The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.

23:019:008 The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.

23:019:009 Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.

23:019:010 And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.

23:019:011 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?

23:019:012 Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.

23:019:013 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.

23:019:014 The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.

23:019:015 Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.

23:019:016 In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it.

23:019:017 And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.

23:019:018 In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.

23:019:019 In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.

23:019:020 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.

23:019:021 And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.

23:019:022 And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them.

23:019:023 In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.

23:019:024 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:

23:019:025 Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.

23:020:001 In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;

23:020:002 At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

23:020:003 And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;

23:020:004 So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

23:020:005 And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.

23:020:006 And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?

23:021:001 The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.

23:021:002 A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.

23:021:003 Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.

23:021:004 My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.

23:021:005 Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.

23:021:006 For thus hath the LORD said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.

23:021:007 And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed:

23:021:008 And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights:

23:021:009 And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.

23:021:010 O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.

23:021:011 The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?

23:021:012 The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.

23:021:013 The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.

23:021:014 The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled.

23:021:015 For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.

23:021:016 For thus hath the LORD said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:

23:021:017 And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it.

23:022:001 The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?

23:022:002 Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.

23:022:003 All thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far.

23:022:004 Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.

23:022:005 For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.

23:022:006 And Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.

23:022:007 And it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.

23:022:008 And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.

23:022:009 Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.

23:022:010 And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.

23:022:011 Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.

23:022:012 And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:

23:022:013 And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

23:022:014 And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

23:022:015 Thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say,

23:022:016 What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?

23:022:017 Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee.

23:022:018 He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house.

23:022:019 And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.

23:022:020 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:

23:022:021 And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.

23:022:022 And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.

23:022:023 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.

23:022:024 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.

23:022:025 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

23:023:001 The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.

23:023:002 Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.

23:023:003 And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.

23:023:004 Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins.

23:023:005 As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.

23:023:006 Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.

23:023:007 Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.

23:023:008 Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?

23:023:009 The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.

23:023:010 Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength.

23:023:011 He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.

23:023:012 And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.

23:023:013 Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.

23:023:014 Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.

23:023:015 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.

23:023:016 Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.

23:023:017 And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.

23:023:018 And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.

23:024:001 Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.

23:024:002 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.

23:024:003 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.

23:024:004 The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.

23:024:005 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

23:024:006 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

23:024:007 The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.

23:024:008 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.

23:024:009 They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.

23:024:010 The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.

23:024:011 There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.

23:024:012 In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.

23:024:013 When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.

23:024:014 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.

23:024:015 Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.

23:024:016 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.

23:024:017 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

23:024:018 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.

23:024:019 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.

23:024:020 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

23:024:021 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

23:024:022 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

23:024:023 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

23:025:001 O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

23:025:002 For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.

23:025:003 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.

23:025:004 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

23:025:005 Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

23:025:006 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

23:025:007 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.

23:025:008 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.

23:025:009 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

23:025:010 For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.

23:025:011 And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.

23:025:012 And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.

23:026:001 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.

23:026:002 Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

23:026:003 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

23:026:004 Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:

23:026:005 For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.

23:026:006 The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.

23:026:007 The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.

23:026:008 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.

23:026:009 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

23:026:010 Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.

23:026:011 LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.

23:026:012 LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

23:026:013 O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.

23:026:014 They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

23:026:015 Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.

23:026:016 LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

23:026:017 Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD.

23:026:018 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

23:026:019 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

23:026:020 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

23:026:021 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

23:027:001 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

23:027:002 In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.

23:027:003 I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.

23:027:004 Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.

23:027:005 Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.

23:027:006 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.

23:027:007 Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?

23:027:008 In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.

23:027:009 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.

23:027:010 Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.

23:027:011 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.

23:027:012 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.

23:027:013 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

23:028:001 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!

23:028:002 Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.

23:028:003 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:

23:028:004 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

23:028:005 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,

23:028:006 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

23:028:007 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

23:028:008 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

23:028:009 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

23:028:010 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

23:028:011 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

23:028:012 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

23:028:013 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

23:028:014 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.

23:028:015 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

23:028:016 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

23:028:017 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

23:028:018 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

23:028:019 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

23:028:020 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.

23:028:021 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

23:028:022 Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

23:028:023 Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

23:028:024 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?

23:028:025 When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?

23:028:026 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.

23:028:027 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.

23:028:028 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.

23:028:029 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.

23:029:001 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.

23:029:002 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.

23:029:003 And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.

23:029:004 And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

23:029:005 Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.

23:029:006 Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.

23:029:007 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.

23:029:008 It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

23:029:009 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

23:029:010 For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

23:029:011 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:

23:029:012 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

23:029:013 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

23:029:014 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

23:029:015 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

23:029:016 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

23:029:017 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?

23:029:018 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.

23:029:019 The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

23:029:020 For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:

23:029:021 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.

23:029:022 Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.

23:029:023 But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.

23:029:024 They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.

23:030:001 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:

23:030:002 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

23:030:003 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

23:030:004 For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.

23:030:005 They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

23:030:006 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

23:030:007 For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.

23:030:008 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:

23:030:009 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:

23:030:010 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

23:030:011 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

23:030:012 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:

23:030:013 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.

23:030:014 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.

23:030:015 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

23:030:016 But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.

23:030:017 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.

23:030:018 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

23:030:019 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.

23:030:020 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:

23:030:021 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

23:030:022 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

23:030:023 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.

23:030:024 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.

23:030:025 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

23:030:026 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

23:030:027 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

23:030:028 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.

23:030:029 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.

23:030:030 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.

23:030:031 For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.

23:030:032 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.

23:030:033 For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.

23:031:001 Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!

23:031:002 Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.

23:031:003 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.

23:031:004 For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.

23:031:005 As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.

23:031:006 Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.

23:031:007 For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.

23:031:008 Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited.

23:031:009 And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.

23:032:001 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.

23:032:002 And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

23:032:003 And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.

23:032:004 The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.

23:032:005 The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.

23:032:006 For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

23:032:007 The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.

23:032:008 But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.

23:032:009 Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.

23:032:010 Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.

23:032:011 Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.

23:032:012 They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

23:032:013 Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:

23:032:014 Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;

23:032:015 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.

23:032:016 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.

23:032:017 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.

23:032:018 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;

23:032:019 When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.

23:032:020 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.