THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH.
1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw, concerning Judah and Jerusalem,—in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah—kings of Judah.
2 Hear, O heavens, And give ear, O earth, for Yahweh hath spoken:—Sons have I brought up and advanced, And they have rebelled against me.
3 An ox knoweth his owner, And an ass his masters crib,—Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider.
4 Alas! a nation—committing sin, a people—burdened with iniquity, a seed—practising wickedness, sons—acting corruptly. They have forsaken Yahweh, despised the Holy One of Israel,—Are estranged and gone back.
5 Why should ye be smitten any more? Ye would again turn aside! The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faint:
6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is in it no soundness, Bruise and stripe and newly-made wound,—They have not been pressed out nor bound up, nor soothed with oil.
7 Your country—is a desolation, Your cities—are consumed with fire,—Your soil—right before your eyes foreigners are devouring it, And it is a desolation, a very overthrow by foreigners;
8 And left is the Daughter of Zion Like a hut in a vineyard,—Like a lodge in a gourd-plot, Like a city besieged.
9 If Yahweh of hosts had not left us a very small remnant Like Sodom had we become, Gomorrah had we resembled.
10 Hear the word of Yahweh, ye rulers of Sodom,—Give ear to the instruction of our God, ye people of Gomorrah:—
11 Of what use to me is your multitude of sacrifices? Saith Yahweh: I am sated with ascending-offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts,—In the blood of bulls and young rams and he-goats have I no pleasure.
12 When ye enter to see my face Who hath required this at your hand trampling my courts?
13 Ye shall not again bring in an empty present, Incense an abomination is that unto me! New moon and sabbath calling an assembly—I cannot endure iniquity and sacred festival!
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth,—They have become unto me a burden I am too weary to bear:
15 Even when ye spread forth your open palms I hide mine eyes from you; Yea though ye multiply prayers I am not hearkening,—Your hands with deeds of blood are filled.
16 Wash you, make you clean, Put away the wickedness of your doings from before mine eyes,—Cease to do evil.
17 Learn to do well—Seek justice, Correct the oppressor,—Vindicate the fatherless, Plead the cause of the widow.
18 Come, I pray you, and let us settle the dispute, Saith Yahweh,—Though your sins be found like scarlet As snow shall they be made white, Though they appear red like crimson As wool shall they become.
19 If ye be willing—and hearken Of the good of the land shall ye eat;
20 But if ye refuse and rebel With the sword shall ye be devoured, For the mouth of Yahweh hath spoken it.
21 How hath she become unchaste!—The city that was Faithful,—Full of justice, Righteousness lodged in her, But now murderers!
22 Thy silver hath become dross,—Thy wine weakened with water;
23 Thy rulers are unruly and companions of thieves, Every one of the people loveth a bribe, and runneth after rewards,—The fatherless they do not vindicate, And the plea of the widow reacheth them not.
24 Therefore Declareth the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, The Mighty One of Israel,—Alas! I must appease me on mine adversaries, I must avenge me on mine enemies;
25 That I may turn my hand against thee, And smelt away as with potash thy dross, And remove all thine alloy;
26 That I may restore thy Judges as at the first, and thy Counsellors as at the beginning,—After that shalt thou be called Righteous citadel, Trusty city,—
27 Zion with justice shall be redeemed,—And her returning ones with righteousness;
28 And the downfall of transgressors and sinners shall be together,—And they who forsake Yahweh shall be brought to an end;
29 For they shall turn pale on account of the oaks which ye desired,—And ye shall blush on account of the gardens which ye had chosen;
30 For ye shall be as an oak with its leaf faded, And as a garden that hath no water;
31 Then shall the strong one become tow, And his work a spark,—And they shall both blaze together And there be none to quench the fire.
2 That which Isaiah son of Amoz saw in vision,—concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 But it shall come to pass in the afterpart of the days That the mountain of the house of Yahweh Shall be set up as the head of the mountains, And be exalted above the hills,—And all the nations shall stream thereunto;
3 And many peoples shall go and say—Come ye and let us ascend Unto the mountain of Yahweh, Unto the house of the God of Jacob, That he may teach us of his ways, And we may walk in his paths,—For out of Zion shall go forth a law, And the word of Yahweh out of Jerusalem;
4 And he will judge between the nations, And be umpire to many peoples,—And they will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks, Nation—against nation shall not lift up sword, Neither shall they learn any more to make war.
5 O house of Jacob! come ye and let us walk in the light of Yahweh.
6 Therefore hast thou abandoned thy people, the house of Jacob, Because they have become full of the East, And use hidden arts like the Philistines,—And with the children of foreigners strike hands;—
7 So that filled is their land with silver and gold, And there is no end to their treasures,—And filled is their land with horses, And there is no end to their chariots;
8 And filled is their land with idols,—To the work of their own hands do they bow themselves down, To that which they made with their own fingers.
9 So the mean man boweth down And the great man stoopeth low,—Therefore do not thou forgive them!
10 Enter into the rock, Or hide thee in the dust,—Because of the terribleness of Yahweh, And for his majestic splendour.
11 The lofty looks of mean men shall be humbled, And the haughtiness of great men shall be bowed down,—And Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day.
12 For a day of Yahweh of hosts [shall be]—Upon every one who is high and lofty,—And upon every one who is lifted up And he shall be brought low;
13 And upon all cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up,—And upon all the oaks of Bashan;
14 And upon all the lofty mountains,—And upon all the uplifted hills;
15 And upon every high tower,—And upon every fortress wall;
16 And upon all the ships of Tarshish,—And upon all desirable banners.
17 And the haughtiness of mean men shall be humbled,—And the loftiness of great men shall be laid low,—And Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day.
18 And the idols shall wholly pass away;
19 And they shall enter into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of clay,—Because of the terribleness of Yahweh And for his majestic splendour, When he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
20 In that day shall the son of earth cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold,—which had been made for him to worship, into the hole of the mice and to the bats;
21 That he may enter into the clefts of the rocks, and into the fissures of the crags,—Because of the terribleness of Yahweh And for his majestic splendour, When he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
22 Cease ye from the son of earth, In whose nostrils is but a breath,—For wherein to be reckoned upon is he?
3 For lo! the Lord Yahweh of hosts removing from Jerusalem and from Judah, The stay and staff,—The whole stay of bread, And the whole stay of water:
2 Man of might and man of war,—Judge and prophet And diviner and elder;
3 Captain of fifty and favourite; And counsellor and skilled artificer And master of magical formulas;
4 And I will appoint boys to be their princes,—And petulant children shall rule over them.
5 And the people will tyrannise Every man over his fellow-man And every man over his friend,—And they will rage The boy against the elder, And the despised against the honourable.
6 When a man shall lay hold on his brother of the house of his father, [saying]—Clothing hast thou, Become thou our ruler,—This downfall be under thy hand
7 He will swear in that day saying—I will take no control, When in mine own house is neither food nor clothing,—Ye must not set me for a ruler of people!
8 For stumbled hath Jerusalem, and Judah hath fallen,—Because their tongue and their doings are against Yahweh, Provoking his glorious presence.
9 The show of their face hath answered against them, And their sin—like Sodom have they told, they have not concealed it. Alas for their souls! For they have requited to themselves calamity.
10 Say ye to the righteous, It is well! For the fruit of their doings shall they eat:
11 Alas! for the lawless it is ill, For what his own hand hath matured shall be done to him.
12 My people! children are their tyrants, And women rule over them,—My people! they who should lead thee forward are causing thee to stray, Thy pathways have they destroyed.
13 Yahweh hath taken his station to plead,—And is standing to judge peoples:
14 Yahweh into judgment will enter, With the elders of his people And their princes,—But ye have consumed the vineyard, That which hath been robbed from the oppressed is in your houses.
15 What right have ye to crush my people, And the faces of the oppressed to grind? Demandeth My Lord, Yahweh of hosts—
16 And Yahweh saith—Because haughty are the daughters of Zion, And they walk with neck thrown back, and wanton eyes,—Tripping along as they go, And with their feet making a tinkling sound
17 Therefore will My Lord smite with leprosy the crown of hair of the daughters of Zion,—And as for Yahweh their shame will he lay bare!
18 In that day will My Lord remove the finery—of the anklets, and the little suns and the little moons;
19 the pendants and the bracelets and the veils;
20 the chaplets and the armlets and the girdles, and the scent-cases and the amulets;
21 the rings and the nose-jewels;
22 the robes and the over-tunics, and the cloaks and the purses;
23 and the mirrors and the linen wraps, and the tiaras and the cloaks.
24 And it shall come to pass—That instead of fragrance a putrid odour shall be, And instead of a girdle an encircling rope, And instead of braided hair baldness, And instead of a festal robe a girding of sackcloth, Branding instead of beauty:
25 Thy males by the sword shall fall,—And thy mighty men by the war;
26 And her gates shall mourn and lament,—And forsaken on the ground shall she sit.
4 And seven women will take hold of one man in that day saying, Our own bread will we eat, And our own apparel will we wear,—Only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
2 In that day Shall the Bud of Yahweh become beautiful and glorious,—And the Fruit of the Land splendid and majestic, To the escaped of Israel.
3 And it shall come to pass—He that is left in Zion And he that remaineth in Jerusalem Shall be called holy,—Everyone written unto life in Jerusalem.
4 When My Lord shall have bathed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, And the blood-guiltiness of Jerusalem he shall wash away out of her midst,—By the spirit of judgment, and By the spirit of thorough cleansing
5 Then will Yahweh create—Over all the home of Mount Zion and Over her assembly A cloud by day and a smoke, And the shining of a fire-flame by night,—For over all the glory shall be a canopy;
6 And a pavilion shall there be For a shade by day from the heat,—and For a refuge and for a shelter, from storm and from rain.
5 Let me sing, I pray you, for a well-beloved of mine, The song of my beloved concerning his vineyard:—A vineyard had my well-beloved on a very fruitful hill;
2 And he thoroughly digged it And gathered out the stones thereof And planted it with a precious vine, And built a tower in the midst thereof, Moreover also a wine-press hewed he therein,—Then waited he that it should bring forth grapes. And it brought forth wild grapes:
3 Now therefore, O inhabitant of Jerusalem And men of Judah,—Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard:—
4 What could have been done further to my vineyard, That I had not done in it? Why then—When I had waited that it should bring forth grapes Brought it forth wild grapes?
5 Now therefore, I pray you, let me tell you what I am about to do to my vineyard,—To take away the fence thereof And it shall be eaten up, To destroy the wall thereof And it shall be trodden down;
6 And I will make it a waste;—It shall be neither pruned nor hoed, But there shall come up briars and thorns,—And upon the clouds will I lay a charge, That they rain thereon no rain.
7 Surely the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are the plantation in which he dearly delighted,—And he waited For equity but lo! murderous iniquity, For the rule of right, but lo! the cry of the wronged.
8 Alas! for them who join house to house, Field to field bring they near,—Until there is no room, But ye are left to dwell alone in the midst of the land.
9 In mine ears [said] Yahweh of hosts,—Verily houses in abundance shall become a desolation, Large and fair without inhabitant;
10 For ten yokes of vineyard shall yield one bath,—And the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah.
11 Alas! for them who rise early in the morning that strong drink they may pursue,—Who follow on in the evening cool [until] with wine they are heated;
12 And it cometh to pass—that lyre and harp, timbrel and flute and wine are in their banquets,—But the doing of Yahweh they do not discern, And the work of his hands have they not seen.
13 Therefore are my people taken away captive before they know it,—And their honourable men are famished with hunger, And their multitude do gape for thirst.
14 Therefore hath hades enlarged her desire, And opened her mouth to its widest,—And their glory, and their multitude and their pomp and he that is uproarious shall descend thereinto.
15 And the mean man hath been bowed down And the mighty man hath been humbled,—Yea the looks of the haughty shall be humbled.
16 But Yahweh of hosts hath been exalted in justice,—And the God that is holy hath been hallowed in righteousness;
17 Then shall the young rams feed where they please,—And the wastes of the wealthy shall strangers consume.
18 Alas! for them Who draw on themselves punishment with cords of falsehood,—And as with waggon-bands penalty:
19 Who say—Let his work quicken—let it hasten That we may see,—And let the purpose of Israel’s Holy One draw near and come, That we may know!
20 Alas! for them Who call evil good and good evil,—Who put darkness for light and light for darkness, Who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
21 Alas! for them Who are wise in their own eyes,—And in their own sight are prudent.
22 Alas! for them Who are heroes to drink wine,—And men of valour to mingle strong drink,
23 Who justify the lawless for a bribe,—Whereas the righteousness of the righteous they take from him.
24 Therefore As a tongue of fire eateth up straw, And a flame reduceth dry grass to powder Their root like rottenness shall become, And their blossom like dust shall ascend,—Because they refused the law of Yahweh of hosts, And the utterance of the Holy One of Israel they despised.
25 For this cause did the anger of Yahweh kindle upon his own people And he stretched out his hand against them and smote them—So that the mountains trembled, And their dead bodies served for fuel in the midst of the streets. For all this hath his anger not turned back, But still is his hand outstretched.
26 Therefore will he lift up an ensign to the nations afar off, And signal for him from the end of the earth,—And lo! with hot haste will he come:
27 None shall be weary and none shall stumble in his midst, He shall neither slumber nor sleep,—Nor shall be loosened the girdle of his loins, Nor snapped the thong of his sandals:
28 Whose arrows are sharpened, and all his bows bent,—The hoofs of his horses like flint are accounted, And his wheels [are] like a storm-wind:
29 A roar hath he like a lioness,—He will roar like wild lions—And will growl and lay hold on prey, and carry into safety and there be none to deliver.
30 Yea he will growl at him in that day like the growling of the sea,—Though he look hard for the land lo! the darkness of distress, Yea the light hath grown dark in its clouds!
6 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw My Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his skirts did fill the temple.
2 Seraphim were standing above him; six wings severally had each one,—With twain he covered his face And with twain he covered his feet And with twain he did fly.
3 And they continued crying out one to another and said, Holy—holy—holy is Yahweh of hosts,—The fulness of the whole earth is his glory.
4 And the foundations of the porch were moved at the voice of him that cried,—and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I—Woe to me!—for I am undone Because a man of unclean lips am I, And in the midst of a people of unclean lips do I dwell,—For the King Yahweh of hosts have mine eyes seen!
6 Then flew unto me one of the seraphim, And in his hand a live coal,—With tongs had he taken it from off the altar.
7 Then touched he my mouth, and said—Lo! this hath touched thy lips,—Thus shall be taken away thine iniquity, And thy sin by propitiation be covered.
8 Then heard I the voice of My Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said—Here am I—send me.
9 Then said he—Go and say unto this people,—Hear on but do not discern, See on but do not perceive:
10 Stupefy thou the heart of this people, And their ears make thou heavy And their eyes overspread,—Lest they see with their eyes And with their ears should hear, And their heart should discern and come back And they be healed.
11 Then said I—How long, My Lord? And he said—Until the time that Cities be wasted through having no inhabitant And houses—through having no men, And the ground be laid waste unto desolation;
12 And Yahweh have far removed men,—And great be the abandonment in the midst of the land.
13 Yet still shall there be in it a tenth, Though it again be consumed,—Like an oak and like a terebinth Which when felled have a stock in them, A holy seed shall be the stock thereof.
7 And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah king of Judah that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem, to war against it,—but could not prevail against it.
2 And it was told the house of David saying, Syria hath settled down upon Ephraim. Then shook his heart and the heart of his people, as the trees of a forest shake before a wind.
3 Then said Yahweh unto Isaiah, Go forth, I pray thee, to meet Ahaz, thou and Shear-jashub thy son,—unto the end of the channel of the upper pool, unto the highway of the fuller’s field;
4 and say unto him—Take heed and keep thyself calm—do not fear, neither let thy heart be faint, because of these two fag-ends of smoking firebrands,—in spite of the glow of the anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah.
5 Because Syria hath taken counsel against thee for mischief,—[with] Ephraim and the son of Remaliah saying,
6 Let us go up against Judah and besiege it, and break it open for ourselves,—and set up a king in the midst thereof, even the son of Tabeal
7 Thus saith My Lord Yahweh,—It shall not stand Neither shall it come to pass!
8 For though the head of Syria is Damascus, And the head of Damascus is Rezin Yet within threescore and five years more shall Ephraim be broken that it shall not be a people;
9 Even though the head of Ephraim is Samaria, And the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If ye trust not Surely ye cannot be trusted!
10 And again spake Yahweh unto Ahaz saying—
11 Ask thee a sign, of Yahweh thy God,—Go down deep for a request, Or ascend on high!
12 But Ahaz said,—I will not ask Nor will I put Yahweh to the proof.
13 Then said he—Hear, I pray you, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that ye must weary even my God?
14 Wherefore let My Lord Himself give you a sign,—Lo! a Virgin being with child and giving birth to a son thou wilt call his name Immanuel.
15 Curds and honey shall he eat, by the time that he knoweth to refuse the bad and choose the good;
16 for before the boy knoweth to refuse the bad and choose the good forsaken shall be the land at which thou art alarmed of the presence of both her kings.
17 Yahweh will bring upon thee and upon thy people and upon the house of thy father days which have not come, from the day when Ephraim departed from Judah,—even the king of Assyria.
18 And it shall come to pass in that day that Yahweh will give a signal—To the fly that is in the uttermost part of the Nile-canals of Egypt, And to the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
19 And they shall all of them come and settle down—In the desolate torrent-valleys, And in the rents of the crags,—And on all the thorn-bushes, And on all the pastures.
20 In that day will My Lord shave with a hired razor even with them of the lands over the River [“Euphrates”], with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet,—yea even the beard will it sweep off.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day that a man shall keep alive a young cow and two sheep.
22 Yea it shall come to pass for the abundance of the yield of milk that he shall eat curds,—for curds and honey shall every one eat that is left in the midst of the land.
23 And it shall come to pass in that day that every place wherein there used to be a thousand vines at a thousand pieces of silver—yea even for briars and thorns shall it be.
24 With arrows and with a bow shall one come in thither,—for briars and thorns shall be all the land.
25 But all the hills which with the hoe can be weeded—there shall not come thither, the fear of briars and thorns,—but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the tread of lesser cattle.
8 And Yahweh said unto me: Take thee a large tablet,—and write thereon in plain characters, To Maher-shalal-hash-baz. [“Speed-spoil-hurry-prey.”]
2 That I may take in attestation, faithful witnesses,—even Uriah the priest, and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.
3 Then approached I unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bare a son,—and Yahweh said unto me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
4 For before the boy shall have knowledge to cry, My father! and My mother! the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be carried away before the king of Assyria.
5 And again Yahweh spake unto me yet further saying:
6 Because this people hath refused the waters of Shiloah which flow softly,—and are rejoicing with Rezin and the son of Remaliah
7 now therefore lo! the Lord is about to bring up against them the waters, strong and many, of the River [Euphrates], even the king of Assyria and all his glory,—and he shall rise over all his channels, and flow over all his banks;
8 and roll on throughout Judah—overflow and pass along, till unto the neck he shall reach,—and it shall be that the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel!
9 Rage, O ye peoples,—and be overthrown, And give ear, all ye distant parts of the earth,—Gird yourselves and be overthrown, Gird yourselves and be overthrown:
10 Determine a plan—and it shall be frustrated,—Speak a word, and it shall not stand, For With-us-is-God!
11 For thus spake Yahweh unto me like a firm grasp of the hand,—when he admonished me not to walk in the way of this people saying:
12 Ye shall not say—A confederacy! of everything of which this people may say, A confederacy! And their fear shall ye not fear or regard as awful:
13 Yahweh of hosts him shall ye hallow,—And let him be your fear and let him inspire you with awe;
14 So shall he become a hallowed asylum,—But a stone to strike against and a rock to stumble over unto both houses of Israel, A trap and a snare to the dweller in Jerusalem;
15 And many shall stumble among them,—and fall and be torn, and snared and captured.
16 Bind thou up the testimony,—Seal the instruction amongst my disciples.
17 I will therefore long for Yahweh, Who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob,—And will wait for him.
18 Lo! I and the children whom Yahweh hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel,—from Yahweh of hosts, who is making his habitation in Mount Zion.
19 But when they say unto you—Seek ye unto the necromancers and unto the wizards, who chirp and who mutter Should not a people seek unto its God? In behalf of the living [should it seek] unto the dead?
20 To the law and to the testimony! If they speak not according to this word [It is] because they have no dawning day.
21 Therefore shall they pass through it hard pressed and hungry,—And it shall be when they hunger then will they rage and revile their king and their god and turn their faces upwards;
22 And unto the land shall they look hard, And lo! distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish driven away!
9 For there is no gloom to her who had been in anguish, In the former time he brought into dishonour The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, In the latter time hath he brought into honour The Lake-way over the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2 The people who were walking in darkness Have seen a great light,—The dwellers in a land death-shadowed A light hath shined upon them.
3 Thou hast increased the exultation, Thou hast made great the joy,—They joy before thee according to the joy of harvest, As men exult when they distribute spoil.
4 For the yoke of their burden, The cross-bar of their shoulder, The goad of their driver Hast thou broken as in the day of Midian.
5 Surely every boot of one tramping in tumult, and the war-cloak rolled in blood Then shall serve for burning food for fire;
6 For A Child hath been born to us, A Son hath been given to us, And the dominion is upon his shoulder,—And his Name hath been called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of Futurity, Prince of Prosperity.
7 Of the increase of dominion and of prosperity There shall be no end—Upon the throne of David and Upon his kingdom, By establishing it and By sustaining it, With justice and With righteousness,—From henceforth Even unto times age-abiding: The jealousy of Yahweh of hosts will perform this!
8 A word hath My Lord sent unto Jacob,—And it shall alight on Israel;
9 And the people shall all of them know [it]—Ephraim and the dweller in Samaria—Who in pride and insolence of heart are saying:
10 Bricks have fallen down But with hewn stone will we build,—Sycomores have been felled, But with cedars will we replace them.
11 Therefore will Yahweh strengthen the adversaries of Resin against him,—And his enemies will he arouse:
12 Syrians before and Philistines behind, Thus have they devoured Israel with open mouth,—For all this hath his anger not turned back, But still is his hand outstretched.
13 Yet the people have not turned unto him that smote them,—And Yahweh of hosts have they not sought.
14 Therefore hath Yahweh cut off from Israel—Head and tail, Palm-top and rush, In one day.
15 The elder and favourite he is the head,—And the prophet teaching falsehood he is the tail;
16 And they who should have led this people forward have been causing them to stray,—And they who are led of them are destroyed.
17 For this cause over their choice young men will My Lord not rejoice, And on their fatherless and their widows will he not have compassion, For every one of them is profane and an evildoer, And every mouth is speaking baseness,—For all this hath his anger not turned back, But still is his hand outstretched.
18 For lawlessness hath consumed like fire, Briars and thorns doth it devour,—Yea it hath kindled upon the thickets of the forest, And they have rolled up as a column of smoke.
19 Through the wrath of Yahweh of hosts is the land consumed,—And the people have come to be as fuel for fire, A man unto his own brother sheweth not pity;
20 And he hath slain on the right and yet is hungry, And hath eaten on the left, yet are they not satisfied,—Every one the flesh of his own arm will they eat:
21 Manasseh—Ephraim, and Ephraim—Manasseh, They together—against Judah,—For all this hath his anger not turned back, But still is his hand outstretched.
10 Alas! for them who ordain iniquitous decrees,—And busy writers who make a business of writing mischief:
2 Turning aside from judgment the poor, And robbing of justice the oppressed of my people,—So that widows become their spoil, And of the fatherless they make prey.
3 What then will ye do for the day of visitation, And for the devastation which from afar shall come? Unto whom will ye flee for help? And where will ye leave your glory?
4 Without me one hath bowed under a prisoner, Yea under the slain do they fall! For all this hath his anger not turned back, But still is his hand outstretched.
5 Alas! for Assyria the rod of mine anger,—Yea the very staff in their hand is my displeasure:
6 Against an irreligious nation will I send him, Yea against the people with whom I am wroth will I command him,—To capture spoil And lay hold on prey, And cause them to be trodden down as the mire of the lanes.
7 But as for him not so doth he deem, And in his heart not so doth he think,—For to destroy is in his heart, And to cut off nations, not a few;
8 For he saith:—Are not my generals all alike kings?
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand hath reached unto the kingdoms of idols,—whose images did excel them of Jerusalem and Samaria
11 Shall I not as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her images?
12 Wherefore it shall come to pass—When My Lord shall finish his whole work upon Mount Zion and upon Jerusalem I will bring punishment—Upon the fruit of the greatness of heart of the king of Assyria And upon the vainglory of his uplifted eyes.
13 For he hath said—By the strength of mine own hand have I effectually wrought, And by my wisdom—for I have discernment,—That I might remove the bounds of peoples, Yea their treasures have I plundered That I might lay prostrate as a mighty one the inhabitants;
14 And my hand hath found as a nest the wealth of the peoples, And as the gathering of eggs that are forsaken all the earth have I gathered,—And there was none to flap a wing, or open a mouth or chirp.
15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or the saw magnify itself against him that wieldeth it? As if a rod could wield them who lift it up! As if a staff could raise what is not wood!
16 Therefore shall the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, Send among his fat ones leanness, And under his glory shall he kindle a kindling like the kindling of fire;
17 So shall the Light of Israel become a fire, And his Holy One a flame, Which shall burn and consume his thorns and his briars in one day;
18 And the glory of his forest and of his garden land, both soul and body shall it bring to an end,—And it shall be like the wasting away of a consumptive.
19 And the remnant of his forest-trees few in number shall become,—yea a child might describe them!
20 And it shall come to pass in that day That the remnant of Israel And the escaped of the house of Jacob Shall no more again lean upon him that smote them,—But shall lean upon Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 A remnant shall return, The remnant of Jacob,—unto the mighty God;
22 For though thy people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea A [mere] remnant shall return of them,—A full end decreed bringeth in justice like a flood;
23 For a full end and that a decreed one is My Lord, Yahweh of hosts, executing in the midst of all the earth.
24 Therefore thus saith My Lord, Yahweh of hosts, Do not fear, O my people dwelling in Zion, because of Assyria,—When with his rod he would smite thee, And when his staff he would lift up against thee in the manner of Egypt;
25 For yet a very little while and displeasure shall end, Yea mine anger over their destruction.
26 And Yahweh of hosts will brandish over him a scourge—Like the smiting of Midian at the rock Oreb,—And his staff [being] over the sea He will lift it up in the manner of Egypt;
27 And it shall come to pass in that day That his burden shall remove from off thy shoulder, And his yoke from off thy neck,—Yea the yoke shall be broken because of fatness.
28 He hath come in unto Ayyâth, Hath passed through Migron,—At Michmash storeth his baggage:
29 They have passed over the pass, Geba is his halting-place,—Terror-stricken is Ramah, Gibeah of Saul hath fled!
30 Make shrill thy voice, O daughter of Gallim! Hearken, O Laishah; Answer, O Anathoth!
31 Madmenah hath fled,—The inhabitants of Gebim have gone into safety:
32 While yet to-day in Nob he tarrieth He brandisheth his hand toward The mount of the daughter of Zion, The hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold! the Lord Yahweh of hosts is about to lop off a tree-crown with a crash,—Then shall they who are lifted on high be hewn down, And the lofty be laid low;
34 Then will he fell the thickets of the forest with iron,—And Lebanon by a majestic one shall fall.
11 But there shall come forth a shoot from the stock of Jesse,—And a sprout from his roots shall bear fruit;
2 And the spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon him,—The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and might, The spirit of knowledge and reverence of Yahweh;
3 So will he find fragrance in the reverence of Yahweh, And not by the sight of his eyes will he judge, Nor by the hearing of his ears will he decide;
4 But he will judge with righteousness them who are poor, And decide with equity for the oppressed of the land,—And he will smite the land with the sceptre of his mouth, And with the breath of his lips will he slay the lawless one;
5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins—And faithfulness the girdle of his reins;
6 And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, And the leopard with the kid shall lie down,—And the calf and the young lion and the fatling—together, With a little child leading them;
7 And the cow with the bear shall find pasture, Together shall their young ones lie down,—And the lion like the ox shall eat straw;
8 And the sucking child shall caress over the hole of the asp, Yea over the viper’s den hath the weaned child stretched out his hand:
9 They shall not hurt—nor destroy in all my holy mountain,—For filled is the land with the knowledge of Yahweh, As the waters to the sea form a covering.
10 And there shall come to be in that day A root of Jesse, which shall be standing as an ensign of peoples, Unto him shall nations seek,—And his resting-place shall be glorious.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day That My Lord will again a second time set his hand, to possess himself of the remnant of his people,—who shall be left—from Assyria and from Egypt and from Pathros and from Ethiopia and from Elam and from Shinar and from Hamath and from the Coastlands of the sea;
12 And he will lift up a standard to the nations, And will gather the outcasts of Israel,—And the dispersed of Judah will he collect, From the four corners of the earth.
13 And the envy of Ephraim shall be removed, And the vexatious doings of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not vex Ephraim;
14 But they shall fly on the wing of the Philistines in the west, Together shall they make prey of the sons of the east—On Edom and Moab putting forth their hand, With the sons of Ammon hearkening unto them.
15 And Yahweh will devote to destruction the gulf of the Egyptian sea, And will brandish his hand against the River [Euphrates] in the full force of his spirit,—And will smite it in the seven streams And cause a marching through in sandals;
16 So shall there be a highway for the remnant of his people who shall be left out of Assyria,—Like as it was to Israel, in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt!
12 Thou shalt say therefore in that day, I will praise thee, O Yahweh! Though thou hast been angry with me Thine anger turneth back And thou dost comfort me.
2 Lo God is my salvation! I will trust and not dread,—For my might and melody is Yah Yahweh, And he hath become mine by salvation.
3 Therefore shall ye draw water with rejoicing,—out of the fountains of salvation.
4 And ye shall say in that day, Praise Yahweh, Call upon his Name, Make known among the peoples his doings,—Bring to remembrance that exalted is his Name!
5 Praise in song Yahweh, For a splendid thing hath he done,—Well known is this in all the earth.
6 Make shrill thy voice and sing out, thou inhabitress of Zion,—That great in the midst of thee is the Holy One of Israel.
13 The oracle on Babylon,—of which Isaiah son of Amoz had vision:—
2 Upon a bare mountain lift ye up a standard, Raise high the voice to them,—Wave the hand, That they may enter the doors of nobles.
3 I myself have given charge to my hallowed ones,—Yea I have called My heroes in showing mine anger, My proudly exulting ones.
4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, A resemblance of many people,—The noise of a tumult of kingdoms, Nations gathered together, Yahweh of hosts, mustering a host for battle!
5 They are coming in From a land far away, From the utmost bound of the heavens,—Yahweh—with his weapons of indignation, To destroy the land.
6 Howl ye! for at hand is the day of Yahweh,—As a veritable destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
7 For this cause—All hands shall hang down,—and Every mortal heart melt.
8 And they shall be in distress—Writhings and pains shall lay hold, As a woman in childbirth shall they be in pangs,—Every one at his neighbour shall look in amazement, Faces of flames their faces!
9 Lo! the day of Yahweh coming in, Fierce and overflowing and burning with anger,—To devote the earth to desolation, And her sinners will he destroy out of it.
10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not flash forth their light,—Obscured shall be the sun in his going forth, And the moon shall not shed her light.
11 And I will visit upon the inhabited earth calamity, And upon the lawless their punishment,—And will quiet the arrogance of the proud, And the loftiness of tyrants will I lay low.
12 I will cause a man to be more precious than fine gold,—Even a son of earth than the finest gold of Ophir.
13 For this cause the heavens will I disturb, And the earth shall tremble out of her place,—In the wrath of Yahweh of hosts, And in the day of the glow of his anger.
14 And it shall be—Like a gazelle that is chased, And like a sheep with none to lift it up,—Each to his own people will they turn, And each to his own land will they flee:
15 Every one found shall be thrust through,—And every one taken shall fall by the sword;
16 And their infants shall be dashed to the ground before their eyes,—Plundered shall be their houses, and their wives ravished.
17 Behold me! stirring up against them the Medes,—Who of silver shall take no account, And as for gold they shall not delight in it;
18 And bows shall dash the young to pieces,—And on the fruit of the womb will they have no pity, Over children will their eye throw no shield.
19 Thus shall Babylon—The most lovely of kingdoms, The majestic beauty of the Chaldees—Become as in the divine overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It shall not be dwelt in for ever, Neither shall it be inhabited from generation to generation,—Neither shall encamp there an Arab, Nor shepherds fold their flocks there.
21 Then shall lie down there wild beasts, And filled shall be their houses with owls,—Then shall inhabit there the ostrich, And shaggy creatures shall dance there.
22 And jackals shall answer in their citadels, And wild dogs in their voluptuous palaces,—And near to come is her time, And her days shall not be delayed.
14 For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob And will yet choose Israel, And will give them rest upon their own soil,—And the sojourner shall join himself unto them, And they shall attach themselves unto the house of Jacob;
2 And peoples shall take them and bring them into their own place, And the house of Israel shall possess themselves of them upon the soil of Yahweh for servants and for handmaids,—Thus shall they be taking captive their captors, And shall tread down their oppressors.
3 And it shall come to pass in the day when Yahweh shall give thee rest from thy toil and from thy disquiet,—and from the hard service which had been laid upon thee
4 that thou shalt take up this taunt over the king of Babylon and shalt say:—How hath ceased the oppressor! Ceased the exactress!
5 Broke hath Yahweh the staff of the lawless,—The sceptre of despots;
6 Smiting peoples in passion With stroke unremitting,—Trampling in anger on nations, Persecution unhindered.
7 Quiet at rest the whole earth,—Men have burst into shouting!
8 Yea the pine-trees make mirth at thee, Cedars of Lebanon! Since thou wast laid low No feller hath come up against us!
9 Hades beneath is excited about thee To meet thine arrival,—Rousing up for thee Shades, All the he-goats of earth! Maketh rise from their thrones, All the kings of the nations.
10 All of them answer, and say to thee,—Thou too made strengthless as we! Unto us art thou like!
11 Brought down to Hades thy pride, The hum of thy harps, Beneath thee is spread out corruption, And thy coverlet—worms!
12 How hast thou fallen from heaven, O Shining One—Son of the Dawn! Hewn down to the earth, O crusher of nations!
13 Yet thou didst say in thy heart—The heavens will I ascend, Above the stars of God will I lift up my throne,—That I may sit in the Mount of Assembly, In the Recesses of the North:
14 I will mount on the hills of the clouds, I will match the Most High!
15 Howbeit to Hades shalt thou be brought down,—To the Recesses of the Pit!
16 They who see thee upon thee will gaze, Upon thee will thoughtfully muse,—Is this the man who startled the earth? Who terrified kingdoms?
17 Who made the world like a desert? And its cities brake down? Its prisoners he loosed not, Each one to his home?
18 All the kings of the nations—they all are lying in state, Each one in his crypt;
19 But thou art flung out from thy grave Like a scion detested, Beshrouded with slain, the pierced of the sword, Like a carcase trod underfoot:
20 As for them who go down to the stones of the Pit Thou shalt not be united with them in burial; For thy land thou didst ruin, Thy people didst slay,—Unnamed to times age-abiding Be the seed of the wicked!
21 Prepare—for his sons—shambles For the iniquity of their fathers,—They shall not rise nor possess the earth, Nor fill the face of the world with cities.
22 I will rise then against them, Declareth Yahweh of hosts,—And will cut off from Babylon Record and remnant And scion and seed, Declareth Yahweh.
23 And will make her a possession for the bittern And marshes of water,—And will sweep it with the besom of destruction, Declareth Yahweh of hosts.
24 Yahweh of hosts hath sworn saying,—Surely as I intended so hath it come to pass, And as I purposed the same shall stand:—
25 That I will break in pieces the Assyrian in my land, Yea upon my mountains will I tread him underfoot,—So shall be removed from off them his yoke, And his burden from off their shoulder shall be removed.
26 This is the purpose that is purposed upon all the earth,—And this the hand outstretched over all the nations;
27 For Yahweh of hosts hath purposed,—And who shall frustrate? And his is the hand outstretched, And who shall turn it back?
28 In the year that King Ahaz died came this oracle:—
29 Do not rejoice Philistia any of thee, In that the rod of him that smote thee is broken,—For out of the root of the serpent shall come forth a viper, And his fruit be a fiery dragon that flieth.
30 Then shall feed the firstborn of the poor, And the needy in confidence lie down,—And I will kill with famine thy root, And thy residue shall be slain.
31 Howl—O gate, Make outcry—O city, Dispersed art thou Philistia all of thee,—For out of the north a smoke cometh in, With no straggler in his ranks.
32 What then shall one answer the messengers of a nation? That Yahweh hath founded Zion, And in her shall seek refuge the oppressed of his people.
15 The oracle on Moab: Because in a night was laid waste Ar of Moab—destroyed! Because in a night was laid waste Kir of Moab—destroyed
2 He hath gone up to Bayith and Dibon, to the high places to weep,—On Nebo and on Medeba Moab is howling, On all their heads a baldness, Every beard clipped.
3 In their streets have they girded them with sackcloth,—On their housetops and in their broadways every one is howling—melting in tears;
4 And Heshbon hath made outcry and Elealeh, Unto Jahaz hath been heard their voice,—For this cause do the armed men of Moab roar, Every man’s soul quivereth to him.
5 Mine own heart for Moab continueth to make outcry, Her fugitive as far as Zoar is like a heifer of three years; For the accent of Luhith with weeping they ascend, For by the way of Horonaim—an outcry of destruction they excite;
6 For the waters of Nimrim shall become desolation,—For grass hath dried up, Herbage hath failed, Green thing hath not sprung up!
7 For this cause the savings they had made and that which they had stored Over the torrent-bed of the willows shall they bear them.
8 For the outcry hath gone round the boundary of Moab,—As far as Eglaim the howling thereof, And to Beer-elim the howling thereof.
9 For the waters of Dimon are full of blood, For I will lay upon Dimon new troubles,—To the escaped of Moab the lions, Even to the survivors on the soil.
16 Send ye the lamb due to the ruler of the land From Sela towards the desert,—Unto the mount of the daughter of Zion;
2 Yet shall it be that—Like wandering birds from a nest cast forth Shall be the daughters of Moab, at the fords of Arnon.
3 Bring thou in counsel, Execute thou judgment, Make as the night thy shadow in the midst of high noon,—Hide thou the outcasts, The wanderer do not thou reveal.
4 Let mine own outcasts sojourn with thee, O Moab, become thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler,—For vanished is the oppressor, At an end is extortion, They who tread down have ceased out of the land.
5 So shall be established in lovingkindness a throne, And one shall sit thereon in truth in the home of David,—Judging—and seeking justice and speeding righteousness.
6 We have heard of the arrogance of Moab, Proud exceedingly! His haughtiness and his arrogance and his passion, Not true are his boastings.
7 Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, All that belong to her shall wail,—For the ruins of Kir-hareseth shall they moan out, Utterly stricken!
8 For the fields of Heshbon are withered—The vine of Sibmah, The owners of nations have broken off ruddy branches, Unto Jazer had they reached, They had spread abroad to the desert,—Her boughs had stretched forth, had gone over to the sea.
9 For this cause will I bewail in the wailing of Jazer The vine of Sibmah, I will drench thee with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh,—For upon thy fruit-harvest and upon thy grain-harvest the battle-shout hath fallen.
10 Now shall be withdrawn rejoicing and exultation out of the garden-land, And in the vineyards shall be neither singing nor shouting,—Wine in the winepress the treader shall not tread, The vintage-shout have I made to cease.
11 For this cause mine inward parts—for Moab like a lyre shall make a plaintive sound,—Yea what is within me for Kir-heres.
12 And it shall be—When it is seen that Moab hath laboured in vain on the high place He shall enter into his holy place to pray and shall not prevail.
13 This is the word which Yahweh spake concerning Moab in time past;
14 But now hath Yahweh spoken saying, In three years,—as the years of a hireling shall the glory of Moab be diminished, with all the great multitude,—even a very small remnant of no account.
17 The oracle on Damascus,—Lo! Damascus is to be removed from being a city, And shall become a heap of ruins:
2 Forsaken are the desolate cities,—For flocks shall they serve, Which shall lie down and have none to make them afraid.
3 Then shall the fortress cease from Ephraim, And the kingdom from Damascus and the remnant of Syria,—Like the glory of the sons of Israel shall they be,—Declareth Yahweh of hosts.
4 And it shall come to pass in that day That the glory of Jacob shall be diminished, And the fatness of his flesh shall be wasted;
5 And it shall come to pass—That as the harvestman gathereth standing corn, And with his arm—the ears he reapeth Yea it shall come to pass—That so shall he be who gleaneth ears in the vale of Rephaim;
6 Yet shall there be left therein a gleaning As in the beating of an olive-tree,—Two—three berries in the head of the tree-top,—Four—five among her fruitful boughs, Declareth Yahweh, God of Israel.
7 In that day shall the son of earth look to him that made him,—And his eyes unto the Holy One of Israel be turned;
8 And he shall not look unto the altars the work of his own hands,—Nor to what his own fingers have made shall his eye be turned, Whether Sacred Stems or Sun-pillars.
9 In that day shall his fortified cities become Like a neglected bough and a topmost branch, Which they neglected because of the sons of Israel,—So shall there be desolation.
10 Because thou didst forget the God of thy salvation, And thy Rock of refuge thou didst not remember For this cause shalt thou plant very pleasant plants, And the slip of a stranger shalt thou set:
11 In the day when thou plantest fence thou in, And in the morning cause thou thy slip to blossom,—A harvest will have waved in the day of destiny and mortal pain.
12 Alas! the booming of many peoples, Like the booming of the seas shall they boom,—And the rushing of nations! Like the rushing of mighty waters shall they rush.
13 Though nations like the rushing of many waters shall rush Yet shall one rebuke him, And he shall flee far away,—And be chased As the chaff of the mountains before a wind, And as whirling stubble before a storm!
14 At eventide lo! terror, Before morning he is not! This is the portion of them who plunder us, And the lot of them who make of us a prey.
18 Ho! thou land of the buzzing of wings,—Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth by the sea ambassadors Even in vessels of paper-reed upon the face of the waters,—Go, ye swift messengers, Unto a nation drawn out and polished, Unto a people terrible from their beginning and onwards,—A nation most mighty and subduing, Whose land rivers have cut through.
3 All ye inhabitants of the world And ye that dwell in the earth,—When there is lifted up an ensign on the mountains Ye shall look, And when there is blown a horn Ye shall hearken.
4 For thus said Yahweh unto me,—I must be quiet, I must look on in my fixed place of abode,—Like a bright heat on the light, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
5 For before harvest when the bud is perfect, And the blossom becometh a ripening grape Then will one cut down the twigs with pruning-hooks, And the tendrils will he remove [and] cast down:
6 They shall be left together To the ravenous birds of the mountains, And to the beast of the earth,—Then shall the ravenous bird summer upon them, And every beast of the earth upon them shall winter.
7 In that time shall there be borne along As a present unto Yahweh of hosts A people drawn out and polished, Even from a people terrible from their beginning and onwards,—A nation most mighty and subduing Whose land rivers have cut through, Unto the place of the Name of Yahweh of hosts, Mount Zion.
19 The oracle on Egypt: Lo! Yahweh riding upon a swift cloud and he will enter Egypt, And the idols of Egypt shall shake at his presence, And the heart of Egypt shall melt within him;
2 And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, And they shall fight—Every one against his brother and Every one against his neighbour,—City against city, and Kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spirit of Egypt shall vanish within them, Yea the sagacity thereof will I swallow up,—And they will seek Unto the idols and Unto them that mutter, and Unto them that have familiar spirits and Unto the wizards;
4 And I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord,—And a fierce king shall rule over them, Declareth the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.
5 And the waters shall be dried up from the great stream,—And the River shall waste and be dry;
6 And rivers shall stink, The canals of Egypt be shallow and waste, Reed and rush be withered;
7 The meadows by the Nile by the mouth of the Nile And all that is sown in the Nile, Shall be dry, driven away, and not be!
8 Then shall the fishers lament, And all shall mourn who cast in the Nile a hook,—And they who spread nets on the face of the waters shall languish;
9 Then shall turn pale The workers in combed flax,—and The weavers of white linen;
10 Then shall her pillars be crushed,—All who make wages be bowed down in soul.
11 Surely foolish are the princes of Zoan, The wisest counsellors of Pharaoh in counsel are brutish,—How can ye say unto Pharaoh, Son of the wise am I, Son of the kings of olden time?
12 Where then are thy wise men? Pray let them tell thee! And let them know what Yahweh of hosts hath purposed on Egypt!
13 Doting are the princes of Zoan, Deceived are the princes of Nôph: They who are the corner-stone of her tribes have led Egypt astray.
14 Yahweh hath infused in her midst a spirit of perverseness,—And they have led Egypt astray into all his own doings, As a drunken man staggereth into his own vomit;
15 And Egypt shall have nothing which can be done, Which head or tail, palm-top or rush, can do!
16 In that day shall Egypt be like unto women,—And shall start and tremble because of the brandishing of the hand of Yahweh of hosts, which he is about to brandish over it.
17 Then shall the soil of Judah become to Egypt a terror; Every one to whom it is mentioned will tremble,—Because of the purpose of Yahweh of hosts, which he is purposing against it.
18 In that day shall there be five cities in the land of Egypt Speaking the language of Canaan, And swearing unto Yahweh of hosts,—The city of destruction shall be the name of one!
19 In that day shall there be An altar unto Yahweh, in the midst of the land of Egypt,—And a pillar near the boundary thereof unto Yahweh;
20 And it shall become a sign and a witness unto Yahweh of hosts in the land of Egypt,—For they will make outcry unto Yahweh because of oppressors, That he would send them a saviour—and a great one, Then will he deliver them.
21 Then will Yahweh make himself known to the Egyptians, So shall the Egyptians know Yahweh in that day,—And they will offer a sacrifice and a present, And will vow a vow unto Yahweh and will perform.
22 And Yahweh will plague Egypt, plague and heal,—And they will turn unto Yahweh, And he will be entreated of them and will heal them.
23 In that day shall there be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, And the Assyrians shall come into Egypt And the Egyptians into Assyria; And the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
24 In that day shall Israel be a third with Egypt and with Assyria,—A blessing in the midst of the earth:
25 Whom Yahweh of hosts hath blessed saying,—Blessed be My people—the Egyptians And the work of my hands—the Assyrians, And mine own inheritance—Israel.
20 In the year that Tartan entered Ashdod, when Sargon king of Assyria sent him,—and he fought against Ashdod and captured it,—
2 at that time spake Yahweh through Isaiah son of Amoz saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, And thy sandal draw thou off from thy foot,—And he did so, walking disrobed and barefoot.
3 Then said Yahweh,—As my servant Isaiah hath walked disrobed and barefoot three years as a sign and a wonder against Egypt and against Ethiopia
4 So shall the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, disrobed and barefoot,—with their persons behind uncovered the shame of Egypt.
5 Thus shall they be confounded and turn pale,—For Ethiopia their expectation, and For Egypt their boast;
6 And the inhabitant of this shore shall exclaim in that day, Lo! such is our expectation whereunto we fled for help, that we might be delivered from the presence of the king of Assyria! How then shall we escape?
21 The oracle on the desert of the sea:—As storm-winds in the South which with a rush from the desert do come from a terrible land
2 [So] hath a grievous vision been told me:—The deceiver is deceiving And the spoiler is spoiling, Go up, O Elam, Besiege, O Media, All the sighing she hath caused have I made to cease.
3 For this cause are my loins filled with anguish, Pangs have seized me, as the pangs of her that is giving birth,—I writhe so that I cannot hear, I tremble so that I cannot see:
4 My heart fluttereth, A horror terrifieth me,—My twilight of pleasure hath he turned for me into a time of trembling.
5 [Ye thought] to prepare the table—spread the mat—eat—drink! . . . Arise, ye chieftains, anoint the shield!
6 For thus hath My Lord said unto me,—Go, set the watchman, What he seeth let him tell!
7 When he seeth A train of horsemen in double rank, A train of asses, A train of camels Then shall he hearken attentively with diligent heed.
8 Then cried he, A lion! On the watch O My Lord had I been standing continually by day, And at my post had I been stationed whole nights;—
9 When lo! here was a train of men coming With horsemen in double rank,—And one began and said, Fallen! fallen! is Babylon, And all the images of her gods are smashed to the ground!
10 O thou My threshing! And the grain of my corn-floor! That which I have heard from Yahweh of hosts the God of Israel Have I declared unto you.
11 The oracle on Dumah: Unto me is one crying—out of Seir, Watchman! how far gone is the night? Watchman! how far gone is the night?
12 Said the watchman, There cometh a morning But also a night,—If ye will enquire enquire ye—Come again!
13 The oracle on Arabia,—Among the shrubs in Arabia must ye lodge, Ye caravans of Dedanites.
14 To meet the thirsty bring ye water,—Ye dwellers in the land of Tema; With bread for him get in advance of him that is in flight!
15 For before swords have they fled: Before a sword that is drawn, Before a bow that is bent, And before the stress of war.
16 For thus hath My Lord said unto me,—Within a year according to the years of a hireling shall fail all the glory of Kedar;
17 And The remnant of the record of bowmen, The heroes of the sons of Kedar Shall become few; For Yahweh God of Israel hath spoken.
22 The oracle on the valley of vision,—What aileth thee then, That thou art wholly gone up to the house-tops?
2 With tumults art thou filled, thou citadel in commotion! city exultant! Thy slain are Not the slain of the sword, Nor the dead in battle.
3 All thy rulers having fled together by the bow are taken captive: All found in thee have been taken captive together, Far away have they fled.
4 For this cause I said—Look away from me, Bitterly will I weep,—Do not press to comfort me, For the ruin of the daughter of my people.
5 For a day of confusion and downtreading and perplexity pertaineth to My Lord Yahweh of hosts, in the valley of vision,—an undermining of walls and a crying for help to the mountain.
6 Yea Elam beareth the quiver, With trains of men [and] horsemen,—And Kir hath uncovered the shield.
7 And it hath come to pass that the choice of thy vales are full of chariots; Yea the horsemen have set themselves in array at the gate.
8 Then removed he the veil of Judah,—Yea thou didst peer on that day into the armoury of the forest-house;
9 And the breaches in the city of David ye beheld for they were many,—So ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool;
10 And the houses of Jerusalem ye counted,—And brake down the houses, to fortify the wall;
11 And a reservoir ye made between the two walls, for the waters of the ancient pool,—And had no regard unto him that made it, Nor unto him that formed it long ago had ye respect.
12 And when My Lord Yahweh of hosts called in that day,—for weeping and for lamentation, and for shaving bare and for girding with sackcloth
13 Then lo! joy and rejoicing, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine,—Let us eat and drink, For to-morrow we may die!
14 Therefore did Yahweh reveal himself in mine ears, Surely there shall be no propitiatory-covering put over this iniquity for you until ye die, Saith My Lord, Yahweh of hosts.
15 Thus said My Lord Yahweh of hosts, Come, go in unto this steward, Unto Shebna who is over the house:
16 What doest thou here? And whom hast thou here? That thou hast hewn for thyself here a sepulchre,—As one hewing on high his sepulchre, Cutting out in the cliff a habitation for himself?
17 Lo! Yahweh is about to hurl thee with a hurl, O mighty man,—And roll thee with a roll;
18 He will toss thee with a toss, like a ball into a country wide on both hands,—There shalt thou die And there shall thy glorious chariots be the contempt of the house of thy lord.
19 Thus will I thrust thee out from thine office,—And from thy station shall one tear thee down.
20 And it shall come to pass in that day That I will call for my servant, for Eliakim son of Hilkiah,
21 And will clothe him with thy tunic And with thy girdle will I gird him, And thine authority will I deliver into his hand,—So shall he become a father To the inhabitant of Jerusalem and To the house of Judah.
22 And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder,—And he shall open and none shall shut, And shut and none shall open;
23 And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place,—And he shall become a throne of glory to the house of his father;
24 And they shall hang upon him all the weight of his father’s house—The offshoots and the side-twigs—All the small vessels, Both the cups and all the jugs
25 In that day—Declareth Yahweh of hosts Shall the peg give way, that was fastened in a sure place,—Yea it shall be cut off and fall And the burden that was upon it shall perish, For Yahweh hath spoken!
23 The oracle on Tyre,—Howl! ye ships of Tarshish, For it is laid too waste to be a haven to enter, From the land of Cyprus hath it been unveiled to them.
2 Be dumb, ye inhabitants of the Coast,—Whom the merchants of Zidon passing over the sea once replenished;
3 Yea on mighty waters was the grain of Shihor, The harvest of the Nile was her increase,—And so she became a mart of nations.
4 Turn thou pale, O Zidon, For spoken hath the sea, the fortress of the sea saying,—I have neither been in pangs nor given birth, I have neither brought up young men nor promoted virgins.
5 Like the report of Egypt They shall be in pangs at the like report of Tyre.
6 Pass ye over to Tarshish,—Howl, ye inhabitants of the Coast:
7 Is this to you an exultation? Though from ancient days is her antiquity, Yet shall her own feet carry her away far off to dwell.
8 Who hath purposed this, against Tyre, The bestower of crowns,—Whose merchants are princes, Her traders the honourable of the earth?
9 Yahweh of hosts hath purposed it,—To humble the pride of all beauty, To make of little esteem all the honourable of the earth.
10 Pass through thy land as the Nile,—O daughter of Tarshish, there is no restraint any longer!
11 His hand hath he stretched out over the sea, He hath shaken kingdoms,—Yahweh hath given command against the Phoenician coast, To destroy her fortresses.
12 Therefore hath he said,—No more again do thou exult, Thou violated virgin daughter of Zidon,—To Cyprus arise and pass over, Even there shall one find thee no rest.
13 Lo! the land of the Chaldeans This is the people that was not, Assyria founded it for the inhabitants of the desert,—They set up its siege-towers, They demolished its palaces, Made it a ruin!
14 Howl, ye ships of Tarshish,—For laid waste is your fortress.
15 So shall it be in that day That Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years According to the days of a certain king: At the end of seventy years, shall it befall Tyre according to the song of the harlot:
16 Take thou a lyre, Go round the city, O harlot forgotten,—Sweetly touch the strings, Lengthen out the song, That thou mayest be called to mind.
17 So shall it be at the end of seventy years That Yahweh will visit Tyre, And she will return to her hire,—Yea she will play the harlot—with all the kingdoms of the earth upon the face of the ground.
18 But her merchandise and her hire shall be hallowed unto Yahweh, It shall not be stored up nor hoarded,—For to them who dwell before Yahweh shall her merchandise belong, That they may eat to satisfaction And have stately apparel.
24 Lo! Yahweh emptying the earth and laying it waste,—And he will overturn the face thereof, And scatter them who dwell therein.
2 And it shall be—As the people so the priest, As the servant so his lord, As the maid so her mistress,—As the buyer so the seller, As the lender so the borrower, As the debtor so his creditor.
3 Emptied—emptied—shall be the earth, yea pillaged—pillaged,—For Yahweh hath spoken this word.
4 Mourneth, fadeth, the earth Languisheth, fadeth the world,—Languished have the lofty of the people of the earth.
5 Yea the earth itself is profaned under them who dwell therein,—For they have Set aside laws, Gone beyond statute, Broken an age-abiding covenant.
6 For this cause a curse hath devoured the earth, And punished are the dwellers therein,—For this cause are burned the inhabitants of the earth, And the men left remaining—are few.
7 Mourneth the new wine, Withereth the vine,—Sighing are all the merryhearted:
8 Ceased hath the mirth of timbrels, Ended is the noise of the uproarious,—Ceased hath the mirth of the lyre:
9 With a song they drink not wine,—Bitter is strong drink to them who drink it:
10 Broken down is the city of desolation,—Shut up every house that it cannot be entered.
11 There is an outcry concerning wine in the streets,—Darkened is all joy, Departed the gladness of the earth.
12 There is left in the city desolation,—And to ruins have been broken the gate.
13 When thus it shall be in the earth in the midst of the peoples [There shall be] like the shaking of an olive-tree, like the going round to pick when closed is the harvest.
14 They shall lift up their voice—shall raise a tremulous note,—On account of the splendour of Yahweh have they made a shrill cry on the West;
15 For this cause In the Regions of Light give ye glory to Yahweh,—In the Coastlands of the Sea [unto] the Name of Yahweh, God of Israel.
16 From the uttermost part of the earth melodies have we heard—Beauty to the righteous one! But I had said—Ruin to me! Ruin to me! Woe to me! Traitors have betrayed, Yea traitorously have traitors betrayed!
17 Terror and pit and snare,—are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth!
18 So shall it be—He that fleeth from the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit, And he that getteth up out of the midst of the pit shall be captured in the snare,—For the windows on high have opened, And shaken are the foundations of earth.
19 The earth breaketh, breaketh,—The earth crasheth, crasheth, The earth tottereth, tottereth;
20 The earth staggereth—staggereth like a drunken man, And rocketh to and fro like a night-hut,—So shall be heavy upon her her transgression, And she shall fall and not again rise.
21 And it shall be in that day That Yahweh will bring punishment Upon the host of the height in the height,—And upon the kings of the ground on the ground.
22 And they shall be swept together in a crowd, fettered for a pit, And shall be lowered into a dungeon,—And after many days shall they be punished.
23 Then shall blush the silvery moon, Then turn pale the glowing sun,—Because Yahweh of hosts hath become king In Mount Zion And in Jerusalem, And before his Elders in glory.
25 O Yahweh! my God thou art, I will exalt thee, I will praise thy Name, For thou hast done a wonderful thing,—Purposes of long ago, Faithfulness in truth.
2 For thou hast made of a citadel a mound, of a defenced city a ruin,—palaces for foreigners to be no city, To times age-abiding shall it not be built.
3 For this cause shall glorify thee—a strong people, The city of tyrannous nations shall revere thee;
4 For thou didst become A refuge to the weak, A refuge to the needy when distress was upon him,—A shelter from the storm, A shade from the heat, When the blast of tyrants was like a storm against a wall.
5 As heat in a desert the pomp of foreigners wilt thou subdue,—Heat—with the shade of a cloud, The song of tyrants become low.
6 Then will Yahweh of hosts prepare for all the peoples in this mountain A banquet of fat things, A banquet of old wines,—Of fat things full of marrow, Of old wines well refined;
7 And he will swallow up in this mountain The mask of the veil, the veil that is upon all the peoples,—And the web that is woven over all the nations.
8 Having swallowed up death itself victoriously My Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from off all faces,—And the reproach of his own people will he remove from off all the earth, For Yahweh hath spoken.
9 So shall it be said in that day Lo! our God is this! We waited for him that he might save us,—This is Yahweh! We waited for him, Let us exult and rejoice in his salvation.
10 For the hand of Yahweh will settle down in this mountain,—Then shall Moab be trodden down in its place, Like the treading down of a strawheap in the water of a dunghill;
11 Should he spread forth his hands in the midst thereof, As a swimmer spreadeth forth to swim Then would be laid low his pride, together with the devices of his hands.
12 Yea the lofty stronghold of thy walls Hath he brought down—Laid low—Levelled to the ground, even unto the dust.
26 In that day shall be sung this song in the land of Judah,—A strong city have we! Salvation will he set for walls and rampart.
2 Open ye the gates,—That there may enter in—a righteous nation preserving fidelity.
3 A purpose sustained thou wilt guard [saying] Prosper! Prosper! Because in thee hath he been led to trust.
4 Trust ye in Yahweh unto futurity,—For in Yah Yahweh is a rock of ages.
5 For he hath brought down the inhabitants of the height, the city exalted,—He layeth it low. Layeth it low even to the ground, Levelleth it even to the dust:
6 The foot trampleth it,—The feet of the lowly, The steps of the weak.
7 The path of a righteous man is even,—O Upright One! the track of a righteous man thou makest level.
8 Surely in the path of thy regulations O Yahweh we waited for thee,—Unto thy Name and unto thy Memorial was there a longing of soul:
9 With my soul longed I for thee in the night, Yea with my spirit within me I kept on searching for thee,—For when thy regulations [extend] to the earth The inhabitants of the world will have learned righteousness.
10 Let favour be shewed to the lawless he hath not learned righteousness, In a land of honest dealings he acteth perversely,—And seeth not the splendour of Yahweh.
11 O Yahweh though thy hand be lifted up yet do they not see, Would they might see—and turn pale at a people’s zeal,—Surely the fire of thine enemies must consume them!
12 O Yahweh, thou wilt ensure prosperity for us,—For even all our works hast thou wrought for us.
13 O Yahweh, our God! Lords other than thee have owned us,—By thyself alone will we call upon thy Name.
14 The dead come not to life again, The shades do not arise,—Therefore thou hast visited and destroyed them, And caused to perish every memorial of them.
15 Thou hast increased the nation, O Yahweh, Thou hast increased the nation, thou hast gotten thyself glory,—Thou hast extended far all the ends of the land.
16 O Yahweh! in distress they sought thee,—They poured out a whispered prayer, when thy chastening was upon them.
17 Like as a woman with child—Draweth near to giving birth Is in pain, Crieth out in her pangs So were we before thee, O Yahweh;—
18 We were with child—We were in pain, As it were we brought forth wind,—Salvation we could not accomplish for the earth, Neither were born the inhabitants of the world.
19 Thy dead shall come to life again, My dead body they shall arise,—Awake and shout for joy, ye that dwell in the dust, For a dew of light is thy dew, And earth to the shades shall give birth.
20 Come, my people, enter into thy chambers, And shut thy doors behind thee,—Hide thee as it were a little moment, Till the indignation pass over.
21 For lo! Yahweh is coming forth out of his place, To visit the iniquity of earth’s inhabitant upon him,—Therefore shall the earth unveil her shed-blood, And throw a covering no longer over her slain.
27 In that day will Yahweh With his sword—the hard and the great and the strong Bring punishment Upon Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, And upon Leviathan, the crooked serpent,—And will slay the monster which is in the sea.
2 In that day A Wine-Vineyard! sing ye unto her:
3 I—Yahweh am watching over her, Every moment will I water her,—Lest anyone injure her Night and day will I watch over her.
4 Fury have I none,—Oh that there were delivered to me briars and thorns in battle! I would march in among them, I would set fire to them one and all.
5 Else let one lay hold of my protection, Let him make peace with me,—Peace let him make with me.
6 In coming times shall Jacob strike root, Israel shall blossom and bud,—Then shall they fill the face of the world with fruit.
7 Was it with the smiting of his smiter that he smote him? Or as with the slaying of his slayer was he slain?
8 By driving her away—by dismissing her wouldest thou contend with her? He removed her by his rough wind in a day of east wind.
9 Therefore hereby shall a propitiatory-covering be put over the iniquity of Jacob, And all this is the fruit of taking away his sin,—When he maketh all the stones of an altar like chalk-stones that soon crumble Sacred Stems and Sun Images shall not arise.
10 For the fortified city is solitary, The dwelling forsaken and left as a wilderness,—There shall the calf feed And there lie down And shall consume the branches thereof:
11 When the cut-off boughs thereof are dry they shall be broken to pieces, Women coming are kindling it! For it is not a people of understanding, For this cause Will he that made him not have compassion upon him And he that formed him will shew him no favour.
12 And it shall come to pass in that day That Yahweh will beat off his fruit from the stream of the River [Euphrates] unto the torrent-valley of Egypt,—And ye shall be picked up one by one, O sons of Israel.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day That there shall be a blowing with a great horn, Then shall come in Such as have wandered in the land of Assyria, And such as have been outcasts in the land of Egypt,—And they shall bow themselves down unto Yahweh In the holy mountain In Jerusalem.
28 Alas! for the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, And for his fading wreath of majestic beauty,—Which is on the head of the fertile valley of them who are overcome with wine.
2 Lo! My Lord hath one who is strong and bold, Like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, Like a storm of mighty waters o’erflowing Hath he thrust it down to the earth with force:
3 With the feet shall be trodden down the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim!
4 So shall his fading wreath of majestic beauty Which is on the head of the fertile valley become—Like the first-ripe fig before fruit-harvest, Which when he that looketh upon it seeth while it is yet in his hand he swalloweth it up.
5 In that day will Yahweh of hosts become A crown of beauty, and A diadem of majesty,—Unto the remnant of his people:
6 Even a spirit of justice—to him that presideth over justice, And strength to them who would turn back the battle at the gate.
7 But as for these With wine do they reel, and With strong drink do they stagger,—Priest and prophet reel with strong drink, They are swallowed up through wine, They stagger through strong drink, They reel in prophetic vision, They totter in pronouncing judgment.
8 For all tables are full of filthy vomit,—There is no place!
9 Whom would he teach knowledge? And whom would he cause to understand the message? Them who are weaned from the milk? taken from the breasts?
10 For it is—Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line,—A little here, a little there.
11 For with a jabbering lip, and with an alien tongue must he speak unto this people!
12 To whom he said—This is the rest—give ye rest to the weary, and This is the quietness,—But they were unwilling to hear.
13 So the word of Yahweh must be to them—Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, A little here, a little there,—That they may go and fall backward and be torn and snared and captured.
14 Wherefore hear ye the word of Yahweh, Ye men who scoff,—Ye rulers of this people that is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said—We have solemnised a covenant with death, And with hades have we effected a vision,—The overflowing scourge when it sweepeth by shall not reach unto us, For we have made lying our refuge And in falsehood have we hid ourselves
16 Therefore Thus saith My Lord Yahweh, Behold me! founding in Zion a stone, A stone of testing, The costly corner of a well-laid foundation, He that trusteth shall not make haste!
17 But I will make—Justice the line, and Righteousness the plummet,—And the hail shall sweep away your refuge of lying, And your hiding-place the waters shall overflow;
18 So shall be wiped out your covenant with death, And your vision with hades not stand,—When the overflowing scourge sweepeth past then shall ye be thereby beaten down:
19 As often as it sweepeth past it shall take you away, For morning by morning shall it pass along, By day and by night,—And it shall be nothing less than a terror to make out the message;
20 For too short is the couch to stretch oneself out,—And the coverlet too narrow when one draweth up his feet.
21 For as in Mount Perazim will Yahweh arise, As in the vale of Gibeon will he be stirred,—To do his work—foreign is his work, And to perform his task—strange is his task.
22 Now therefore do not show yourselves scoffers, Lest your fetters be bound fast,—For of a full end and that a decreed one have I heard from My Lord Yahweh of hosts upon all the land.
23 Give ear and hear ye my voice,—Hearken and hear ye my speech:—
24 All day long doth the plowman plow for sowing? Doth he continue laying open and harrowing his soil?
25 Doth he not when he hath levelled the face thereof Cast abroad the fennel? And the cummin doth he not scatter? And plant wheat in rows And barley in a lot, And spelt in the border thereof?
26 Yea One hath trained him to good judgment, His God directeth him.
27 For not with a sledge must black coriander be threshed, Nor must the wheel of a cart on cummin be turned, But with a staff must fennel be beaten, And cummin with a rod:
28 Bread-corn must be crushed,—Yet would he not be evermore threshing it, So he hasteneth over it the wheel of his cart with his horsemen, He crusheth it not!
29 Even this from Yahweh of hosts cometh forth,—Who hath bestowed distinction upon counsel, And magnified sound wisdom.
29 Alas for Ariel, Ariel, The city against which David encamped,—Add ye a year to a year, Let the festivals come round;
2 Yet will I bring Ariel into straits,—And she shall become a bewailing and wailing, Yea she shall become to me a veritable Hearth of God.
3 And I will encamp round about against thee,—And lay siege against thee with a fort, And raise against thee siege-works;
4 And thou shalt be brought low—Out of the earth shalt thou speak, And out of the dust shalt thou lower thine utterance,—And as one that hath a familiar spirit Out of the earth shall come thy voice, And out of the dust thy speech shall chirp;
5 Then shall be as fine dust the multitude of thy foreigners,—And as chaff that passeth away the multitude of tyrants; And it shall come to pass in a twinkling suddenly.
6 From Yahweh of hosts shalt thou be visited, With thunder and with earthquake and a great noise,—hurricane and storm and a flame of fire devouring;
7 And it shall be like the dream of a night vision, With the multitude of all the nations who have been making war against Ariel,—Even with all who have been making war against her and her stronghold, and who have been laying siege to her;
8 Yea it shall be As when the hungry man dreameth, and lo! he is eating, But he awaketh, and his soul is empty, Or as when the thirsty man dreameth and lo! he is drinking, But he awaketh and lo! he is faint and his soul is craving So shall it be with the multitude of all the nations, that have come forth to war against Mount Zion.
9 Stand ye stock still and stare, Besmear your eyes and be blind,—They are drunken but not with wine, They reel but not with strong drink;
10 For Yahweh hath poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, Yea hath tightly shut your eyes—the prophets,—And your heads—the seers hath he covered,
11 And so all vision hath become unto you as the words of a writing that is sealed, Which is delivered unto one acquainted with writing saying, Pray thee, read this, And he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed;
12 And then the writing is delivered to one unacquainted with writing saying, Pray thee, read this, And he saith, I am not acquainted with writing.
13 Wherefore My Lord hath said,—Because this people hath drawn near with their mouth And with their lips have honoured me, But their heart have they moved far from me, And so their reverence of me hath become A commandment of men in which they have been schooled
14 Therefore behold me! again dealing wonderfully with this people, doing wonderfully a wonderful thing,—So shall perish the wisdom of their wise men, And the intelligence of their intelligent men shall vanish!
15 Alas! for them who would fain have been too deep for Yahweh by giving secret counsel,—and therefore in the dark have been their doings, and they have said, Who can see us? and—Who can understand us?
16 Your perverseness! As if like clay the potter could be reckoned; For shall the thing made say of him that made it He made me not? Or hath the thing fashioned ever said of him that fashioned it He hath no understanding?
17 Is it not yet a very little while, And Lebanon shall be turned into garden land,—And garden land for a forest be reckoned?
18 Therefore in that day shall the deaf hear the words of a book,—And out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see;
19 And again shall the humbled in Yahweh have joy,—And the needy of mankind in the Holy One of Israel exult;
20 For the tyrant hath vanished And the scoffer is no more, Yea cut off are all who watch for iniquity:—
21 Who bring a man into condemnation with a rumour, And for him that decideth in the gate lay a snare,—And have driven away for a thing of nought one who was righteous.
22 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh concerning the house of Jacob, [even he saith it] who redeemed Abraham,—Not now shall Jacob turn pale, And not now shall their faces whiten;
23 For when he seeth his children, the work of my hands, in his midst They will hallow my Name,—Yea they will hallow the Holy One of Jacob, And the God of Israel will they regard with awe.
24 Then will they who erred in spirit comprehend, And the murmurers accept instruction.
30 Alas! for sons who are rebellious, Declareth Yahweh. Executing a purpose but not from me, And pouring out a libation but not from my spirit,—That they may add sin to sin:
2 Who are setting out to go down to Egypt, But at my mouth have not asked,—Betaking them to the protection of Pharaoh, And seeking refuge under the shadow of Egypt.
3 Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh become to you a shame, And the refuge in the shadow of Egypt an insult;
4 For their princes have been in Zoan,—And their messengers unto Hanes would draw near.
5 Every one hath felt ashamed of a people that could not serve them,—Neither with help nor with service, But they are a shame, yea even a reproach.
6 The Oracle on the Beasts of the South,—Through a land of distress and oppression—Lioness and lion coming therefrom, Viper and fiery flying serpent They would carry on the shoulders of young asses their wealth And on the humps of camels their treasures, Unto a people that cannot serve them.
7 But the Egyptians with vanity and emptiness would help,—Therefore have I proclaimed concerning this, Insolent! they sit still!
8 Now enter—Write it upon a tablet before them And upon a scroll inscribe it,—That it may serve for a later day, For futurity unto times age-abiding:—
9 That it is a rebellious people Sons apt at deceiving,—Sons unwilling to hear the law of Yahweh:
10 Who have said to the seers, Ye must not see! To the prophets, Ye must not prophesy to us reproofs! Speak to us smooth things, Prophesy delusions:
11 Depart ye from the way, Turn aside from the path,—Desist from setting before us the Holy One of Israel.
12 Therefore—Thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye have rejected this word,—And have trusted in oppression and perverseness, And have relied thereon
13 Therefore shall this iniquity become to you As a breach ready to fall, A bulging in a high wall,—Whose breaking down cometh suddenly in a twinkling.
14 Yea he will break it—as the breaking of the pitcher of a potter crushed he will not spare; So that there shall not be found when it is smashed A sherd wherewith to snatch fire from a hearth, Or to skim off water out of a cistern.
15 For thus said my Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel—By returning and resting shall ye be saved, In keeping quiet and trusting shall be your strength,—Howbeit ye would not!
16 But ye said—Nay! but on horses will we flee, For this cause shall ye indeed flee,—And on the swift will we ride, For this cause swift shall be your pursuers:
17 One thousand before the war-cry of one—before the war-cry of five shall ye flee,—Until ye have been left As a pole on the top of a mountain, And as an ensign upon a hill.
18 And therefore will Yahweh wait That he may grant you favour, And therefore will he lift himself up That he may show you compassion,—For A God of justice is Yahweh, How happy all they who are waiting for him
19 For a people In Zion shall dwell In Jerusalem,—As for weeping thou shalt not weep! As for favour he will grant thee favour at the sound of thine outcry,—As soon as he heareth he hath answered thee!
20 Though My Lord should give you bread in short measure and water in scant allowance Yet will thy Teacher not hide himself any more, But thine eyes shall ever be looking on thy Teacher.
21 So shall thine own ears hear a word from behind thee saying,—This is the way, walk ye therein, When ye would turn to the right hand Or when ye would turn to the left.
22 Then will ye defile—The overlaying of thy graven images of silver, And the coating of thy molten image of gold,—Thou wilt cast them away as a woman the token of her sickness, Begone! shalt thou say thereto.
23 Then will he give—Rain for thy seed—wherewith thou shalt sow thy ground and Bread as the increase of thy ground, which shall be fertile and fat,—Thy cattle in that day shall feed in broad pasture:
24 And the oxen and the young asses that till the ground salted provender shall eat which hath been winnowed with shovel or fan.
25 Then shall there be On every lofty mountain and On every lifted hill, Channels, Conduits of water,—In the great day of slaughter When the towers fall.
26 Then shall the light of the moon 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—When Yahweh bindeth up the laceration of his people, and When the severe wound caused by smiting them he healeth.
27 Lo! the Name of Yahweh coming in from afar, His anger kindling, A heavy storm,—His lips are full of indignation, And his tongue is like a fire that devoureth;
28 And his breath like an overflowing torrent even unto the neck doth reach, To sift nations with a sieve of calamity,—A bridle leading to ruin being upon the jaws of the peoples.
29 A song shall ye have, As in the night of hallowing a festival,—And gladness of heart, As when one goeth with the flute to enter Into the mountain of Yahweh, Unto the Rock of Israel.
30 Then will Yahweh cause to be heard—the resounding of his voice And the bringing down of his arm shall be seen, In a rage of anger And with the flame of a devouring fire,—A burst and a downpour and a hailstone!
31 For at the voice of Yahweh shall Assyria be crushed,—With his rod will he smite.
32 And it shall come to pass,—that every stroke of the staff of doom which Yahweh shall lay upon him shall be with timbrels and with lyres,—when with battles of brandished weapons he hath fought against them.
33 For there hath been set in order beforehand a Topheth, Yea the same for the king hath been prepared, He hath made it deep—made it large,—The circumference thereof is for fire and wood in abundance, The breath of Yahweh like a torrent of brimstone is ready to kindle it.
31 Alas! for them who are going down to Egypt for help, On horses would rely,—And have trusted—In chariots—because they are many and In horsemen because they are very bold, But have not looked unto the Holy One of Israel, And unto Yahweh have not sought.
2 But he also is wise and hath brought in calamity, And his own words hath he not set aside,—Therefore will he rise up Against the house of evil-doers, and Against the help of the workers of iniquity.
3 Now the Egyptians are men and not God, And their horses flesh and not spirit; When Yahweh shall stretch out his hand Then he that is giving help shall stumble And he that is receiving help shall fall, And together shall all of them vanish!
4 For Thus hath Yahweh said unto me—Like as a lion or a young lion growleth over his prey Who—though there be called out against him a multitude of shepherds—Will not at their voice be dismayed, Nor at their noise be daunted So will Yahweh of hosts come down to make war over Mount Zion, and over the hill thereof.
5 As little mother-birds hovering so will Yahweh of hosts throw a covering over Jerusalem,—Covering so will he rescue, Passing over so will he deliver!
6 Return ye unto him against whom the sons of Israel have deeply revolted,
7 For in that day will every man reject his idols of silver, and his idols of gold,—Which your hands had made for you as a sin!
8 Then shall the Assyrian fall by the sword not of a great man, And the sword not of a mean man shall devour him,—Howbeit he shall take his flight from the face of a sword, And his young men shall come under tribute;
9 And his own Cliff through terror shall he pass by, And his princes shall be dismayed at an ensign,—Declareth Yahweh, Who hath a flame in Zion, And hath a furnace in Jerusalem.
32 Lo! in righteousness shall reign a king Yea even princes with equity shall bear rule.
2 So shall each one become As a hiding-place from the wind And a covert from the storm,—As channels of water in a dry place, As the shadow of a massive cliff in a weary land.
3 And the eyes of them who are ready to see shall not be closed,—And the ears of them who are ready to hear shall hearken;
4 And the heart of the hurried shall take note of knowledge, And the tongue of stammerers shall make haste to speak plainly.
5 A base man shall no longer be called noble,—Nor a knave be named liberal;
6 For a base man with baseness will speak, And his heart will practise iniquity,—Practising profanity, And speaking against Yahweh that which misleadeth, Emptying the soul of the hungry, And the drink of the thirsty he causeth to fail;
7 Yea a knave his weapons are wicked,—He base schemes hath devised To ruin the oppressed with speeches of falsehood, Even when the needy pleadeth for justice.
8 But a noble man noble things hath devised,—And he upon noble things will stand.
9 Ye women in comfort! arise, hear my voice, Ye daughters so confident, give ear to my speech:—
10 Some days beyond a year ye shall be troubled, ye confident ones,—For failed hath the vintage, No gathering cometh in.
11 Tremble, ye women in comfort, Be troubled, ye daughters so confident,—Strip! and bare yourselves, and gird somewhat on your loins:
12 Upon your breasts continue smiting: For desirable fields, For fruitful vine.
13 Over the soil of my people thorns and briars shall grow,—Yea over all houses of joy, thou city exultant!
14 For the palace is abandoned, The tumult of the city hath ceased,—Hill and watch-tower serve as caves unto times age-abiding, The joy of wild-asses, The pasture of flocks:—
15 Until there be poured out upon us the spirit from on high,—Then shall the wilderness become garden-land, And the garden-land for a forest be reckoned;
16 Then shall justice inhabit the wilderness, And righteousness in the garden-land shall abide;
17 And the yield of righteousness shall be peace,—And the tillage of righteousness quietness and confidence to times age-abiding;
18 And my people shall dwell In a home of peace,—and In habitations of security, and In resting-places of comfort.
19 But it shall hail during the felling of the forest, And in a sunken place shall the city sink.
20 How happy are ye who sow beside all waters,—Who send forth the foot of the ox and the ass.
33 Alas! thou plunderer when thou hadst not been plundered, And thou traito, when they had not betrayed thee: When thou hast ceased plundering thou shalt be plundered, When thou hast left off betraying they shall betray thee.
2 O Yahweh! shew us favour,—For thee have we waited,—Be thou their arm every morning, Yea our salvation in the time of distress.
3 At the noise of a tumult the peoples retreated,—When thou didst lift thyself up nations were scattered.
4 Then shall your spoil be gathered as the gathering of the caterpillar,—As the swift running of locusts is he about to run upon them.
5 Exalted is Yahweh, for he inhabiteth a height,—He hath filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 So shall a wealth of deliverances, wisdom and knowledge become the stability of thy times,—The reverence of Yahweh the same is his treasure.
7 Lo! their heroes have cried out openly,—The messengers of peace in bitterness continue weeping [they say]:
8 The highways are deserted, The passer-by on the path hath ceased,—He hath broken covenant, He hath despised cities, He hath made no account of men.
9 The land mourneth, languisheth, Lebanon displayeth shame, is withered,—Sharon hath become as the waste plain, And Bashan and Carmel are shaking off their leaves.
10 Now will I arise, Saith Yahweh, Now will I lift myself up, Now will I be exalted!
11 Ye shall conceive chaff, Ye shall bring forth stubble,—Your own breath like fire shall devour you.
12 So shall peoples become as the burnings of lime,—As thorns lopped off with fire shall they be burned.
13 Hear—ye that are far off what I have done, And know—ye that are near, my might:
14 Terror-stricken in Zion—are sinners, Shuddering hath seized the impious,—Who among us can sojourn with a fire that devoureth? Who among us can sojourn with burnings age-abiding?
15 He that walketh righteously, And speaketh uprightly,—He that refuseth the gain of exactions, That shaketh his hands free from holding a bribe, That stoppeth his ear from hearkening to deeds of blood, And shutteth his eyes from giving countenance to wrong
16 He the heights shall inhabit, A stronghold of crags shall be his refuge,—His bread hath been delivered, His waters have been made sure.
17 Of a king in his beauty shall thine eyes have vision: They shall see a land that stretcheth afar.
18 Thy heart may murmur in terror,—Where is the scribe? Where—the receiver? Where—he that maketh a list of the towers?
19 The fierce people shalt thou not see,—The people of too deep a lip to be understood, of too barbarous a tongue for thee to comprehend.
20 Look thou on Zion, the city of our appointed feast,—Thine own eyes shall see Jerusalem—A home of comfort, A tent which shall not be packed up—Whose pins shall not be pulled out for ever, And none of whose cords shall be broken.
21 But there shall Yahweh be our majestic one, A place of rivers—streams broad on both hands, Wherein shall go no galley with oars, Neither shall majestic ship traverse it;
22 For Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh is our lawgiver,—Yahweh is our king, He will save us!
23 Loosed are thy ropes,—They cannot strengthen the socket of their mast, They have not unfurled a sail, Now can be apportioned spoil in abundance, The lame have captured prey!
24 Neither shall the inhabitant say, I am sick,—The people who dwell therein have been forgiven iniquity.
34 Come near, ye nations, to hear, And, ye races, attend,—Let the earth hear and the fulness thereof, The world and all things produced therefrom:
2 That Yahweh hath wrath against all the nations, and indignation against all their host,—He hath devoted them to destruction, He hath delivered them to slaughter;
3 And their slain shall be cast out, And their carcases the stench of them shall ascend,—And the mountains shall melt away with their blood.
4 Then shall be dissolved all the host of the heavens, And the heavens shall roll up as a scroll,—Yea all their host shall fade—Like the fading and falling of a leaf from a vine, and Like what fadeth and falleth from a fig-tree.
5 For my sword hath been sated in the heavens,—Lo! upon Edom shall it descend, Even on the people whom I have devoted to justice.
6 A sword hath Yahweh—Glutted with blood, Sated with fat,—With the blood of well-fed lambs and he-goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams,—For a sacrifice hath Yahweh in Bozrah, Yea a great slaughter in the land of Edom;
7 Then shall buffaloes come down with them, And bullocks with bulls,—So shall their land be soaked with blood, And their dust with fat shall be enriched.
8 For a day of avenging hath Yahweh,—A year of requitals for the quarrel of Zion.
9 Then shall the torrents thereof be turned into pitch, And the dust thereof into brimstone,—So shall her land become burning pitch:
10 Neither night nor day shall it be quenched, To times age-abiding shall ascend the smoke thereof,—From generation to generation shall it lie waste, Never, never shall any pass through it:
11 That the vomiting pelican and the bittern may possess it: And the great owl and the raven dwell therein; Then will he stretch out over it The line of desolation, and The plummet of emptiness.
12 Her nobles (but none are there!) unto royalty will call,—All all her princes shall become nought.
13 Then shall come up in her palaces thorns, Nettles and thistles in her fortresses,—And she shall become A home for wild dogs, An enclosure for ostriches;
14 Then shall criers meet with howlers, And the shaggy creature unto his fellow shall call,—Only there shall the night-spectre Make her settlement, And find for herself a place of rest:
15 There shall the arrow-snake Make her nest and lay, And hatch and gather under her shadow,—Only there shall be gathered the falcons, every one with her mate.
16 Seek ye out of the scroll of Yahweh and read, Not one from among them is lacking, None hath missed her mate,—For a mouth hath itself commanded, And his spirit hath itself gathered them:
17 Yea he himself hath cast for them a lot, And his own hand hath given to them a portion by line,—Unto times age-abiding shall they possess it, To generation after generation shall they dwell therein.
35 Wilderness and parched land shall be glad for them,—And the waste plain shall exult and blossom as the lily:
2 It shall blossom abundantly and exult, Yea with exultation and shouts of triumph, The glory of Lebanon hath been given to it, The splendour of Carmel and Sharon,—They shall see the glory of Yahweh, the splendour of our God.
3 Strengthen ye the weak hands,—The trembling knees make ye firm:
4 Say to the hurried in heart, Be strong, Do not fear,—Lo! your God with avenging doth come, With the recompence of God, He doth come to save you.
5 Then shall be opened the eyes of the blind,—And the ears of the deaf be unstopped:
6 Then shall leap as a hart the lame, Then shall shout the tongue of the dumb, For there have broken forth—In the desert—waters, And streams in the waste plain:
7 Then shall the glowing sand become a lake, And thirsty ground—springs of water,—In the home of the wild dog—its lair Shall be an enclosure for cane and paper-reed.
8 And there shall be there a raised way—even a high road And the Highroad of Holiness shall it be called, There shall not pass over it one who is unclean; But He Himself shall be one of them travelling the road, And the perverse shall not stray [thereinto].
9 There shall be there no lion Nor shall ravenous beast go up thereon, It shall not be found there,—Thus shall travel the redeemed;
10 And the ransomed of Yahweh shall return And shall enter Zion with shouting, With gladness age-abiding upon their head, Joy and gladness shall overtake [them], And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
36 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
2 Then did the king of Assyria send Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto King Hezekiah with a heavy force,—and he took his stand by the upper channel of the pool, in the highway of the fuller’s field.
3 And there went out to him—Eliakim son of Hilkiah who was over the household,—and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder.
4 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Pray you say unto Hezekiah,—Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What is this trust wherewith thou dost trust?
5 I have said [sayest thou]—they are only words of the lips—Counsel and might [have I] for the war,—Now upon whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me?
6 Lo! thou dost trust on the support of this bruised cane on Egypt, whereon if a man lean it will enter his hand and lay it open,—So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust upon him.
7 But if thou shouldst say unto me, In Yahweh our God do we trust Then is that not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath removed, and said unto Judah and unto Jerusalem, Before this altar shall ye bow yourselves down?
8 Now therefore, pledge thyself, I pray thee, with my lord the king of Assyria,—That I supply thee with two thousand horses, If thou on thy part be able to set riders upon them;
9 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one pasha of the least of my lord’s servants? Or hast thou on thy part trusted upon Egypt, for chariots and for horsemen?
10 But now is it without Yahweh that I have come up against this land to destroy it? Yahweh himself said unto me, Go thou up against this land and destroy it!
11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh—Speak, we pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language, for we can understand it,—and do not speak unto us in the Jews’ language, in the ears of the people who are upon the wall.
12 But Rabshakeh said—Is it unto thy lord and unto thee that my lord hath sent me, to speak these things? Is it not concerning the men who are tarrying upon the wall, that they may eat and drink what cometh from them with you?
13 So then Rabshakeh took his stand, and cried out with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria:
14 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you,—for he shall not be able to deliver you.
15 Neither let Hezekiah cause you to trust in Yahweh saying, Yahweh will certainly deliver us,—this city shall not be given over into the hand of the king of Assyria.
16 Do not hearken unto Hezekiah,—for thus saith the king of Assyria, Deal with me thankfully and come out unto me, Then shall ye eat Every one of his own vine and Every one of his own fig-tree, And drink every one the waters of his own cistern:
17 Until I come and take you into A land like your own land,—A land of corn and new wine, A land of bread and vineyards:—
18 Lest Hezekiah persuade you saying, Yahweh will deliver us! Have the gods of the nations delivered—any one of them—his country out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? If indeed they had only delivered Samaria out of my hand!
20 Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand? That Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand!
21 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word,—for the command of the king it was saying,—Ye must not answer him.
22 Then came in—Eliakim son of Hilkiah who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, unto Hezekiah, with rent clothes,—and they told him the words of Rabshakeh.
37 And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it that he rent his clothes,—and covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of Yahweh;
2 and sent Eliakim who was over the household and Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth,—unto Isaiah the prophet son of Amoz;
3 and they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, A day of distress and rebuke and reviling is this day,—For children are come to the birth, and strength is there none to bring forth.
4 It may be that Yahweh thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh whom the king of Assyria his lord hath sent to reproach a Living God, and will rebuke the words which Yahweh thy God hath heard,—Wherefore lift thou up a prayer for the remnant that remaineth.
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came unto Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye surely say unto your lord,—Thus saith Yahweh—Be not thou afraid because of the words which thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled Me.
7 Behold me! about to let go against him a blast of alarm, and when he heareth the report then will he return to his own country,—and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria, warring against Libnah,—for he had heard, that he had broken up from Lachish.
9 And he heard it reported concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia saying, He hath come forth to fight with thee,—so when he heard it he sent messengers unto Hezekiah saying:
10 Thus shall ye surely speak unto Hezekiah king of Judah saying, Let not thy God in whom thou art trusting beguile thee, saying,—Jerusalem shall not be given over into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 Lo! thou thyself hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands in devoting them to destruction,—and shalt thou be delivered?
12 Did the gods of the nations deliver them whom my fathers destroyed,—Gozan and Haran,—and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar?
13 Where are the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim,—of Hena and Ivvah?
14 And when Hezekiah had received the letter at the hand of the messengers and had read it then went he up to the house of Yahweh, and Hezekiah spread it out before Yahweh.
15 And Hezekiah prayed unto Yahweh saying:
16 O Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel—inhabiting the cherubim, Thou thyself art God, even thou alone, for all the kingdoms of the earth: Thou didst make the heavens and the earth.
17 Bow down, O Yahweh, thine ear—and hear, Open, O Yahweh, thine eyes—and see,—Yea hear thou all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent—to reproach a Living God.
18 Of a truth O Yahweh,—the kings of Assyria have devoted to destruction all the countries and their land;
19 and have put their gods in the fire,—for no-gods were they, but the work of the hands of men—wood and stone and so they destroyed them.
20 Now therefore, O Yahweh our God, save us out of his hand,—That all the kingdoms of the earth may know, That thou art Yahweh, thou alone.
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah saying,—Thus saith Yahweh, God of Israel, In that thou hast prayed unto me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria
22 this is the word which Yahweh hath spoken concerning him,—The virgin daughter of Zion laugheth thee to scorn—mocketh thee, The daughter of Jerusalem after thee doth wag her head!
23 Whom hast thou reproached and insulted? And against whom hast thou lifted high thy voice? Yea thou hast proudly raised thine eyes against the Holy One of Israel.
24 Through thy servants thou hast reproached My Lord and hast said,—With my multitude of chariots have I ascended The height of the mountains, The recesses of Lebanon, That I may cut down Its tallest cedars, Its choicest firs, That I may enter Its highest summit, Its thick garden forest:
25 I have digged and drunk waters,—That I may dry up with the soles of my feet all the Nile-streams of Egypt.
26 Hast thou not heard—That long ago that is what I appointed And from days of old devised? Now have I brought it to pass, That thou mightest serve to lay waste in desolate ruins fortified cities;
27 And their inhabitants being powerless were overthrown and put to shame—They became—Grass of the field and Young herbage, Grass on housetops, and Seed parched before it came up.
28 Howbeit thine abode and thy coming out and thy going in I know,—and thy raging against me.
29 Because thy raging against me, and thy contempt have come up into mine ears Therefore will I put My ring in thy nose and My bit in thy lips, And will turn thee back, by the way by which thou camest.
30 And this unto thee is the sign, Eating this year the growth of scattered seeds, And in the second year that which shooteth up of itself,—Then in the third year Sow ye—and reap and Plant ye vineyards and eat the fruit thereof.
31 Then shall the escaped of the house of Judah that remain again Take root downward,—And bear fruit upward.
32 For out of Jerusalem shall come forth a remnant, And that which hath escaped out of Mount Zion,—The jealousy of Yahweh of hosts will perform this.
33 Therefore thus saith Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not enter this city, Nor shoot there an arrow,—Nor attack it with shield, Nor cast up against it a mound:
34 By the way that he came in By the same shall he return,—And into this city shall he not enter, Declareth Yahweh.
35 Thus will I throw a covering over this city to save it,—For mine own sake, And for the sake of David my servant.
36 Then went forth the messenger of Yahweh and smote—in the camp of the Assyrians—a hundred and eighty-five thousand,—and when men arose early in the morning lo! they were all dead bodies!
37 So Sennacherib the king of Assyria brake up and went his way, and returned,—and remained in Nineveh.
38 And it came to pass, as he was bowing down in the house of Nisroch his god that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword, howbeit they escaped into the land of Ararat,—and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
38 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death,—and Isaiah the prophet son of Amoz came in unto him, and said unto him—Thus saith Yahweh, Set in order thy house, for about to die thou art and shalt not recover.
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face unto the wall,—and prayed unto Yahweh;
3 and said,—I beseech thee, O Yahweh, remember, I pray thee, how I have walked before thee in faithfulness and with an undivided heart, and that which is good in thine eyes have I done. And Hezekiah wept aloud.
4 Then came the word of Yahweh unto Isaiah, saying:
5 Go and say unto Hezekiah—Thus saith Yahweh, the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears,—Behold me! about to add unto thy days, fifteen years;
6 And out of the hand of the king of Assyria will I deliver thee, and this city; And I will throw a covering over this city.
7 And this to thee shall be the sign from Yahweh,—that Yahweh will do this thing which he hath spoken:—
8 Behold me! causing the shadow on the steps, which hath come gone down on the steps of Ahaz with the sun, to return backwards ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps, by the steps which it had come down.
9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and then recovered from his sickness:—
10 I said—In the noontide of my days I must enter the gates of hades,—I am deprived of the residue of my years!
11 I said—I shall not see Yah, Yah in the land of the living, I shall discern the son of earth no longer with the dwellers in the quiet land.
12 My dwelling hath been broken up And is stripped from me like a shepherd’s tent,—I have rolled up—as a weaver—my life, From the loom doth he cut me off, From day until night [I said]—Thou wilt finish me.
13 I cried out until morning like a lion, Thus will he break all my bones! From day until night, Thou wilt finish me!
14 As a twittering swallow so do I chatter, I coo as a dove,—Mine eyes languish through looking on high, O My Lord! distress is upon me—my Surety!
15 What can I say? Since he hath promised for me Himself will perform. I will go softly all my years Because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 O My Lord! on those things do men live,—And altogether in them is the life of my spirit, When thou hast strengthened me and made me live.
17 Lo! for well-being I had bitterness—bitterness,—But thou cleaving unto my soul hast raised me from the pit of corruption, For thou hast cast behind thy back all my sins.
18 For hades cannot praise thee Nor death celebrate thee,—They who go down to the pit cannot wait for thy faithfulness.
19 The living, the living he can praise thee As I do this day,—A father to his children can make known thy faithfulness.
20 Yahweh [was willing] to save me,—Therefore on my stringed instruments will we play—All the days of our life By the house of Yahweh.
21 And Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs, and let them press it over the boil that he may recover.
22 And Hezekiah had said—What is the sign—that I shall go up unto the house of Yahweh?
39 At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah,—for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick and had recovered.
2 And Hezekiah rejoiced over them, and showed them his house of precious things—the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious ointment and all his armoury—and all that was found among his treasures,—there was nothing which Hezekiah did not show them—in his house or in all his dominion.
3 Then came Isaiah the prophet, unto King Hezekiah,—and said unto him—What said these men? and whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, From a land far away came they unto me, from Babylon!
4 And he said, What have they seen in thy house? Then said Hezekiah,—All that is in my house have they seen, there is nothing which I shewed them not among my treasures.
5 Then said Isaiah unto Hezekiah,—Hear thou the word of Yahweh of hosts:
6 Lo! days are coming, when all that is in thy house, and that which thy fathers have treasured up until this day, shall be carried away unto Babylon,—nothing shall be left, Saith Yahweh.
7 And of thy sons who shall issue from thee whom thou shalt beget shall they take away,—and they shall become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
8 And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, Good is the word of Yahweh which thou hast spoken. And he said, Surely there shall be peace and stability in my days.
40 Comfort ye—comfort ye, my people.—Saith your God.
2 Speak ye unto the heart of Jerusalem And cry unto her,—That accomplished is her warfare, That accepted is her punishment,—That she hath received at the hand of Yahweh, According to the full measure of all her sins.
3 A voice of one crying!—In the desert prepare ye the way of Yahweh,—Make smooth in the waste plain a highway for our God:
4 Let every valley be exalted, And every mountain and hill be made low,—And the steep ground become level, And the chain of hills—a plain:
5 Then shall be revealed the glory of Yahweh,—And all flesh shall see it together, For the mouth of Yahweh hath spoken!
6 A voice saying Cry! And one said—What should I cry? All flesh is grass, And all the grace thereof like the flower of the field:
7 The grass hath withered The flower hath faded, Because the breath of Yahweh hath blown upon it! Surely the people is grass!
8 The grass hath withered The flower hath faded,—But the word of our God shall stand unto times age-abiding!
9 To a high mountain get ye up, O herald-band of Zion, Lift high with strength your voice, O herald-band of Jerusalem,—Lift it high, do not fear, Say to the cities of Judah—Lo! your God!
10 Lo! My Lord Yahweh as a mighty one doth come, And his own arm is about to rule for him,—Lo! his reward is with him, And his recompense before him;
11 Like a shepherd his flock will he tend, In his own arm will he take up the lambs, And in his own bosom will he carry [them],—Them which are with young will he lead to a place of rest.
12 Who hath measured with the hollow of his hand the waters Or the heavens with a span hath meted out, Or hath comprehended in a measure the dust of the earth, Or weighed in scales the mountains, Or the hills in a balance?
13 Who hath proved the spirit of Yahweh? Or being his counsellor hath been giving him knowledge?
14 With whom hath he taken counsel—And he hath given him intelligence, And instructed him in the path of justice,—And taught him knowledge, And in the way of intelligence hath been giving him understanding?
15 Lo! nations Are as a drop on a bucket, And as fine dust on a balance are accounted,—Lo! islands like an atom can he hoist;
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,—Nor the beasts thereof sufficient for an ascending-sacrifice!
17 All nations are as nothing before him,—A thing of nought or a waste are they accounted unto him?
18 Unto whom then can ye liken God? Or what likeness can ye compare unto him?
19 The image hath been cast by an artificer, And a goldsmith with gold overlayeth it,—And chains of silver he worketh.
20 The needy offerer of a tree that will not rot maketh choice,—A skilled artificer seeketh he out for himself to construct an image that shall not totter!
21 Have ye never taken note? Have ye never heard? Hath it not from the beginning been told you? Have ye not been led to discern, from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he who sitteth upon the circle of the earth, While the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers,—Who stretcheth forth as a curtain the heavens, And spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in;
23 Who delivereth dignitaries to nothingness,—Judges of earth like a desolation hath he made:
24 Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely hath their stock begun to take root in the earth When he hath just blown upon them and they have withered, And a whirlwind as though they had been chaff carrieth them away.
25 Unto whom then can ye liken me or can I be equal? Saith the Holy One.
26 Lift on high your eyes—and see who hath created these, That bringeth forth by number their host,—To all of them by name doth call, Because of the abundance of vigour and alertness of strength not one is missing!
27 Wherefore shouldest thou say, O Jacob, or speak, O Israel,—Hidden is my path from Yahweh, And from my God my vindication will pass?
28 Hast thou not known, Hast thou not heard That The God of age-past time—Yahweh, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Fainteth not neither groweth weary—There is no searching of his understanding:
29 Giving to him that fainteth strength, And to him that hath no vigour he causeth power to abound?
30 Youths both faint and grow weary, And young warriors—they fall, they fall;
31 But they who wait for Yahweh shall renew their strength, They shall mount on strong pinion like eagles,—They shall run and not grow weary, They shall walk and not faint.
41 Be silent [and hearken] unto me, O ye Coastlands, And let the Races of Men renew their strength,—Let them approach, then let them speak, Together for controversy let us draw near:—
2 Who roused up one from the East, In righteousness called him to his feet,—Set before him nations And over kings caused him to rule, His sword made [them] like dust, His bow like driven chaff:
3 He pursued them, passed along safely,—Upon the path of his own feet entered he not?
4 Who hath wrought and performed, Calling the generations in advance? I, Yahweh, [who am] First, And with them who are last I am the Same!
5 Coastlands have seen, so they fear, The ends of the earth are in dread,—They have drawn near and have come:
6 Every man to his neighbour giveth help,—And to his brother saith, Take courage!
7 So the carver hath encouraged the goldsmith, He that maketh smooth with the hammer him that smiteth the anvil,—Saying of the welding, It is good! Then hath he fastened it with nails—it must not totter!
8 But thou, Israel, my Servant, Jacob whom I have chosen,—The seed of Abraham, my loving one;
9 Thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, And from the extremities thereof have called thee,—And said to thee My Servant thou! I have chosen thee and not cast thee off
10 Do not fear, for with thee I am! Look not around, for I am thy God,—I have emboldened thee, Yea I have helped thee, Yea I have upheld thee with my righteous right-hand.
11 Lo! they shall turn pale and be ashamed—All they who have been incensed against thee,—They shall become as nothing and perish—The men who have been thine accusers:
12 Thou shalt seek them but shalt not find them—The men who have contended with thee, They shall become as nothing and as a thing of nought—The men who have warred against thee;
13 For I, Yahweh, thy God am firmly grasping thy right-hand,—Who am saying unto thee Do not fear! I have become thy helper!
14 Do not fear! Thou worm Jacob, Ye men of Israel,—I have become thy helper, Declareth Yahweh, And thy redeemer, The Holy One of Israel.
15 Lo! I have made of thee a new pointed threshing sledge owning teeth,—Thou shalt thresh mountains and crush them, And hills—like chaff shalt thou make:
16 Thou shalt fan them and a wind shall carry them away, And a whirlwind scatter them,—But thou shalt exult in Yahweh, And in the Holy One of Israel shalt thou boast thyself.
17 As for the oppressed and the needy, Seeking water when there is none, Their tongue with thirst being parched I—Yahweh will answer them, The God of Israel I will not forsake them:
18 I will open On bare hills rivers, and In the midst of plains fountains,—I will make The desert a lake of water, and Parched land springs of water;
19 I will set in the desert Cedar, acacia, and myrtle and oil-tree,—I will place in the waste plain Cypress, holm-oak, and sherbin-cedar together
20 That men may see and observe and consider and understand at once, That the hand of Yahweh hath done this, That the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
21 Bring near your contention, Saith Yahweh,—Advance your defences, Saith the King of Jacob:
22 Let them advance them and tell us What shall happen,—Things known in advance—what they were tell ye, That we may lay them to our heart and mark the after-story of them, Or things yet to come let us hear:
23 Tell ye the events which shall be hereafter, That we may perceive that gods ye are,—Surely ye must do something—good or bad, That we may be amazed and behold it at once.
24 Lo! ye are of nought, And your work is a puff of breath,—An abomination he that chooseth you!
25 I have roused up one from the North and he hath come, From the rising of the sun calleth he on my Name,—And he hath come on deputies as though they were mortar, And as a potter treadeth clay.
26 Who hath told in advance that we might know, And beforetime that we might say Right! Nay, there is none who can tell, Nay, there is none who can let us hear, Nay, there is none who can understand what ye utter.
27 He who is First [can say] To Zion, Lo! there they are! And to Jerusalem, A herald of good-tidings do I give.
28 So I look, And there is not a Man! Even among these And there is none to advise,—That when I ask them can answer a word.
29 Lo! as to all of them Vanity—nothingness are their works, Wind and emptiness their molten images!
42 Lo! my Servant I will uphold him, My chosen well-pleased is my soul,—I have put my spirit upon him, Justice—to the nations will he bring forth:
2 He will not cry out nor will he speak loud,—Nor cause to be heard in the street his voice:
3 Cane that is crushed will he not break, And wick that is fading will he not quench,—Faithfully will he bring forth justice:
4 He will not fade nor will he be crushed, Until he establish in the earth justice, And for his instruction Coastlands wait.
5 Thus saith God himself—Yahweh,—Creator of the heavens, that stretched them forth, Out-spreader of earth and the products thereof,—Giver of breath to the people thereon, And of spirit to them who walk therein
6 I—Yahweh have called thee in righteousness And will firmly grasp thy hand,—And will keep thee And give thee—As the covenant of a people, As the light of nations:
7 To open eyes that are blind,—To bring forth Out of the dungeon the captive, Out of the prison the dwellers in darkness.
8 I am Yahweh, that is my Name,—And my glory to another will I not give, Nor my praise to images.
9 Things told in advance lo! they have come to pass,—And new things am I telling, Ere yet they spring forth I let you hear them.
10 Sing to Yahweh a song that is new, His praise from the end of the earth,—Ye that go down to the sea and the fulness thereof, The Coastlands, and ye who dwell therein.
11 Let the wilderness shout and the cities thereof, The villages wherein dwelleth Kedar,—Let the inhabitants of the crag raise shouts of triumph, From the top of the mountains let them cry aloud:
12 Let them render unto Yahweh glory,—And his praise in the Coastlands let them tell.
13 Yahweh as a hero goeth forth, As a man of war he stirreth up jealousy,—He giveth a cry, yea he raiseth a war-cry, Over his foes he showeth his strength.
14 I have held my peace from age-past times, I kept still, I restrained myself,—As a travailing woman I pant, I breathe hard and gasp all at once!
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills, And all their vegetation will I wither,—And I will make rivers to be shores, And lakes will I dry up:
16 Thus will I lead the blind by a way they know not, In paths they know not will I guide them,—I will make the place that was dark before them to be light, And crooked ways to be straight, These things have I done unto them, And have not forsaken them.
17 They have drawn back They turn very pale Who have been trusting in a graven image,—Who have been saying to a molten image, Ye are our gods!
18 Ye deaf, hear! And ye blind, look around that ye may see!
19 Who is blind if not my Servant? Or deaf like my messenger whom I send? Who is blind like an intimate friend? Or blind like the Servant of Yahweh?
20 Seeing many things yet thou heedest not, Opening the ears yet he heareth not.
21 Yahweh is well-pleased for his own righteousness’ sake, He magnifieth instruction and maketh it majestic.
22 But that is a people preyed upon and plundered, Snared in holes all of them, And in houses of restraint concealed,—They have become a prey and there is none to deliver,—A booty and there is none to say—Restore!
23 Who among you will give ear to this,—Let him hearken and hear for an aftertime?
24 Who gave as a booty Jacob And Israel to them who were ready to take prey? Was it not Yahweh? He against whom we have sinned, And they were not willing in his ways to walk, Neither hearkened they to his instruction?
25 So he hath poured out upon him The glow of his anger, and The strength of battle; And it hath set him aflame round about, yet he knoweth it not, And it hath kindled upon him, yet he layeth it not to heart.
43 Now therefore Thus saith Yahweh—Creating thee, O Jacob, and Fashioning thee, O Israel,—Do not fear For I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, Mine thou art!
2 When thou passest through the waters with thee I am, Or through the rivers they shall not overflow thee,—When thou walkest through fire thou shall not be scorched, And a flame shall not kindle upon thee;
3 For I—Yahweh am Thy God, The Holy One of Israel, Ready to save thee,—I have given as thy ransom Egypt, Ethiopia and Seba in thy stead.
4 Because thou art precious in mine eyes, art honoured And I love thee,—And will give mankind in thy stead Yea peoples for thy life
5 Do not fear, for with thee I am,—From the East will I bring in thy seed, And from the West will I gather thee:
6 I will say to the North, Give up! And to the South, Do not withhold! Bring in My sons from far, and My daughters from the end of the earth;
7 Every one who is called by my Name, Whom for mine own glory I have created—formed—yea made!
8 Bring forth A blind people that have eyes, and A deaf that have ears.
9 All the nations are gathered together, Yea there is an assembling of peoples, Who among them can tell this, And things in advance can let us hear? Let them set forth their witnesses that they may get their right, Or let them hear and say Truth!
10 Ye are my witnesses, Declareth Yahweh, And my Servant whom I have chosen,—That ye may take note—and believe me And perceive that I am He, Before me was not formed a God, Nor after me shall one come into being:
11 I—I am Yahweh,—And there is none besides me ready to save:
12 I have told—and will save and make known, That there is among you no strange one; And ye are my witnesses, Declareth Yahweh, That I am God.
13 Even from To-day I am He, And none out of my hand can deliver,—I work and who reverseth?
14 Thus saith Yahweh, Your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel,—For your sakes have I sent into Babylon, And will bring down as fugitives all of them,—Even the Chaldeans in the ships which cause them loud outcry.
15 I—Yahweh am Your Holy One,—The Creator of Israel, Your King.
16 Thus saith Yahweh,—Who setteth in the sea a way,—And in the mighty waters a path;
17 Who bringeth forth Chariot and horse, Force and strength Together shall they lie down, They shall not arise, They are extinguished, Like a wick are they quenched!
18 Do not keep in mind former things,—And things of old do not consider:
19 Behold me! doing a new thing, Now shall it spring forth, Will ye not take note thereof? Surely I will set In the desert a way, In a desolate land rivers:
20 The wild beast of the field shall honour me, Jackals and ostriches, Because I have given—In the desert waters, Rivers in a desolate land, To give drink unto my people, my chosen:
21 A people which I have fashioned for myself, My praise shall they record.
22 Yet not upon me hast thou called, O Jacob,—For thou hast been wearied of me, O Israel:
23 Thou hast not brought in to me small cattle as thine ascending-offerings, Nor with thy sacrifices hast thou honoured me,—I have not oppressed thee with meal-offerings, Nor have I wearied thee with frankincense;
24 Thou hast not bought for me with silver, fragrant calamus, Nor with the fat of thy sacrifices hast thou sated me,—Thou hast done nothing but oppress me with thy sins, Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.
25 I—I am he that is ready To wipe out thy transgressions for mine own sake,—And thy sins not remember.
26 Put me in mind, Let us enter into judgment at once,—Recount thou that thou mayest be justified:
27 Thy chief father hath sinned,—And thine interpreters have transgressed against me;
28 So then I must needs profane the rulers of the holy place,—And deliver Jacob to be devoted to destruction, and Israel unto reviling!
44 Now then—hear, O Jacob my Servant,—and Israel, whom I have chosen:
2 Thus saith Yahweh—Who made thee and formed thee from birth, Who helpeth thee: Do not fear, O my Servant Jacob, and Jeshurun, whom I have chosen;
3 For I will pour Water upon the thirsty soil, and Floods upon the dry ground,—I will pour My spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring;
4 So will they spring up among the grass, As willows by the water-courses:
5 This one will say Yahweh’s am I, and That one will call himself by the name of Jacob, and Yonder one will write on his hand—Yahweh’s, And after the name of Israel will one entitle himself.
6 Thus saith Yahweh—King of Israel, Even his Redeemer Yahweh of hosts,—I am First and I Last, And besides me there is no God.
7 Who then like me can call and declare it and order it for me, Seeing that I appointed an age-abiding people,—Or things yet to be and that shall come to pass Let them declare on their part.
8 Do not ye dread nor yet be alarmed, Have I not from olden time told thee and declared? So that ye are my witnesses,—Whether there is a God besides me? Or is no Rock—I know of none!
9 The fashioners of an image—all of them are emptiness, And the things they delight in cannot profit,—And their witnesses they neither see nor know, That they may be ashamed.
10 Who hath fashioned a God, Or an image hath molten? It cannot profit!
11 Lo! all his partners turn pale, Even the artificers themselves are of the sons of earth,—Let them gather themselves together—all of them Let them take their stand, Let them dread and turn pale together!
12 As for the smith [with his] cutting-tool—When he hath wrought in the live coals, And with hammers hath fashioned it,—And hath wrought it with his strong arm Anon he is hungry and hath no strength, He hath drunk no water and so hath become faint!
13 As for the carpenter—He hath stretched out a line, hath drawn it with a pencil, Hath made it with carving tools, With compasses hath rounded it,—And so hath made it after the figure of a great man, After the beauty of a son of earth, that it may remain in a house!
14 When one was cutting him down cedars Then took he a holm-tree and an oak, And secured them for himself among the trees of the forest,—He planted a fir-tree and the pouring rain made it grow;
15 So it serveth for a man to burn, And he hath taken of [the branches] and warmed himself, Also he kindleth a fire and baketh bread,—Also he maketh a God and hath bowed himself down, Hath made of it a carved image and adored it:
16 The half thereof hath he burned in the fire, Over half thereof he eateth flesh, He roasteth roast that he may be satisfied,—Also he warmeth himself and saith, Aha! I am warm, I have seen a blaze;
17 And the residue thereof Into a God he maketh, Into his carved image,—Adoreth it and boweth down and prayeth unto it And saith, Deliver me, for my God thou art!
18 They have not taken note neither can they perceive,—He hath besmeared—past seeing—their eyes, Past understanding their hearts;
19 And no one reflecteth—There is neither knowledge nor discernment—to say, Half thereof have I burned up in the fire, Moreover also I have baked on the coals thereof bread, I roasted flesh and have been eating,—And of the remainder thereof an abomination shall I make? And to a log of wood shall I pay adoration?
20 He is feeding on ashes, A deluded heart hath turned him aside,—And he cannot deliver his own soul nor say, Is there not a falsehood in my right hand?
21 Remember these things, O Jacob, And Israel—for my Servant thou art,—I have fashioned thee, a Servant of mine thou art.
22 O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have wiped out As with a thick cloud thy transgressions, And as with a broad cloud thy sins,—Return unto me for I have redeemed thee.
23 Shout in triumph, ye heavens, for Yahweh hath effectually wrought, Shout, O ye underparts of the earth, Ring out, Ye mountains into cries of triumph, Thou forest and every tree therein,—For Yahweh hath redeemed Jacob, And in Israel will he get himself glory.
24 Thus saith Yahweh Who hath redeemed thee, Who hath fashioned thee from birth,—I—Yahweh am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens alone, Spreading forth the earth of myself;
25 Frustrating the signs of praters, And diviners he confoundeth,—Turning wise men backwards, And their knowledge he maketh folly;
26 Establishing the word of his Servant, And the counsel of his Messengers he maketh good,—Who saith of Jerusalem—She shall be inhabited! And of the cities of Judah—They shall be built! And the ruins thereof will I set up!
27 Who saith to the deep—Be dry! and Thy rivers will I drain!
28 Who saith of Cyrus—My Shepherd! and All my pleasure shall he make good! Even saying of Jerusalem—She shall be built! And of the temple—Be her foundation laid!
45 Thus saith Yahweh to his Anointed, to Cyrus—Whose right hand I have firmly grasped To subdue before him nations, And the loins of kings will I ungird,—To open before him the two-leaved doors, And the gates shall not be shut:
2 I before thee will go, And the hills will I level,—The doors of bronze will I break in pieces, And the bars of iron will I cut asunder;
3 Then will I give thee The treasures of darkness, Even the hoards of hidden places,—That thou mayest get to know That I—Yahweh who am calling thee by thy name am the God of Israel.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob, Even Israel my chosen Therefore have I called unto thee by thy name, I give thee a title though thou hast not known me,—
5 I am Yahweh and there is none else, Besides me there is no God,—I gird thee though thou hast not known me:
6 That men may get to know From the rising of the sun And from the west That there is none besides me,—I am Yahweh and there is none else:
7 Forming light and creating darkness, Making prosperity and creating misfortune,—I—Yahweh who doeth all these.
8 Let the drops fall, ye heavens, from above, Yea let the skies pour down righteousness,—Let the earth open and let them bear as their fruit—deliverance And let justice spring forth therewith, I—Yahweh have created it.
9 Alas for him who contendeth with his Fashioner,—A potsherd [should contend] with the potsherds of the ground! Shall it be said by the clay unto him that is fashioning it, What wouldst thou make? Or thy work [say of thee], He hath no hands?
10 Alas for one who saith to a father, What begettest thou? Or to a woman, What dost thou bring forth?
11 Thus saith Yahweh The Holy One of Israel And his Fashioner, As to things to come they have asked me, Concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands they would command me!
12 I made the earth, And man upon it I created,—I—mine own hands stretched out the heavens, And all their host I commanded:
13 I have roused him up in righteousness, And all his roads will I level,—He shall build my city And my captives shall he let go, Not for price nor for bribe Saith Yahweh of hosts.
14 Thus saith Yahweh—The produce of Egypt and the gain of Ethiopia and the Sabeans men of great stature Unto thee shall come over And thine shall they become, After thee shall they journey, In chains shall they come over,—And unto thee shall they bow down, Unto thee shall they pray [saying],—Surely in thee is a God And there is none else—no God!
15 Surely thou art a God utterly hiding thyself,—O God of Israel, able to save!
16 They have turned pale and even been put to shame all of them,—Together have they gone into disgrace, have the makers of images:
17 Israel hath been delivered by Yahweh, with an age-abiding deliverance,—Ye shall neither turn pale nor he put to shame unto the ages of futurity.
18 For Thus saith Yahweh, Who created the heavens, God himself, Who fashioned the earth—And made it, Himself established it, . . . Not a waste created he it, To be dwelt in he fashioned it, . . . I am Yahweh and there is none else:
19 Not in secret have I spoken In a place of the earth that is dark,—I have not said unto the seed of Jacob, In a waste seek ye me,—I am Yahweh, Speaking the thing that is right, Declaring the things that are just.
20 Assemble yourselves and come, Draw near together, ye escaped of the nations,—They know not Who carry the wood of their carved image, And pray unto a God who cannot save.
21 Tell ye—and bring near, Yea let them take counsel together,—Who let this be known aforetime, In time past declared it? Was it not I—Yahweh? And there is none else that is God besides me, A God righteous and ready to save, There is none besides me!
22 Turn unto me—and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth,—For I am God and there is none else.
23 By myself have I sworn, Gone forth out of my mouth is righteousness as a decree And shall not turn back,—That unto myself Shall bow every knee, Shall swear every tongue:
24 Only in Yahweh—for me Hath one said, Is there righteousness and strength. Unto him shall come and turn pale—All who have been incensed against him:
25 In Yahweh shall be justified and shall boast themselves—All the seed of Israel.
46 Bel hath crouched, Nebo is cowering, Their images are [delivered up] to beast and to cattle,—The things ye carried about are become a load, A burden to the weary!
2 They have cowered, they have crouched at once, And they cannot rescue the burden,—But their own soul into captivity hath departed.
3 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, Even all the remnant of the house of Israel,—Who have been borne from birth, Who have been carried from nativity:
4 Even unto old age I am the same, And unto grey hairs I will bear the burden,—I have made and I will carry, Yea I will bear the burden and will deliver.
5 To whom can ye liken me or make me equal? Or compare me and we be like?
6 They who pour gold out of a purse, And who weigh silver in a balance,—[Who] hire a goldsmith that he may make it into a God, They adore, yea they bow down;
7 They carry him about on the shoulder, They bear the burden of him—and set him in his place that he may stand,—Out of his place will he not move,—Though one even make outcry unto him he will not answer, Out of one’s trouble he will not save him.
8 Remember ye this and shew yourselves men,—Bring it back, ye transgressors, to your minds;
9 Remember ye the things named in advance from age-past times,—For I am The Mighty One and there is none else, The Adorable and there is none like me!
10 Declaring from the beginning the latter end, And from olden time that which had never been done,—Saying My purpose shall stand, and All my pleasure will I perform;
11 Calling From the East a Bird of Prey, From a far country the Man I intended,—Yea I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass, I have planned, I will also do it.
12 Hearken unto me, Ye valiant of heart,—Who are far away from righteousness:
13 I have brought near my righteousness, It shall not be far away, And my deliverance shall not linger,—But I will give In Zion deliverance, To Israel my glory.
47 Down—and sit in the dust, O virgin Daughter of Babylon, Sit on the ground—throneless, Daughter of the Chaldeans; For thou shalt no more be called Tender and Dainty.
2 Take millstones and grind meal,—Put back thy veil—tuck up thy train, Bare the leg, wade through streams:
3 Bared shall be thy shame, Yea seen thy reproach,—An avenging will I take, And will accept no son of earth.
4 Our Redeemer Yahweh of hosts is his name! The Holy One of Israel.
5 Sit silent and get into darkness, Daughter of the Chaldeans! For thou shalt no more be called Mistress of Kingdoms.
6 I had been provoked with my people, Had profaned mine inheritance, And given them into thy hand, . . . Thou shewedst them no compassion, Upon the elder madest thou very heavy thy yoke.
7 And thou saidst, Unto times age-abiding shall I be Mistress,—Insomuch that thou laidst not these things to thy heart, Didst not keep in mind the issue thereof.
8 Now therefore hear this, Thou Lady of pleasure, Who dwelleth securely, Who saith in her heart,—I [am], and there is no one besides, I shall not sit a widow, Nor know loss of children.
9 Yet shall there come to thee—both these in a moment, in one day, Loss of children and widowhood,—To their full have they come on thee, Spite of the mass of thine incantations, Spite of the great throng of thy spells.
10 And so thou didst trust in thy wickedness, Thou saidst No one seeth me, Thy wisdom and knowledge the same seduced thee,—Therefore saidst thou in thy heart, I [am] and there is no one besides.
11 Therefore shall come on thee—Mischief, Thou shalt not know how to charm it away, Yea there shall fall on thee Ruin, Thou shalt not be able to appease it,—And there shall come on thee suddenly Desolation, Thou shalt not know.
12 Take thy stand, I pray thee, With thy spells And with the throng of thine incantations wherein thou hast wearied thyself from thy youth,—Peradventure thou mayest be able to profit, Peradventure thou mayest strike me with terror.
13 Thou hast worn thyself out with the mass of thy consultations,—Let them take their stand, I pray thee, that they may save thee—The dividers of the heavens—The gazers at the stars, They who make known by new moons, Somewhat of the things which shall come upon thee.
14 Lo! they have become as straw—a fire hath burned them up, They shall not deliver their own soul from the grasp of the flame,—There is no live coal to warm them, nor blaze to sit before.
15 Such have they become to thee with whom thou hast wearied thyself,—Thy merchants—from thy youth will every man stagger straight onwards—There is none to save thee.
48 Hear ye this—O house of Jacob, Ye who call yourselves by the name of Israel, Yea from the waters of Judah came they forth,—Who swear by the name of Yahweh And by the God of Israel call to remembrance—Not in truth nor in righteousness;
2 For of the holy city do they call themselves, And on the God of Israel do they stay themselves,—Yahweh of hosts is his name.
3 Things in advance of old I declared, Yea out of mine own mouth came they forth that I might let them be known,—Suddenly I wrought and they came to pass.
4 Because I knew that—Obstinate thou wast,—And a sinew of iron was thy neck, And thy brow brazen
5 Therefore told I thee—in time past, Ere yet it came I let thee hear,—Lest thou shouldest say—Mine idol wrought them, Yea my carved image and my molten image commanded them!
6 Thou hast heard—see it whole And will ye not tell? I have let thee hear new things—from the present time, Even secrets which ye knew not.
7 Now are they created and not in time past, And before to-day thou hadst not heard of them,—Lest thou shouldest say, Lo! I knew them!
8 Nay! thou hadst not heard, Nay! thou hadst not known, Nay! in time past thine ear was not opened,—For I knew that thou wouldst be treacherous, Yea a transgressor from birth hast thou been called.
9 For the sake of mine own Name will I defer mine anger, And for my praise will I restrain myself towards thee,—So as not to cut thee off.
10 Lo! I have refined thee but not as silver,—I have tested thee in a smelting-pot of affliction.
11 For mine own sake—for mine own sake will I effectually work, For how should it be profaned? And my glory—to another will I not give.
12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob, And Israel, my called one,—I am the Same, I the first, yea I the last:
13 Surely mine own hand founded the earth, And my right hand stretched out the heavens,—While I was calling unto them they stood forth at once
14 Assemble yourselves—all of you, and hear, Who among them hath told these things? He whom Yahweh loveth will execute—His pleasure on Babylon, And his stroke on the Chaldeans.
15 I—I have spoken, Yea I have called him,—I have brought him in and he shall make prosperous his way.
16 Draw ye near unto me—hear ye this, Not in advance in secret have I spoken, From the very time it cometh into being there am I,—And now My Lord Yahweh hath sent me and his spirit.
17 Thus saith Yahweh—Thy Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel,—I—Yahweh am thy God, Teaching thee to profit, Guiding thee in the way thou shouldest go.
18 Oh! that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments,—Then had been like a river thy prosperity, And thy righteousness like the waves of the sea:
19 Then had been like the sand thy seed, And the offspring of thy body like the grains thereof,—Neither cut off nor destroyed had been his name from before me.
20 Come ye forth out of Babylon, Flee from among the Chaldeans, With triumphant voice tell ye—let this be heard, Let it go forth as far as the end of the earth,—Say ye—Yahweh hath redeemed his servant Jacob!
21 And they thirsted not when through dry places he led them, Waters out of the rock caused he to flow out to them,—Yea be cleft a rock and there gushed out waters.
22 No well-being, saith Yahweh, to the lawless.
49 Hearken, ye Coastlands, unto me, And give ear, ye peoples afar off,—Yahweh called me from my birth, From my nativity made he mention of my name;
2 And he made my mouth like a sharp sword, In the shadow of his hand he concealed me,—And made of me a polished arrow, In his quiver he hid me;
3 And said to me My Servant thou art,—Israel in whom I will get myself glory.
4 But I said, To no purpose have I toiled, For waste and mist—my vigour have I spent,—Surely my vindication is with Yahweh, And my recompence with my God.
5 Now therefore said Yahweh—Fashioning me from birth To be Servant to him, To restore Jacob unto him, And that Israel unto him might be gathered And I be honourable in the eyes of Yahweh, And my God be proved to have been my strength
6 Yea he said—It is too small a thing for being my Servant That thou shouldest raise up the tribes of Jacob, And the preserved of Israel shouldst restore,—So I will give thee to become a light of nations, That my salvation may reach as far as the end of the earth.
7 Thus saith Yahweh—the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, To him that is despised of the soul, To the abhorred of the nation, To the servant of rulers Kings shall see and arise, Princes lo! they have bowed themselves down,—Because of Yahweh who is faithful, The Holy One of Israel lo! he hath chosen thee.
8 Thus saith Yahweh—In a time of acceptance have I answered thee, In a day of salvation have I helped thee,—That I may preserve thee And give thee as the covenant of a people, To establish the land, To bring into possession the desolate heritages;
9 Saying To them who are bound, Go forth, To them who are in darkness, Shew yourselves,—By the roads shall they graze, And on all bare places shall be their pasture:
10 They shall neither hunger nor thirst, Nor shall smite them the glowing sand or the glaring sun,—For he that hath compassion upon them will lead them, And unto springs of water will he conduct them.
11 Then will I make of all my mountains a road, And my highways shall be upraised.
12 Lo! these from afar shall come in,—And lo! these from the North and from the West, And these from the land of Sinim.
13 Shout in triumph—O heavens! And exult—O earth! And break forth, ye mountains, into shouts of triumph,—For Yahweh hath comforted his people, And on his humbled ones taketh he compassion.
14 But Zion had said, Yahweh hath forsaken me,—Even My Lord hath forgotten me!
15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, Past taking compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, Yet will I not forget thee:
16 Lo! on the palms of my hands have I portrayed thee,—Thy walls are before me continually.
17 In haste are thy sons,—They who have been tearing thee down and laying thee waste out of thee let them go forth!
18 Lift up round about thine eyes and see, All those have gathered themselves together—have come to thee! As I live Declareth Yahweh,—Surely all those—as an ornament shalt thou put on, And bind them about thee for a girdle as a bride.
19 Surely as for thy wastes and thy desolations, and thy land of ruins Surely now shalt thou be too strait for thine inhabitants, And far off shall be they who have been swallowing thee up.
20 The children of whom thou wast bereaved shall yet say in thine ears,—Too strait for me is the place, Make room for me that I may settle down.
21 Then shalt thou say in thy heart,—Who hath borne me these, Seeing I have been bereaved and unfruitful, a captive and banished? These therefore, who hath brought them up? Lo! I was left alone, These where were they?
22 Thus saith My Lord Yahweh—Lo! I will lift up unto nations my hand, Yea unto peoples will I raise high my banner,—And they shall bring in thy sons in their bosom, And thy daughters on the shoulder shall be borne;
23 And kings shall be thy foster-fathers And their queens thy nursing mothers, With face to the ground shall they bow down to thee, The dust of thy feet shall they lick,—So shalt thou know that I am Yahweh, In that they shall not be put to shame Who were waiting for me.
24 Shall prey be taken from a mighty one? Or the captive of one in the right be delivered?
25 Surely thus saith Yahweh—Even the captive of the mighty one shall be taken away, And the prey of the tyrant be delivered; And thine opposers I will oppose, And thy children I will save;
26 Then will I feed thy tormentors with their own flesh, And as with new wine—with their own blood shall they be drunk,—So shall all flesh know that I—Yahweh am thy Saviour, And thy Redeemer is the Mighty One of Jacob.
50 Thus saith Yahweh—Where then is the scroll of your mother’s divorce whom I have put away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Lo! for your iniquities have ye been sold, And for your transgressions hath your mother been put away.
2 Wherefore When I came in was there no one? When I called was there none to answer? Is mine own hand really shortened that it cannot redeem? Or is there not in me strength to deliver? Lo! by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make rivers a desert, Their fish Stinketh for want of water, Yea dieth for thirst:
3 I clothe the heavens with gloom, And of sackcloth make I their covering.
4 My Lord Yahweh hath given unto me the tongue of the instructed, That I should know how to succour the fainting with discourse,—He kept wakening—morning by morning, He kept wakening mine ear, to hearken as do the instructed;
5 My Lord Yahweh opened mine ear, And I was not rebellious,—Away turned I not:
6 My back gave I to smiters, and My cheeks to them who pulled out the beard,—My face hid I not from insult and spitting.
7 Because My Lord Yahweh would help me Therefore was I not deterred by insult,—Therefore did I set my face like flint, And I knew that I should not be put to shame.
8 At hand is one who can justify me, Who will contend with me? let us stand forth together,—Who can accuse me? let him draw near to me!
9 Lo! My Lord Yahweh will help me, Who is he that shall prove me lawless? Lo! they all as a garment shall fall to pieces, The moth shall consume them.
10 Who among you revereth Yahweh, Hearkening unto the voice of his Servant,—That hath walked in dark places And hath had no gleam of light? Let him trust in the name of Yahweh, And lean upon his God.
11 Lo! all ye that kindle a fire, That gird yourselves with fiery darts,—Walk ye in the blaze of your own fire And in the fiery darts ye have kindled, At my hand hath this befallen you, In sorrow shall ye lie down.
51 Hearken unto me, Ye that pursue righteousness, Ye that seek Yahweh,—Look well unto the rock whence ye were hewn, And unto the quarry whence ye were digged:
2 Look well unto Abraham your father, And unto Sarah who gave you birth,—For he was alone when called I him, And I blessed him that I might make him many.
3 For Yahweh hath comforted Zion, He hath comforted all her waste places, And hath made her wilderness like Eden, And her waste plain like the garden of Yahweh,—Joy and gladness shall be found in her, Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
4 Attend unto me, O my people, And O my nation unto me give ear,—For instruction from me shall go forth, And my justice—for a light of peoples will I establish:
5 At hand is my righteousness, Gone forth hath my salvation, And mine own arms unto the peoples shall give justice,—Upon me Coastlands shall wait, And for mine arm shall they hope.
6 Lift up—to the heavens—your eyes And look around to the earth beneath, Though the heavens like smoke should have vanished And the earth like a garment should fall to pieces, And her inhabitants in like manner should die, Yet my salvation unto times age-abiding shall continue, And my righteousness shall not be broken down.
7 Hearken unto me, ye who discern righteousness, The people in whose heart is my law,—Do not fear the reproach of frail men, Nor at their revilings be dismayed;
8 For like a garment shall they be eaten of the moth, And like wool shall they be eaten of the larva; But my righteousness unto times age-abiding shall continue, And my salvation unto the remotest generation.
9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Yahweh, Awake As in days of old, The generations of bygone ages: Art not thou that which—Hewed down Rahab, Piercing the Crocodile?
10 Art not thou that which dried up—The Sea, The waters of the mighty Deep,—That which made of the abysses of the sea a road for the passing over of the redeemed?
11 Therefore the ransomed of Yahweh shall again come unto Zion with shouts of triumph, With gladness age-abiding on their head,—Joy and gladness shall overtake [them], Sorrow and sighing have fled away.
12 I—I am he that comforteth you,—Who art thou that thou hast feared Frail man that dieth, and A son of the earthborn who as grass shall be delivered up?
13 That thou hast forgotten Yahweh thy maker Who stretched out the heavens And founded the earth? That thou hast dreaded continually all the day by reason of the fury of the oppressor, in that he was ready to destroy? Where then is the fury of the oppressor?
14 The captive hath hastened to be loosed,—That he might not die in the pit Neither should his bread be cut off.
15 But I—Yahweh am thy God, Who threw into commotion the sea And the waves thereof roared,—Yahweh of hosts is his name.
16 Therefore have I put my words in thy mouth, And with the shadow of my hand have I covered thee,—To plant the heavens and To lay the foundations of the earth, and To say unto Zion, My people thou art!
17 Rouse thee—rouse thee, stand up, O Jerusalem, Who hast drunk at the hand of Yahweh his cup of indignation: The goblet-cup of confusion hast thou drunk—hast thou drained.
18 There is none to guide her, Among all the sons she hath borne,—There is none to grasp her hand, Among all the sons she hath brought up.
19 Twain are the things befalling thee, Who will lament for thee? Wasting and destruction and famine and sword, By whom shall I comfort thee?
20 Thy sons have fainted, They lie at the head of all the streets like a gazelle in a net,—Who indeed are full of The indignation of Yahweh, The rebuke of thy God.
21 Therefore hear, I pray thee, this, thou humbled one,—And drunken but not with wine:—
22 Thus saith Thy Lord Yahweh, Even thy God who pleadeth the cause of his people:—Lo! I have taken out of thy hand the cup of confusion,—As for the goblet-cup of mine indignation Thou shalt not again drink it any more;
23 But I will put it into the hand of thy tormentors, Who said to thy soul, Bow down that we may pass over,—And so thou didst place as the ground thy back, Yea as the street to such as were passing along.
52 Awake, awake, Put on thy strength, O Zion,—Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem—thou holy city, For there shall not again come into thee any more the uncircumcised and unclean.
2 Shake thyself from the dust, arise—sit down, O Jerusalem,—Loose thyself from the bonds of thy neck, O captive! daughter of Zion!
3 For thus saith Yahweh, For nought ye sold yourselves,—And not with silver shall ye be redeemed.
4 For thus saith My Lord Yahweh, To Egypt went down my people at first to sojourn there,—But Assyria without cause hath oppressed him.
5 Now therefore what do I here? Demandeth Yahweh. That my people have been taken away for nought? They who rule them do howl, Declareth Yahweh, And continually—all the day is my Name brought into contempt.
6 Therefore shall my people acknowledge my Name: Therefore in that day shall they acknowledge that I am the same, even I who am speaking,—Here I am
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet—Of him That bringeth good tidings, That publisheth peace, That bringeth good tidings of blessing, That publisheth salvation,—That saith unto Zion, Thy God hath become king.
8 The voice of thy watchmen! They have uplifted a voice, Together do they renew the shout of triumph,—For eye to eye shall they see, When Yahweh returneth to Zion.
9 Break forth, shout in triumph together, ye waste places of Jerusalem,—For Yahweh Hath comforted his people, Hath redeemed Jerusalem:
10 Yahweh hath bared his holy arm, in the eyes of all the nations, So shall all the ends of the earth see the salvation of our God.
11 Away! away! come forth from thence!—Nought unclean may ye touch,—Come forth out of her midst, Purify yourselves, ye who are to carry the vessels of Yahweh;
12 For not in haste shall ye come forth, Nor by flight shall ye journey,—For your van-guard is Yahweh, And your rear-guard the God of Israel.
13 Lo! my Servant prospereth,—He riseth and is lifted up and becometh very high:
14 The more that Many were amazed at thee So marred beyond any man’s was his appearance,—And his form beyond the sons of men
15 The more doth he startle Many nations, Before him have kings closed their mouth,—For that which had not been related to them have they seen, And that which they had not heard have they diligently considered.
53 Who believed what we have heard? And the arm of Yahweh to whom was it revealed?
2 When he came up as a sapling before him And as a root-sprout out of dry ground He had neither beauty nor majesty,—When we beheld him there was nothing to behold that we should desire him;
3 Despised was he and forsaken of men, Man of pains and familiar with sickness,—Yea like one from whom the face is hidden Despised and we esteemed him not.
4 Yet surely our sicknesses he carried, And as for our pains he bare the burden of them,—But we accounted him stricken, Smitten of God and humbled.
5 Yet he was pierced for transgressions that were ours, was crushed for iniquities that were ours,—The chastisement for our well-being was upon him, And by his stripes there is healing for us.
6 We all like sheep had gone astray, Every man—to his way had we turned,—And Yahweh caused to light upon him The guilt of us all.
7 Hard pressed—yet he humbled himself Nor opened his mouth—As a lamb to the slaughter is led, And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb—Nor opened his mouth.
8 By constraint and by sentence was he taken away, And of his age who considered That he was cut off out of the land of the living, For my people’s transgression did the stroke fall on him?
9 And appointed with lawless men was his grave, And with the wicked his tomb,—Though no violence had he done, Nor was guile in his mouth.
10 Yet Yahweh purposed to bruise him, He laid on him sickness:—If his soul become an offering for guilt He shall see a seed, He shall prolong his days,—And the purpose of Yahweh in his hand shall prosper:
11 Of the travail of his soul shall he see, He shall be satisfied with his knowledge, A setting right when set right himself shall my Servant win for the Many, Since of their iniquities he taketh the burden.
12 Therefore will I give him a portion in the great And the strong shall he apportion as spoil, Because he poured out to death his own soul, And with transgressors let himself be numbered,—Yea he the sin of Many bare, And for transgressors interposeth.
54 Shout in triumph, O barren one, Who hadst not borne,—Break forth into shouts of triumph—and trill thy voice, Who hadst not travailed in birth, For more are the children of the Desolate Than the children of Her who had the husband, Saith Yahweh.
2 Enlarge the space of thy tent And the curtains of thy habitations let them spread forth, do not spare,—Lengthen thy cords, And thy tent-pins make thou fast;
3 For on the right hand and on the left shalt thou break forth,—And thy seed shall of the nations take possession, And forsaken cities shall they cause to be inhabited.
4 Do not fear for thou shalt not turn pale, Neither feel disgraced for thou shalt not be put to the blush,—For the shame of thy youth shalt thou forget, And the reproach of thy widowhood shalt thou remember no more;
5 For thy husband is thy Maker, Yahweh of hosts is his Name,—And thy redeemer the Holy One of Israel, The God of all the earth shall he be called.
6 For like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit hath Yahweh called thee,—Even the wife of youthful days in that thou wast rejected, Saith thy God.
7 For a small moment I forsook thee,—But with abounding compassions do I embrace thee:
8 In an overflow of vexation I hid my face for a moment from thee, But with lovingkindness age-abiding have I had compassion on thee,—Saith thy Redeemer, Yahweh.
9 For the waters of Noah is this unto me,—As to which I sware that the waters of Noah should not again pass over the earth So have I sworn Not to be vexed with thee Nor to rebuke thee.
10 For the mountains may move away, And the hills may be shaken,—But my lovingkindness from thee shall not move away, And my covenant of peace shall not be shaken, Saith he who hath compassion upon thee—Yahweh.
11 O thou humbled one, storm-tossed, uncomforted,—Lo! I am about to set in antimony thy stones, And will found thee in sapphires;
12 And make rubies thy battlements, And thy gates sparkling stones,—And all thy boundaries stones of delight;
13 And all thy children shall be the instructed of Yahweh,—And great shall be the prosperity of thy children.
14 In righteousness shalt thou be established,—Be thou far from oppression—But indeed thou shalt not fear, And from crushing calamity—But indeed it shall not come nigh unto thee.
15 Lo! they would quarrel with thee—not at all from me,—Whoso hath quarrelled with thee over thee shall fall.
16 Lo! I have created the smith, who bloweth up a fire of coals, And who bringeth forth an instrument for his work,—And I have created the waster to destroy:
17 No instrument formed against thee shall prosper, And every tongue that riseth against thee in judgment shalt thou prove to be lawless,—This is the inheritance of the servants of Yahweh And their righteousness is from me, Declareth Yahweh.
55 Ho! every one that thirsteth! Come ye to the waters, Yea he that hath no money,—Come ye—buy corn and eat, Yea come—buy corn without money, And without price wine and milk.
2 Wherefore should ye spend Money for that which is not bread? Or your labour for that which satisfieth not? Keep on hearkening unto me And so eat that which is good, And let your soul take exquisite delight in fatness:
3 Incline your ear and come unto me, Hearken, That your soul may live,—That I may solemnise for you a covenant age-abiding, The Lovingkindness to David well-assured.
4 Lo! As a witness to the peoples have I given him,—As a leader and commander to the peoples:
5 Lo! A nation thou shalt not know shalt thou call, And a nation which hath not known thee unto thee shall run,—For the sake of Yahweh thy God, And for the Holy One of Israel because he hath adorned thee.
6 Seek Yahweh while he may be found,—Call ye upon him while he is near:
7 Let the lawless forsake his way, And the man of iniquity his thoughts,—And let him return unto Yahweh, That he may have compassion upon him, And unto our God For he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor your ways my ways,—Declareth Yahweh.
9 For higher are the heavens than the earth,—So higher are My ways than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain and the snow descend from the heavens And thither do not return, Except they have watered the earth And caused it to bring forth and bud,—And given seed to the sower, and bread to the eater
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, It shall not return unto me void,—But shall accomplish that which I please, And shall prosper in that whereunto I have sent it.
12 For with gladness shall ye come forth, And in peace shall ye be led,—The mountains and the hills shall break out before you into shouts of triumph, And all the wild trees shall clap their hands:
13 Instead of the thorn-bush shall come up the fir-tree, And instead of the nettle shall come up the myrtle-tree,—So shall it become unto Yahweh a Name, A Sign age-abiding which shall not be cut off.
56 Thus saith Yahweh, Observe ye justice And execute righteousness,—For near is My salvation to come in, and My righteousness to be revealed.
2 How happy the frail man who doeth this! Yea the son of the earth-born who firmly graspeth it! Keeping the sabbath lest he profane it, and Keeping his own hand from doing any wrong.
3 And let not the son of the foreigner who hath joined himself unto Yahweh speak saying, Yahweh will separate me from his people! Neither let the eunuch say, Lo! I am a tree dried up!
4 For thus saith Yahweh—Of the eunuchs Who shall keep my sabbaths, And choose what I delight in,—And lay firm hold on my covenant
5 That I will give unto them—In my house, And within my walls A sign and a name, better than sons and daughters,—A name age-abiding will I give him which shall not be cut off.
6 And as for the sons of the foreigner—Who have joined themselves unto Yahweh To wait upon him, and To love the name of Yahweh, To become his for servants,—Every one who keepeth the sabbath lest he profane it, And who layeth firm hold on my covenant
7 Surely I will bring them into my holy mountain And make them joyful in my house of prayer, Their ascending-offerings and their sacrifices being accepted upon mine altar,—For my house a house of prayer shall be called for all the peoples!
8 Declareth My Lord Yahweh, Who is gathering the outcasts of Israel:—Yet others will I gather unto him Besides his own gathered ones.
9 All ye beasts of the field! come ye to devour, All ye beasts in the forest.
10 His watchmen are blind, None of them know, All of them are dumb dogs, they cannot bark,—Dreaming, sleeping, loving to slumber.
11 And the dogs are greedy, they know not to be satisfied, Yea they are shepherds who know not to discern,—All of them unto their own way have turned, Every man to his unjust gain on every hand:
12 Come ye! I will fetch wine, Let us fill ourselves with strong drink,—And like this day shall to-morrow be—Great beyond measure!
57 The righteous one hath perished, And not a man hath taken it to heart,—Yea the men of lovingkindness have been withdrawn, No one considering, That from the presence of calamity hath the righteous been withdrawn.
2 He entereth into peace, Let them rest upon their couches,—Each one who went on a straight path.
3 But ye . . . draw near hither, Ye sons of divination,—Ye seed of an adulterer, when [your mother] committed unchastity!
4 Against whom would ye disport yourselves? Against whom would ye widen the mouth and lengthen the tongue,—Are not ye Children of transgression, A Seed of falsehood.
5 Who inflame yourselves With the terebinths Under every green tree,—Slaying the children In the torrent-valleys, Under the clefts of the crags:
6 Among the smooth stones of the torrent-valley is thy portion, They they are thy lot; Even to them hast thou Poured out a drink-offering, Caused to ascend a gift. Over these things can I cease to grieve?
7 On a mountain high and uplifted hast thou set thy couch,—Even thither hast thou gone up to offer sacrifice;
8 And behind the door and the post hast thou set thy symbol, For with another than me hast thou uncovered thyself and gone up—Hast widened thy couch, And hast solemnised for thyself a covenant from them, Thou hast loved their couch, a sign hast thou seen;
9 And hast gone to the king with oil, And hast multiplied thy perfumes,—And hast sent thy messengers afar, And . . . lowered thyself as far as hades!
10 With the length of thy journey thou wast wearied, Thou didst not say, Hopeless! The reviving of thy power thou didst find, For this cause hast thou not become sick.
11 Whom then hadst thou been anxious about and feared that thou shouldest speak falsely, When me thou rememberedst not, caredst not for me? Did not I keep silence even from age-past times, Although me thou wouldest not fear?
12 I will expose thy righteousness,—And thy works—but they will not profit thee!
13 When thou makest outcry let thy gathered throngs deliver thee! But all of them shall A wind catch up—A breath take away! Whereas he that seeketh refuge in me Shall inherit the land, And possess my holy mountain.
14 And one said—Cast ye up—cast ye up, prepare ye a way,—Lift the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.
15 For thus saith he that is high and lifted up—Inhabiting futurity And holy is his name: A high and holy place will I inhabit, Also with the crushed and lowly in spirit, To revive the spirit of the lowly, and To revive the heart of them who are crushed;—
16 For not age-abidingly will I contend, Nor perpetually will I be wroth,—For spirit before me would faint, Even the breathing souls which I had made.
17 Because of his iniquitous gain was I wroth—and smote him Hiding myself that I might be wroth,—But he went on turning aside in the way of his own heart.
18 His ways have I beheld, That I might heal him,—And guide him And restore consolations to him and to his mourners:
19 Creating the fruit of the lips—Prosperity! Prosperity! For him that is far off and for him that is near, Saith Yahweh, So should I heal him.
20 But the lawless are like the sea when tossed,—For rest it cannot! But its waters toss out mire and dirt.
21 No well-being, saith my God, to the lawless!
58 Cry aloud, do not spare, Like a horn lift high thy voice,—And declare To my people their transgression, and To the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet me—day by day do they seek, And in the knowledge of my ways they delight,—Like a nation that had done righteousness, And the justice of their God had not forsaken They ask of me the just regulations, In approaching God they delight.
3 Wherefore have we Fasted and thou hast not seen? Humbled our soul and thou wouldst take no note? Lo! in the day of your fast ye take pleasure, But all your toilers ye drive on!
4 Lo! for strife and contention ye fast, And to smite with the fist of lawlessness,—Ye shall not fast as to-day, To cause to be heard on high your voice!
5 Like this shall the fast be that I choose, A day for the son of earth to humble his soul? Is it to bow down as a rush his head, And sackcloth and ashes to spread out? Is it this thou wilt call a fast, Or a day of acceptance with Yahweh?
6 Is not this the fast that I must ever choose—To unbind the tight cords of lawlessness, To unloose the bands of the yoke,—and To let the crushed go free, and That every yoke ye tear off?
7 Is it not to break unto the hungry thy bread, And the thrust-out oppressed that thou bring into a home,—When thou seest one naked that thou cover him, And from thine own flesh shalt not hide thyself?
8 Then shall break forth as the dawn thy light, And thy new flesh shall speedily grow,—Then shall go before thee thy righteousness, The glory of Yahweh shall bring up thy rear:
9 Then shalt thou Call and Yahweh will answer, Cry out and he will say, Behold me! If thou remove out of thy midst The yoke, The pointing of the finger and The speaking of iniquity;
10 And shalt let thine own soul go out to the hungry, And the soul of the oppressed thou shalt satisfy Then shall break forth in darkness thy light, And thy thick darkness [become] as the splendour of noon;
11 Then will Yahweh guide thee continually, And will satisfy [even] in scorched regions thine own soul, Yea thy very bones will he invigorate,—So shall thou become like a garden well-watered, And like a spring of water whose waters do not deceive;
12 And they who come of thee shall build the wastes of age-past times, And as for the foundations of generation after generation thou shalt rear them up,—So shalt thou be called—A Repairer of broken walls, A Restorer of paths leading home.
13 If thou turn back From the sabbath thy foot, From doing thine own pleasure on my holy day,—And shall call—The sabbath An exquisite delight, The holy [day] of Yahweh A day to be honoured, And so shalt honour it rather—Than do thine own ways, Than take thine own pleasure or Than speak [thine own] word
14 Then shalt thou rest thine own exquisite delight upon Yahweh, . . . And I will cause thee to ride over the high places of the land,—And will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father, For the mouth of Yahweh hath spoken.
59 Lo! the hand of Yahweh is not too short to save,—Neither is his ear too heavy to hear.
2 But your iniquities have become separators betwixt you and your God, And your sins have caused a hiding of face from you that he should not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity,—Your lips have spoken falsehood, and Your tongue muttereth perversity.
4 None sueth in righteousness, and None pleadeth in faithfulness,—Men are trusting in confusion And speaking vanity, Conceiving wickedness And bringing forth iniquity:
5 Viper’s eggs do they hatch, Spider’s threads do they weave,—He that eateth of their eggs dieth, And that which is crushed bringeth forth an adder;
6 Their threads shall not become a garment, Neither shall they cover themselves with their fabrics,—Their fabrics are fabrics of iniquity, Yea the product of violence is in their hands;
7 Their feet to mischief do run, And they speed to shed innocent blood,—Their devices are devices of iniquity, Wasting and destruction are in their high roads;
8 The way of well-being have they not known, And there is no justice in their tracks,—Their paths have they made crooked for themselves, None who treadeth therein knoweth well-being.
9 For this cause hath justice removed far from us, And righteousness overtaketh us not,—We wait for light But lo! darkness, For brightness, In thick darkness we walk:
10 We grope as blind men for a wall, Yea as men without eyes do we grope,—We have stumbled at broad noon as though it were twilight, In desolate places like the dead!
11 We growl like bears all of us, And like doves do we mournfully coo,—We wait For justice and there is none, For salvation it is far from us!
12 For our transgressions have multiplied before thee, And our sins have witnessed against us,—For our transgressions are with us, And as for our iniquities we acknowledge them:
13 Transgressing and denying Yahweh, And turning away from following our God,—Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and muttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 So then there hath been a driving back of justice, And righteousness afar off standeth,—For truth hath stumbled in the broad-way, And right cannot enter;
15 And the truth hath been found missing, And he that hath turned away from wrong is liable to be despoiled. And when Yahweh looked Then was it grievous in his eyes that there was no justice:
16 When he saw that there was no mighty man Then was he astonished that there was none to interpose,—So his own arm brought him salvation, And his own righteousness the same upheld him;
17 And he put on Righteousness as a coat of mail, And a helmet of victory upon his head,—And he put on the garments of avenging for clothing, And wrapped about him as a cloak—jealousy!
18 According to their deeds accordingly will he repay, Indignation to his adversaries, Recompense to his enemies,—To the Coastlands—recompense will he repay:
19 That they may revere—From the West the name of Yahweh, And from the Rising of the Sun his glory. For he will come in like a rushing stream, The breath of Yahweh driving it on;
20 So shall come in for Zion a Redeemer, Even for such as are turning from transgression in Jacob,—Declareth Yahweh.
21 And as for me this shall be my covenant with them, Saith Yahweh: My spirit that is upon thee, And my words which I have put in thy mouth,—Shall not be taken out of thy mouth—Nor out of the mouth of thy seed Nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, Saith Yahweh, From henceforth even unto times age-abiding.
60 Arise—shine For thy light hath come,—And the glory of Yahweh on thee hath beamed;
2 For lo! darkness covereth the earth, And deep gloom the peoples,—But on thee beameth Yahweh, And his glory on thee is seen.
3 So shall nations come to thy light, And kings to the brightness of thy dawning.
4 Lift up—round about—thine eyes and see, They all have gathered themselves together—have come to thee,—Thy sons from afar shall come, And thy daughters on the side shall be carried.
5 Then shalt thou see and be radiant, And thy heart shall throb and be enlarged,—For there shall be turned upon thee the fulness of the sea, The riches of the nations shall come unto thee;
6 The multitude of camels shall cover thee, The young camels of Midian and Ephah, All they of Sheba shall come,—Gold and frankincense shall they bring, And the praises of Yahweh shall they joyfully tell:
7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered unto thee, The rams of Nebaioth shall wait upon thee,—They shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, And my beautiful house will I adorn.
8 Who are these that As a cloud do fly? and As doves to their cotes?
9 Surely for me shall Coastlands wait And the ships of Tarshish first, To bring in thy sons from far, Their silver and their gold with them,—Unto the name of Yahweh thy God, And unto the Holy One of Israel Because he hath adorned thee.
10 So shall the sons of the foreigner build thy walls, And their kings shall wait upon thee,—For in my vexation I smote thee, But in my favour have I had compassion upon thee.
11 So shall thy gates be open—continually, Neither day nor night shall they be shut,—That they may bring unto thee the riches of the nations, And their kings be led.
12 For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish,—Yea the nations shall be utterly wasted.
13 The glory of Lebanon unto thee shall come, The fir-tree, the holm-oak and the sherbin-cedar together. To adorn the place of my sanctuary, And the place of my feet will I make glorious.
14 Then shall come unto thee bending low The sons of them who had humbled thee, Then shall bow down unto the soles of thy feet All they who had despised thee; And they shall call thee—The city of Yahweh, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 Instead of thy being forsaken and hated so that none used to pass through thee I will make of thee—An excellency age-abiding, The joy of generation after generation.
16 And thou shalt derive sweet nourishment from the nations, Yea on the bounty of kings shalt thou be sustained,—So shalt thou know—That I Yahweh am thy Saviour, and That thy Redeemer is the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead of bronze I will bring in gold and Instead of iron I will bring in silver, and Instead of wood bronze, and Instead of stones iron,—And I will appoint the oversight of thee to Prosperity, And the setting of thy tasks to Righteousness.
18 Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, Wasting nor destruction within thy boundaries,—But thou shalt call Thy walls Victory, and Thy gates Praise.
19 Thou shalt no more have the sun for light by day, Neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee,—But Yahweh shall become thine age-abiding light, And thy God thine adorning:
20 No more shall go in thy sun, Nor thy moon withdraw itself,—For Yahweh will become to thee an age-abiding light, So shall be ended the days of thy mourning.
21 And thy people shall all of them be righteous, To times age-abiding shall they possess the land,—The sprout of mine own planting, The work of mine own hands,—That I may get myself glory.
22 The little one shall become a thousand, and The small one a mighty nation: I—Yahweh in its own season will hasten it.
61 The spirit of My Lord Yahweh is upon me,—Because Yahweh Hath anointed me to tell good tidings to the oppressed, Hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, To proclaim To captives liberty, To them who are bound the opening of the prison;
2 To proclaim—The year of acceptance of Yahweh, and The day of avenging of our God: To comfort all who are mourning;
3 To appoint unto the mourners of Zion—To give unto them A chaplet instead of ashes, The oil of joy instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of the spirit of dejection,—So shall they be called The oaks of righteousness, The plantation of Yahweh: That he may get himself glory.
4 Then shall they build the wastes of a bygone age, The desolations of former times shall they raise up,—And they shall build anew—The cities laid waste, The desolations of generation after generation.
5 Then shall strangers stay and feed your flocks,—And the sons of the foreigner shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But ye the priests of Yahweh shall be called, The attendants of our God shall ye be named,—The riches of the nations shall ye eat, And in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
7 Instead of your shame—double! and [Instead of] disgrace they shall shout in triumph over their portion,—Therefore in their own land shall they possess double, Joy age-abiding shall be theirs.
8 For I—Yahweh am a lover of justice, Hating plunder for an ascending-sacrifice,—Therefore will I give their reward with faithfulness, And an age-abiding covenant will I solemnise for them.
9 Then shall be known among the nations their seed, And their offspring in the midst of the peoples,—All who see them shall acknowledge them, That they are the seed that Yahweh hath blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh, My soul shall exult in my God, For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, With a robe of righteousness hath he enwrapt me,—As a bridegroom adorneth himself with a chaplet, And as a bride bedecketh herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, And as a garden causeth her seeds to shoot forth So My Lord Yahweh will cause to shoot forth Righteousness and praise before all the nations.
62 For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, And for Jerusalem’s sake will I not rest,—Until her righteousness go forth as brightness, And her salvation as a torch that is lighted.
2 So shall nations see thy righteousness, And all kings thy glory; And thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Yahweh will name.
3 Then shalt thou become—A crown of adorning in the hand of Yahweh, and A royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
4 Thou shalt be termed no longer—Forsaken Nor shall thy land be termed any longer A desolation, But thou shalt be called Hephzibah [“My delight is in her”], And thy land Beulah [“married”],—For Yahweh hath found delight in thee, And thy land shall be married.
5 For a young man marrieth a virgin, Thy sons marry thee! And the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride—Thy God rejoiceth over thee.
6 Upon thy walls O Jerusalem have I appointed watchmen, All the day and all the night through let them not hold their peace,—O ye that put Yahweh in mind, Do not take rest to yourselves,
7 Neither give rest unto him, Until he establish and until he set forth Jerusalem as a praise in the earth!
8 Sworn hath Yahweh—By his own right hand, and By his own strong arm,—Surely I will give thy corn no more as food to thine enemies, Nor shall the sons of the foreigner drink thy new wine, for which thou hast toiled;
9 But they who have garnered it shall eat it, and praise Yahweh,—And they who have gathered in its clusters shall drink it in my holy courts.
10 Pass ye through, pass ye through the gates, Prepare ye the way of the people,—Cast ye up, cast ye up the highway, Clear it of stones, Lift ye high a standard unto the peoples.
11 Lo! Yahweh hath sent a message unto the end of the earth: Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Lo! thy Salvation is coming,—Lo! his reward is with him, And his recompense before him.
12 So shall men call them—The holy people, The redeemed of Yahweh,—And thou shalt be called—Sought out, A city not forsaken.
63 Who is this coming in from Edom With bright-red garments from Bozrah? This made splendid in his raiment, Marching on in the greatness of his strength? I speaking in righteousness, Mighty to save.
2 Wherefore is there red on thy raiment,—And thy garments as of one treading in a wine-trough?
3 A winepress have I trodden alone And of the peoples there was no man with me. So I trod them down in mine anger, And trampled upon them in mine indignation,—And their life-blood besprinkled my garments, And all mine apparel I defiled;
4 For a day of avenging was in my heart, And the year of my redeemed had come.
5 Therefore looked I around and there was none to help,—And I was astonished that there was none to uphold,—So mine own arm brought me salvation, And mine indignation the same upheld me;
6 Then trod I down peoples in mine anger, And make them drunk with mine indignation, And brought down to the earth their life-blood.
7 The lovingkindness of Yahweh will I recall, The praises of Yahweh, According to all that Yahweh hath bestowed upon us,—Even the abundance of goodness to the house of Israel, Which he bestowed upon them—According to his compassions and According to the abundance of his lovingkindness.
8 Therefore he said—Surely my people they are, Sons they will not act falsely! So he became their saviour.
9 In all their affliction he was afflicted And the messenger of his presence saved them, In his love and in his pity he redeemed them,—And then lifted them up and carried them all the days of the age-past time.
10 But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit,—And so he turned against them as an enemy, He himself fought against them.
11 Then were recalled the days of the age-past time, Moses—his people:—Where is he that led them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he that put within him his Holy Spirit?
12 That caused to go at the right hand of Moses his own majestic arm,—Cleaving the waters from before them, To make himself an age-abiding name:
13 Causing them to go through the roaring deeps,—Like a horse through the wilderness, That they should not stumble?
14 As a beast into the valley goeth down, The Spirit of Yahweh causeth him to rest So didst thou lead thy people, To make thyself a majestic name!
15 Look thou down, out of the heavens, and see, Out of the high abode of thy holiness and of thy majesty,—Where are thy jealousy and thy mighty deeds? The resounding of thy yearning affection and thy compassions towards me are they restrained?
16 For thou art our father, Though Abraham knew us not, And Israel could not acknowledge us,—Thou O Yahweh art our father, Our Redeemer from the Age-past time is thy name.
17 Wherefore shouldst thou suffer us to wander, O Yahweh, from thy ways? [Wherefore] shouldst thou let us harden our heart past revering thee? Return thou for the sake of Thy servants, The tribes thou thyself hast inherited.
18 For a short time only did thy holy people hold possession,—Our adversaries trod down thy sanctuary!
19 We have become like those Over whom from age-past times thou hast not ruled, Who have never been called by thy name!
64 Would that thou hadst rent the heavens, hadst come down, At thy presence had mountains quaked:
2 As fire kindleth brushwood, [As] fire causeth water to boil [So] if thou wouldst make known thy Name to thine adversaries At thy presence nations would tremble.
3 When thou didst fearful things we could not expect Thou camest down, at thy presence mountains quaked.
4 Although from age-past times It was never heard, It was not perceived by the ear,—Neither did the eye ever see—That a god besides thee could work for the man who waited for him
5 Yet didst thou meet Him who was rejoicing and working righteousness, Even them who in thy ways remembered thee,—Lo! thou hast been vexed And truly we had sinned, Among them was [the prospect of] an age [to come], That we might be saved.
6 But we have become as one unclean all of us, And as a garment polluted were all our righteous doings,—And so we faded like a leaf all of us, And our iniquity as a wind carried us away;
7 And there was none To call upon thy Name, To rouse himself to lay firm hold on thee,—For thou hadst hidden thy face from us, And hadst made us despond by means of our iniquity.
8 But now O Yahweh our father thou art,—We are the clay, and thou art our potter, Yea the work of thy hand are we all:
9 Do not be indignant, O Yahweh, so very greatly, Neither perpetually do thou recall iniquity,—Lo! look around, we pray thee . . . thy people are we all.
10 Thy holy cities have become a wilderness,—Zion a wilderness hath become, Jerusalem a desolation!
11 Our holy and our beautiful house Where our fathers praised thee, Hath become a conflagration,—And all our delightful places are in ruins!
12 In view of these things wilt thou restrain thyself, O Yahweh? Wilt thou hold thy peace and humble us so very greatly?
65 I have let myself be consulted by them who had not asked, I have suffered myself to be found by them who had not sought me,—I have said Here I am! Here I am! Unto a nation that had not been called by my name.
2 I have spread out my hands all the day Unto a rebellious people,—Who walk In the way that is not good, After their own devices.
3 The people who are provoking me to anger to my face continually,—Sacrificing in gardens, and Burning incense upon bricks;
4 Who tarry among graves, And in the secret places do lodge,—Who eat the flesh of swine, And the broth of refuse things is in their vessels,—
5 Who say—Draw near by thyself, Do not approach with me For I am holier than thou! These are A smoke in my nostrils, A fire burning all the day.
6 Lo! it is written before me,—I will not keep silence, But I have recompensed, and will recompense into their bosom:
7 Your own iniquities And the iniquities of your fathers together, Saith Yahweh, Who have burned incense upon the mountains, And upon the hills have reproached me,—Therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.
8 Thus saith Yahweh—As new wine is found in the cluster, And one saith, Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it So will I do for the sake of my servants, That I may not destroy the whole [nation];
9 Therefore will I bring forth Out of Jacob a seed, and Out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains, That my chosen ones may inherit it, And my servants dwell there;
10 Then shall Sharon become a fold for flocks, And the vale of Achor for the lying down of herds,—For my people who have sought me.
11 But ye are they—Who forsake Yahweh, Who forget my holy mountain—Who prepare for Fortune a table and Who fill for Destiny mixed wine;
12 Therefore will I destine you to the sword, And ye all to the slaughter shall bow down. Because I called and ye answered not, I spake and ye hearkened not,—But did that which was wicked in mine eyes, And of that wherein I delighted not ye made choice
13 Therefore Thus saith My Lord Yahweh,—Lo! my servants shall eat but ye shall be famished, Lo! my servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty,—Lo! my servants shall rejoice but ye shall turn pale;
14 Lo! my servants shall shout in triumph for mirth of heart But ye shall make outcry for pain of heart, And for a breaking of spirit shall ye howl.
15 So shall ye leave your name for an oath, to my chosen ones,—So then My Lord Yahweh will slay thee,—And his servants will he call by another name:
16 So that he who blesseth himself in the earth Will bless himself in the God of faithfulness, And he who sweareth in the earth Will swear by the God of faithfulness,—Because the former troubles have been forgotten, and Because they are hid from mine eyes.
17 For behold me! Creating new heavens and a new earth,—And the former shall not be mentioned, neither shall they come up on the heart.
18 But joy ye and exult perpetually in what I am about to create,—For behold me! Creating Jerusalem an exultation and Her People a joy;
19 Therefore will I Exult in Jerusalem and Joy in my People,—And there shall be heard in her no more The sound of weeping or the sound of a cry:
20 There shall be thenceforward no more A suckling of a few days or an elder Who filleth not up his days,—But a youth a hundred years old may die, Yea a sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 Then shall they build houses and dwell in them,—And plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them;
22 They shall not build and another dwell, They shall not plant and another eat,—For as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, And the work of their own hands shall my chosen ones use to the full:
23 They shall not labour in vain, Nor have children for terror,—For the seed of the blessed ones of Yahweh shall they be, And their offspring with them.
24 And it shall come to pass—That before they call I will answer, And while yet they are speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed in unity, And the lion as an ox shall eat straw; But as for the serpent dust shall be his food: They shall not harm—Nor shall they destroy In all my holy mountain, Saith Yahweh.
66 Thus saith Yahweh, The heavens are my throne, and The earth is my footstool: Where then is the house which ye can build me? Or where is my place of rest?
2 For all these things hath mine own hand made, And all these things came into being,—Declareth Yahweh. But for this one will I look around, For him who is humbled and smitten in spirit, And so careth anxiously for my word.
3 He that slaughtereth an ox [is as one] who smiteth a man, He that sacrificeth a lamb [is as one] who beheadeth a dog, He that causeth a meal-offering to ascend [offereth it with] the blood of swine, He that maketh a memorial of frankincense [is as one] who blesseth iniquity: They indeed have chosen their own ways, And in their own abominations their soul hath found delight;
4 I also will choose the things that vex them And the things they dread will I bring upon them, Because—I called and there was none to answer, I spake and they hearkened not,—But did that which was wicked in mine eyes, And of that wherein I delighted not made choice.
5 Hear the word of Yahweh, ye who care anxiously for his word: Said your brethren Who hated you, Who thrust you out for my Name’s sake, Yahweh be glorified! Therefore shall he appear to your rejoicing, But they shall turn pale.
6 The sound of a tumult—out of the city, A sound out of the temple,—The sound of Yahweh rendering recompense to his foes.
7 Before she travaileth she hath brought forth,—Before her pains come to her she hath given birth to a man-child!
8 Who hath heard the like of this? Who hath seen the like of these things? Can a land be made to bring forth in one day? Or a nation be born at one time? As soon as she travaileth Zion hath also given birth to her children.
9 Could I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth? Saith Yahweh. Or I be causing to bring forth and then prevent? Saith thy God.
10 Rejoice ye with Jerusalem and exult over her, All ye who love her,—Joy with her right joyfully, All ye who used to mourn over her:
11 That ye may draw to satisfaction out of the fountain of her consolations,—That ye may drain out and get exquisite delight from the abundance of her glory.
12 For thus saith Yahweh,—Behold me! extending unto her like a river prosperity, And as a torrent o’erflowing the glory of the nations, That ye may draw it forth,—Upon the side shall ye be carried, and Upon the knees shall ye be caressed:
13 As one whom his mother consoleth So will I console you, And in Jerusalem shall ye be consoled.
14 As soon as ye have seen it your heart shall be joyful, And your bones like green herbage shall thrive,—So shall be known The hand of Yahweh with his servants, But indignation with his foes!
15 For lo! Yahweh with fire doth come, And like a storm-wind [are] his chariots,—To render with fury his anger, And his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire will Yahweh enter into judgment, And by his sword with all flesh,—And many shall be the slain of Yahweh.
17 They who hallow themselves and purify themselves for the gardens Behind a certain thing in the midst, Who eat the flesh of swine and the abomination and the mouse Together shall be cut off—Declareth Yahweh.
18 Because I . . . for their works and their devices doth it come! . . . Am about to gather together all nations and tongues,—So shall they come and see my glory.
19 Then will I set among them a sign, And will send of them such as have escaped unto the nations—Tarshish, Pul and Lud that draw the bow, Tubal and Javan,—The Coastlands that are afar off Who have not heard my fame Nor seen my glory, And they shall tell my glory throughout the nations.
20 Then shall they bring in all your brethren out of all the nations As a present unto Yahweh, Upon horses and in chariots and in palanquins and on mules and on dromedaries Unto my holy mountain—Jerusalem, Saith Yahweh,—Just as the sons of Israel bring in their present in a pure vessel into the house of Yahweh.
21 And of them also will I take for priests—for Levites, Saith Yahweh,
22 For as the new heavens and the new earth which I am about to make are to remain before me Declareth Yahweh. So shall remain your seed and your name.
23 And it shall come to pass, that From one new moon to another, and From one sabbath to another Shall all flesh come in to bow down before me, Saith Yahweh.
24 Then shall they go forth and look upon the dead bodies of the men who had been trespassing against me,—For their worm shall not die And their fire shall not be quenched; So shall they become an abhorrence to all flesh.