I.--_Some of the Consequences of
National Iniquity._--CHAP. XXIV. 1-12.
XXIV.--1. Behold Jehovah (is) pouring out the land and emptying it,
and He will turn down its face, and He will scatter its inhabitants.
2. And it shall be, as the people so the priest, as the servant so
his master, as the maid so her mistress, as the buyer so the seller,
as the lender so the borrower, as the creditor so the debtor. 3. The
land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled, for Jehovah speaks
this word. 4. The earth mourneth, fadeth; the world languisheth,
fadeth; the highest of the people of the earth languish. 5. And the
land has been profaned under its inhabitants, because they have
transgressed the laws, violated the statute, broken the everlasting
covenant. 6. Therefore a curse devoured the earth, and those dwelling
in it were reckoned guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth
burned, and there are few men left. 7. The new wine mourneth; the
vine languisheth; all the merry-hearted do sigh. 8. Still is the
mirth of drums; ceased is the noise of revellers; still is the mirth
of the harp. 9. With the song they shall not drink wine; bitter shall
strong drink be to them that drink it. 10. Broken down is the city of
confusion, shut up is every house so that it cannot be entered. 11. A
cry for wine in the streets--darkened is all joy--departed is the
gladness of the earth. 12. What is left in the city is desolation,
and into ruins is the gate beaten down.
II.--_The Songs of the Scattered Remnant._--VERS. 13-16.
13. For so shall it be in the midst of the earth among the nations,
like the beating of an olive-tree, like gleanings when the gathering
is done. 14. They shall raise their voice, they shall sing, for the
majesty of Jehovah they cry aloud from the sea. 15. Therefore in the
fires glorify Jehovah, in the islands of the sea the name of Jehovah
God of Israel. 16. From the wing of the earth we have heard songs,
praise to the righteous; and I said, Woe to me, woe to me, alas for
me! The deceivers deceive, with deceit the deceivers deceive.
III.--_Jehovah's Exaltation in Jerusalem._--VERS. 17-23.
17. Fear and pit and snare upon thee, O inhabitant of the land!
18. And it shall be that the (one) flying from the voice of the fear
shall fall into the pit, and the (one) coming up from the midst of
the pit shall be taken in the snare; for windows from on high are
opened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. 19. Behold,
broken is the earth; shattered, shattered is the earth; shaken,
shaken is the earth. 20. The earth reels, reels like a drunken man,
and is shaken like a hammock. And heavy upon her is her guilt, and
she shall fall and rise no more. 21. And it shall be in that day that
Jehovah shall visit upon the host of the high place, and upon the
kings of the earth upon the earth. 22. And they shall be gathered
with a gathering as prisoners in a pit, and shall be shut up in a
dungeon, and after many days they shall be visited. 23. And the moon
shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, for Jehovah of hosts is
King in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem and before His elders there is
glory.
IV.--_The destruction of Babylon and the
Deliverance of the Jews._--CHAP. XXV. 1-5.
XXV.--1. Jehovah my God (art) Thou; I will exalt Thee; I will praise
Thy name; for Thou hast done a wonder, counsels from afar off, truth,
certainty. 2. For Thou hast turned (it) from a city to a heap, a
fortified town to a ruin, a palace of strangers from (being) a city;
for ever it shall not be built. 3. Therefore a powerful people shall
honour Thee, a city of terrible nations shall fear Thee. 4. For Thou
hast been a stronghold to the weak, a stronghold to the poor, in his
distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the
blast of the terrible was like a storm against a wall. 5. As heat in
a drought, the noise of strangers wilt Thou bring down; (as) hast by
the shadow of a cloud, (so) shall the song of the tyrants be brought
low.
V.--_A promise of Favour to the Gentiles and the
People of God when united on Mount Zion._--VERS. 6-9.
6. And Jehovah of hosts will make, for all nations, in this mountain,
a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things,
full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. 7. And He will
destroy in this mountain the face of the veil, the veil upon all
people, and the web, the (one) woven over all the nations. 8. He has
swallowed up death for ever, and the Lord Jehovah wipes away tears
from off all faces, and the reproach of His people he will take away
from off all the earth, for Jehovah hath spoken (it). 9. And they
shall say in that day, Lo, this is our God! we have waited for Him,
and He will save us; this is Jehovah; we have waited for Him; let us
rejoice and be glad in His salvation.
VI.--_The Ruin of Moab._--VERS. 10-12.
10. For the hand of Jehovah shall rest upon this mountain, and Moab
shall be trodden down in his place as straw is trodden in the water
of the dunghill. 11. And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst
of it, as the swimmer spreadeth forth his hands to swim; and He shall
humble his pride, together with the devices of his hands. 12. And the
fortress of the high fort of thy walls He hath cast down, humbled,
brought to the ground, to the very dust.
VII.--_A Song of Praise and
Deliverance._--CHAP. XXVI. 1-19.
XXVI.--1. In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city; salvation will He place (as) walls and
breastwork. 2. Open ye the gates, and let the righteous nation enter,
keeping truth. 3. The mind stayed (on Thee) Thou wilt preserve in
peace, (in) peace, because in Thee (it is) confident. 4. Trust ye in
Jehovah for ever, for in Jah Jehovah is a rock of ages.
5. For He hath brought down the inhabitants of the high place, the
exalted city; He will lay it low. He will lay it low, to the very
ground; He will bring it to the very dust. 6. The foot shall trample
on it, the feet of the afflicted, the steps of the weak. 7. The way
for the righteous is straight; Thou most upright wilt level the path
of the righteous. 8. Also in the way of Thy judgments, O Jehovah, we
have waited for Thee; to Thy name and Thy remembrance (was our)
soul's desire. 9. (With) my soul have I desired Thee in the night;
yes (with) my spirit within me will I seek Thee early; for when Thy
judgments (come) to the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn
righteousness. 10. Let the wicked be favoured, he does not learn
righteousness; in the land of the right, he will do wrong, and will
not see the exaltation of Jehovah. 11. Jehovah, Thy hand is high,
they will not see; (yes) they will see (and be ashamed) Thy zeal for
Thy people; yea, the fire of Thine enemies shall devour them.
12. Jehovah, Thou will give us peace, for even all our works Thou
hast wrought for us. 13. Jehovah, our God, (other) lords beside Thee
have ruled us; (but henceforth) Thee, Thy name, only will we
celebrate. 14. Dead, they shall not live: ghosts, they shall not
rise: therefore Thou hast visited and destroyed them, and made all
memory to perish with respect to them. 15. Thou hast added to the
nation, O Jehovah, Thou hast added to the nation; Thou hast glorified
Thyself; Thou hast put far off all the ends of the land. 16. Jehovah,
in distress they visited Thee; they uttered a whisper: Thy
chastisement was on them.
17. As when a pregnant (woman) draws near to the birth, she writhes,
she cries out in her pangs, so have we been from Thy presence, O
Jehovah! 18. We were in travail, we were in pain, as it were we
brought forth wind. Deliverance we could not make the land, nor would
the inhabitants of the world fall. 19. Thy dead shall live, my
corpses shall arise: (awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust!) for
the dew of herbs is Thy dew, and (on) the earth (on) the dead, Thou
wilt cause it to fall.
VIII.--_The Time is not Yet._--VERS. 20, 21.
20. Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut thy doors after
thee, hide thyself for a little moment, till the wrath be past.
21. For behold, Jehovah (is) coming out of His place, to visit the
iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth upon him, and the earth shall
disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
IX.--_Israel's Chastisements and Jehovah's Judgments on
His enemies, with the glorious results thereof._--CHAP. XXVII.
1. In that day shall Jehovah visit with His sword, the hard, the
great, the strong (sword), upon leviathan the flying serpent, and
upon leviathan the coiled serpent, and shall slay the dragon which
(is) in the sea. 2. In that day, as a vineyard of wine, afflict her.
3. I Jehovah (am) keeping her; every moment I will water her; lest
any hurt her, night and day will I keep her. 4. It is not because I
am cruel or revengeful that I thus afflict My people, but because she
is a vineyard overrun with thorns or briers, on account of which I
must pass through her and burn them out of her [Or, I am (no longer)
angry with My people; O that their enemies, as thorns and briers,
would array themselves against Me, that I might rush upon them and
consume them.] 5. Or let him lay hold of My strength and make peace
with Me; peace let him make with Me.
6. (In) coming (days) shall Jacob take root, Israel shall bud and
blossom, and they shall fill the face of the earth with fruit.
7. Like the smiting of the smiter did He smite him, or like the
slaying of his slain was he slain?
8. In measure, by sending her away, Thou dost contend with her. He
removes (her) by His hard wind in the day of the east wind.
9. Therefore by this (affliction) shall Jacob's iniquity be purged
away, and this is all (its) fruit to take away his sin, (as will
appear) in his placing all the stones of the (idolatrous) altar like
limestones dashed in pieces (so that) groves and solar images shall
arise no more.
10. For a fenced city shall be desolate, a dwelling-place broken up
and forsaken like the wilderness. There shall the calf feed, and
there shall it lie and consume her branches. 11. When its boughs are
withered they shall be broken off, women coming and burning them;
because it is not a people of understanding, therefore its Creator
shall not pity it, and its Maker shall not have mercy on it.
12. And it shall be in that day, that Jehovah shall gather in His
fruit from the channel of the river to the stream of Egypt, and ye
shall be gathered one to another, O ye children of Israel! 13. And it
shall come to pass in that day, (that) a great trumpet shall be
blown, and they shall come that were wandering in the land of
Assyria, and those exiled in the land of Egypt, and shall bow down to
Jehovah, in the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.