6. Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Siloah that go
softly, and regardeth as a delight the alliance with Rezin and the
son of Remalyahu, 7. therefore, behold! the Lord of all bringeth up
upon them the waters of the river, the mighty and the great, the king
of Assyria, and all his military power: and he riseth over all his
channels, and goeth over all his banks, 8. and presses forward into
Judah, overflows and pours onward, till it reaches the neck, and the
spreadings out of its wings fill the breadth of thy land, Immanuel.
9. Exasperate yourselves, O nations, and go to pieces; and see it,
all who are far off in the earth! Gird yourselves, and go to pieces;
gird yourselves, and go to pieces! 10. Consult counsel, and it comes
to nought; speak the word, and it is not realised: for with us is God.
11. For Jehovah hath spoken thus to me, overpowering me with God's
hand, and instructing me not to walk in the way of this people,
saying, 12. Call ye not conspiracy all that this people calls
conspiracy; and what is feared by it, fear ye not, neither think ye
dreadful. 13. Jehovah of hosts, sanctify Him; and let Him be your
fear, and let Him be your terror. 14. So will He become a sanctuary,
but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence (vexation) to both the
houses of Israel, a snare and a trap to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15. And many among them shall stumble, and shall fall; and be dashed
to pieces, and be snared and taken.
16. Bind up the testimony, seal the lesson in my disciples. 17. And I
will wait upon Jehovah, who hides His face before the house of Jacob,
and hope for Him. 18. Behold, I and the children which God hath given
me for signs and types in Israel, from Jehovah of hosts, who dwelleth
upon mount Zion. 19. And when they shall say to you, Inquire of the
necromancers, and of the soothsayers that chirp and whisper:--should
not a people inquire of its God? for the living to the dead? 20. To
the teaching of God, and to the testimony! If they do not accord with
this word, they are a people for whom no morning dawns. 21. And it
goes about therein hardly pressed and hungry: and it comes to pass,
when hunger befalls it, it frets itself, and curses by its king and
by its God, and turns its face upward, 22. and looks to the earth,
and behold distress and darkness, benighting with anguish, and thrust
out into darkness.
IX.--1. For it does not remain dark where there is now distress: in
the first time He brought into disgrace the land of Zebulun and the
land of Naphtali, and in the last He brings to honour the road by the
sea, the other side of Jordan, the circle of the Gentiles.
2. The people that walk about in darkness see a great light; they who
dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light shines.
3. Thou multipliest the nation, preparest it great joy; they rejoice
before Thee like the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they share
the spoil. 4. For the yoke of its burden and the stick of its neck,
the splinters, as in the day of Midian. 5. For every boot of those
who tramp with boots in the tumult of battle, and cloak rolled in
blood, shall be for burning, a food of fire. 6. For unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given; and the government rests upon His
shoulder: and they call His name Wonder, Counsellor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7. To the increase of government and
to peace without end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom,
to strengthen it, and to support it through judgment and
righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The jealousy of Jehovah
of hosts will perform this.
_B.--Jehovah's Outstretched Hand._--CHAP. IX. 8-X. 4.
8. The Lord sends out a word against Jacob, and it descends into
Israel. 9. And all the people must make atonement, Ephraim and the
inhabitants of Samaria, saying in pride and haughtiness of heart,
10. "Bricks are fallen down, and we build with square stones;
sycamores are hewn down, and we put cedars in their place."
11. Jehovah raises Rezin's oppressors high above him; and pricks up
his enemies: 12. Aram from the east, and Philistines from the west;
they devour Israel with full mouth. For all this His anger is not
turned away, and His hand is stretched out still.
13. But the people turneth not into Him that smiteth it, and they
seek not Jehovah of hosts. 14. Therefore Jehovah rooteth out of
Israel head and tail, palm-branch and rush, in one day. 15. Elders
and highly distinguished men, this is the head; and prophets, lying
teachers, this is the tail. 16. The leaders of this people have
become leaders astray, and their followers swallowed up.
17. Therefore the Lord will not rejoice in their young men, and will
have no compassion on their orphans and widows: for all together are
profligate and evil-doers, and every mouth speaketh blasphemy. With
all this His anger is not turned away, and His hand is stretched out
still.
18. For the wickedness burneth up like fire: it devours thorns and
thistles, and burns in the thickets of the wood; and they smoke
upwards in a lofty volume of smoke. 19. Through the wrath of Jehovah
of hosts the land is turned into coal, and the nation has become like
the food of fire: not one spares his brother. 20. They hew on the
right, and are hungry; and devour on the left, and are not satisfied:
they devour the flesh of their own arm: 21. Manasseh, Ephraim; and
Ephraim, Manasseh: these together over Judah. With all this His anger
is not turned away, and His hand is stretched out still.
X.--1. Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and to the
writers who prepare trouble; 2. to force away the needy from
demanding justice, and to rob the suffering of my people of their
rightful claims, that widows may become their prey, and they plunder
orphans! 3. And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the
storm that cometh from afar? To whom will ye flee for help? and where
will ye deposit your glory? 4. There is nothing left but to bow down
under prisoners, and they fall under the slain. With all this His
anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.
_C.--Destruction of the Imperial Kingdom of the World, and
Rise of the Kingdom of Jehovah in His Anointed._--CHAP. X. 5-XII.
5. Woe to Asshur, the rod of Mine anger, and it is a staff in their
hand, Mine indignation. 6. Against a wicked nation will I send them,
and against the people of My wrath give them a charge, to spoil
spoil, and to make it trodden down like street-mire. 7. Nevertheless
he meaneth not so, neither does his heart think so; for it is in his
heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. 8. For he saith, Are
not my generals all kings? 9. Is not Calno as Carchemish, or Hamath
as Arpad, or Samaria as Damascus? 10. As my hand hath reached the
kingdoms of the idols, and their graven images were more than those
of Jerusalem and Samaria; 11. shall I not, as I have done unto
Samaria and her idols, do likewise to Jerusalem and her idols?
12. And it will come to pass, when the Lord shall have brought to an
end all His work upon mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, I will come to
punish over the fruit of the pride of heart of the king of Asshur,
and over the haughty look of his eyes. 13. For he hath said, By the
strength of my hand I have done it, and by my own wisdom; for I am
prudent: and I removed the bounds of the nations, and I plundered
their stores, and threw down rulers like a bull. 14. And my hand
extracted the wealth of the nations like a nest: and as men sweep up
forsaken eggs, have I swept the whole earth; there was none that
moved the wing, and opened the mouth, and chirped.
15. Dare the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith, or
the saw magnify itself against him that useth it? As if a staff were
to swing those that lift it up, as if a stick should lift up
not--wood! 16. Therefore will the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send
consumption against his fat men; and under Asshur's glory there burns
a brand like a firebrand. 17. And the light of Israel becomes a fire,
and his Holy One a flame; and it sets on fire and devours its
thistles and thorns in one day. 18. And the glory of his forest and
his garden-ground will He destroy, even to soul and flesh, so that it
is as when a sick man dieth. 19. And the remnant of the trees of his
forest can be numbered, and a boy could write them.
20. And it will come to pass in that day, the remnant of Israel, and
that which has escaped of the house of Jacob, will not continue to
stay itself upon its chastiser, and will stay itself upon Jehovah,
the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21. The remnant will turn, the
remnant of Jacob, to God the Mighty. 22. For if thy people were even
as the sea-sand, the remnant thereof will turn: destruction is firmly
determined, flowing away righteousness. 23. For the Lord, Jehovah of
hosts, completes the finishing-stroke and that which is firmly
determined, within the whole land.
24. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, My people that
dwellest on Zion, be not afraid of Asshur, if it shall smite thee
with the rod, and lift up its stick against thee, in the manner of
Egypt. 25. For yet a very little while the indignation is past, and
my wrath turns to destroy them: 26. and Jehovah of hosts moves the
whip over it, as He smite Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff
stretches out over the sea. 27. And it will come to pass in that day,
its burden will remove from thy shoulder, and its yoke from thy neck;
and the yoke will be destroyed from the pressure of the fat.
28. He comes upon Ayyath, passes through Migron; in Michmash he
leaves his baggage. 29. They go through the pass: let Geba be our
quarters for the night! Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul flees.
30. Scream aloud, O daughter of Gallim. Only listen, O Laysha! Poor
Anathoth! 31. Madmenah hurries away; the inhabitants of Gebim rescue.
32. He still halts in Nob to-day; swings his hand over the mountain
of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33. Behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, lops down the branches with
terrific force; and those of towering growth are hewn down, and the
lofty are humbled. 34. And He fells the thickets of the forest with
iron; and Lebanon, it falls by a Majestic One.
XI.--1. And there cometh forth a twig out of the stump of Jesse, and
a shoot from the roots bringeth forth fruit. 2. And the Spirit of
Jehovah descends upon Him, spirit of wisdom and understanding, spirit
of counsel and might, spirit of knowledge and fear of Jehovah; 3. and
fear of Jehovah is fragrance to Him; and He judges not according to
outward sight, neither does He pass sentence according to outward
hearing; 4. and judges the poor with righteousness, and passes
sentence with equity for the humble in the land; and smites the earth
with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He slays
the wicked. 5. And righteousness is the girdle of His loins, and
faithfulness the girdle of His hips.
6. And the wolf dwells with the lamb, and the leopard lies down with
the kid; and calf and lion and stalled ox together; a little boy
drives them. 7. And cow and bear go to the pasture; their young ones
lie down together: and the lion eats chopped straw like the ox.
8. And the suckling plays by the hole of the adder, and the weaned
child stretching its hand to the pupil of the basilisk-viper. 9. They
will not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain: for the land is
filled with knowledge of Jehovah, like the waters covering the sea.
10. And it will come to pass in that day: the root-sprout of Jesse,
which stands as a banner of the people's, for it will nations ask,
and its place of rest is glory.
11. And it will come to pass in that day, the Lord will stretch out
His hand a second time to redeem the remnant of His people that shall
be left, out of Asshur, and out of Egypt, and out of Pathros, and out
of Ethiopia, and out of Elam, and out of Shinar, and out of Hamath,
and out of the islands of the sea. 12. And He raises a banner for the
nations, and fetches home the outcasts of Israel; and the dispersed
of Judah will He assemble from the four borders of the earth. 13. And
the jealousy of Ephraim is removed, and the adversaries of Judah are
cut off; Ephraim will not show jealousy towards Judah, and Judah will
not oppose Ephraim. 14. And they fly upon the shoulder of the
Philistines seawards; unitedly they plunder the sons of the East:
they seize upon Edom and Moab, and the sons of Amon are subject to
them. 15. And Jehovah pronounces the ban upon the sea-tongue of
Egypt, and swings His hand over the Euphrates in the glow of His
breath, and smites it into seven brooks, and makes it so that men go
through in shoes. 16. And there will be a road for the remnant of His
people that shall be left, out of Asshur, as it was for Israel in the
day of its departure out of the land of Egypt.
XII.--1, 2. And in that day thou wilt say,
I thank thee, O Jehovah, that Thou wast angry with me:
Thine anger is turned away, and Thou hast comforted me.
Behold, the God of my salvation;
I trust, and am not afraid;
For Jah Jehovah is my pride and song,
And He became my salvation.
3. And with rapture ye will draw water out of the wells of salvation.
4-6. And ye will say in that day,
Praise Jehovah, proclaim His name,
Make known His doings among the nations,
Boast that His name is exalted.
Harp to Jehovah; for He has displayed majesty:
Let this be known in all lands.
Shout and be jubilant, O inhabitant of Zion:
For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.
_PART III._