_Neglect of Duty by the Leaders of Israel; and Errors of the People._
9. All ye beasts of the field, come near! To devour, all ye beasts of
the forest! 10. His watchmen are blind; they (are) all ignorant,[2]
they (are) all dumb dogs that cannot bark; raving, lying down, loving
to slumber. 11. And the dogs are mightily greedy, they know no
satiety; and such are shepherds! They know no understanding; they
have all turned to their own ways, every one for his own gain
throughout his border.
12. Come here, I will fetch wine, and let us drink meth; and
to-morrow shall be like to-day, great, excessively abundant.
LVII.--1. The righteous perisheth, and no man taketh it to heart; and
pious[1] men are swept away,[2] without any one considering that the
righteous is swept away from misfortune.[3] 2. He entereth into
peace: they rest upon their beds, whoever has walked straight before
him.
3. And ye, draw near hither, children of the sorceress, seed of the
adulterer, and of her that committed whoredom! 4. Over whom do ye
make yourselves merry? Over whom do ye open the mouth wide, and put
the tongue out long? Are ye not the brood of apostasy, seed of lying?
5. Ye that inflame yourselves by the terabinths, under every green
tree, ye slayers of children in the valleys, under the clefts of the
rocks. 6. By the smooth ones of the brook was thy portion; they, they
were thy lot: thou also pourest out libations to them, thou laidst
meat-offerings upon them. Shall I be contented with this?[4] 7. Upon
a lofty and high mountain hast thou set up thy bed; thou also
ascendest thither to offer slain offerings. 8. And behind the door
and the post thou didst place thy[5] reminder: for thou uncoveredst
away from me, and ascendest; thou madest thy bed broad, and didst
stipulate for thyself what they had to do: thou lovedst their lying
with thee; thou sawest their manhood.[6]
9. And thou wentest to the king with oil, and didst measure copiously
thy spices, and didst send thy messengers to a great distance, and
didst deeply abase thyself, even to Hades. 10. Thou didst become wary
of the greatness of thy way; yet thou saidst not, It is
unattainable:[7] thou obtainedst the reward of thy strength:
therefore thou wast not pained.[8]
11. And of whom hast thou been afraid, and (whom) didst thou fear,
that thou becamest a liar, and didst not continue mindful of Me, and
didst not take it to heart?
Am I not silent, and that for a long time, whereas thou wast not
afraid of Me? 12. I, I will proclaim thy righteousness; and thy
works, they will not profit thee. 13. When thou criest, let thy heaps
of idols[9] save thee: but a wind carries them all away; a breath
takes them off; and whoever putteth trust in Me will inherit the
land, and take possession of My holy mountain.
14. And He saith, Heap up, heap up, prepare a way, take away every
obstruction from the way of My people. 15. For thus saith the High
and Lofty One, the eternally dwelling One, He whose name is Holy One;
I dwell on high and in the holy place, and with the contrite one and
him that is of a humbled spirit, to revive the spirit of humbled
ones, and to revive the heart of contrite ones. 16. For I do not
contend for ever, and I am not angry for ever: for the spirit would
pine away before me, and the souls of men which I have created.
17. And because of the iniquity of its selfishness,[10] I was wroth,
and smote it; hiding Myself away in the way of its own heart. 18. I
have seen its ways and will heal it; and will lead it, and afford
consolations to it, and to its mourning ones.
19. Creating fruit of the lips; Jehovah saith, "Peace, peace to those
that are far off, and to those that are near; and I heal it." 20. But
the wicked are like the sea that is cast up; for it cannot rest; and
its waters cast out slime and mud. 21. There is no peace, saith my
God, for the wicked.