have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and
bulwarks.
23:026:002 Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the
truth may enter in.
23:026:003 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
thee: because he trusteth in thee.
23:026:004 Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is
everlasting strength:
23:026:005 For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city,
he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he
bringeth it even to the dust.
23:026:006 The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and
the steps of the needy.
23:026:007 The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost
weigh the path of the just.
23:026:008 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for
thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the
remembrance of thee.
23:026:009 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my
spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy
judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will
learn righteousness.
23:026:010 Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn
righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal
unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.
23:026:011 LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they
shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea,
the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
23:026:012 LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast
wrought all our works in us.
23:026:013 O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over
us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.
23:026:014 They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they
shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed
them, and made all their memory to perish.
23:026:015 Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased
the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto
all the ends of the earth.
23:026:016 LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a
prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
23:026:017 Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her
delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we
been in thy sight, O LORD.
23:026:018 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it
were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance
in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world
fallen.
23:026:019 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they
arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is
as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
23:026:020 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy
doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment,
until the indignation be overpast.
23:026:021 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the
inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also
shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
23:027:001 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword
shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan
that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in
the sea.
23:027:002 In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.
23:027:003 I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any
hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
23:027:004 Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against
me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them
together.
23:027:005 Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace
with me; and he shall make peace with me.
23:027:006 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel
shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with
fruit.
23:027:007 Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is
he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by
him?
23:027:008 In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it:
he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.
23:027:009 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and
this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all
the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in
sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.
23:027:010 Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation
forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf
feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches
thereof.
23:027:011 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken
off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people
of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have
mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no
favour.
23:027:012 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall
beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of
Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of
Israel.
23:027:013 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet
shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish
in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt,
and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
23:028:001 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose
glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of
the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
23:028:002 Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a
tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty
waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the
hand.
23:028:003 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden
under feet:
23:028:004 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat
valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit
before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth,
while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.
23:028:005 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory,
and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
23:028:006 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment,
and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
23:028:007 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong
drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have
erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine,
they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in
vision, they stumble in judgment.
23:028:008 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there
is no place clean.
23:028:009 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to
understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and
drawn from the breasts.
23:028:010 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line
upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
23:028:011 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to
this people.
23:028:012 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the
weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not
hear.
23:028:013 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept,
precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a
little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall
backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
23:028:014 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that
rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
23:028:015 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and
with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have
made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid
ourselves:
23:028:016 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a
foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a
sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
23:028:017 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the
plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and
the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
23:028:018 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your
agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by
it.
23:028:019 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for
morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night:
and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
23:028:020 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on
it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in
it.
23:028:021 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be
wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his
strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
23:028:022 Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made
strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a
consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
23:028:023 Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
23:028:024 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break
the clods of his ground?
23:028:025 When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast
abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the
principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their
place?
23:028:026 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach
him.
23:028:027 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument,
neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the
fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a
rod.
23:028:028 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing
it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it
with his horsemen.
23:028:029 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is
wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.
23:029:001 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye
year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
23:029:002 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and
sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.
23:029:003 And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege
against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against
thee.
23:029:004 And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the
ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy
voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of
the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
23:029:005 Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small
dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff
that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
23:029:006 Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and
with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and
the flame of devouring fire.
23:029:007 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
even all that fight against her and her munition, and that
distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
23:029:008 It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold,
he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a
thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he
awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite:
so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight
against mount Zion.
23:029:009 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are
drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong
drink.
23:029:010 For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep
sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your
rulers, the seers hath he covered.
23:029:011 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a
book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned,
saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it
is sealed:
23:029:012 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying,
Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
23:029:013 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me
with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have
removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is
taught by the precept of men:
23:029:014 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work
among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for
the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the
understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
23:029:015 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the
LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth
us? and who knoweth us?
23:029:016 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as
the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it,
He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that
framed it, He had no understanding?
23:029:017 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned
into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be
esteemed as a forest?
23:029:018 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and
the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of
darkness.
23:029:019 The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the
poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
23:029:020 For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is
consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:
23:029:021 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for
him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a
thing of nought.
23:029:022 Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham,
concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed,
neither shall his face now wax pale.
23:029:023 But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the
midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the
Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.
23:029:024 They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding,
and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.
23:030:001 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take
counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but
not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
23:030:002 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my
mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh,
and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
23:030:003 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the
trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
23:030:004 For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to
Hanes.
23:030:005 They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them,
nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
23:030:006 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of
trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion,
the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their
riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures
upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit
them.
23:030:007 For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose:
therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to
sit still.
23:030:008 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a
book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
23:030:009 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children
that will not hear the law of the LORD:
23:030:010 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy
not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things,
prophesy deceits:
23:030:011 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the
Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
23:030:012 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye
despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness,
and stay thereon:
23:030:013 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to
fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh
suddenly at an instant.
23:030:014 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel
that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there
shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire
from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
23:030:015 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In
returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in
confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
23:030:016 But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall
ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall
they that pursue you be swift.
23:030:017 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of
five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top
of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.
23:030:018 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto
you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy
upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all
they that wait for him.
23:030:019 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt
weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice
of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
23:030:020 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the
water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed
into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
23:030:021 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is
the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and
when ye turn to the left.
23:030:022 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of
silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou
shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say
unto it, Get thee hence.
23:030:023 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow
the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and
it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle
feed in large pastures.
23:030:024 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground
shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the
shovel and with the fan.
23:030:025 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every
high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the
great slaughter, when the towers fall.
23:030:026 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the
sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light
of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach
of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
23:030:027 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his
anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of
indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
23:030:028 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the
midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of
vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people,
causing them to err.
23:030:029 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is
kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to
come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of
Israel.
23:030:030 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and
shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation
of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with
scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.
23:030:031 For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten
down, which smote with a rod.
23:030:032 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which
the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and
harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
23:030:033 For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is
prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is
fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of
brimstone, doth kindle it.
23:031:001 Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on
horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in
horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto
the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
23:031:002 Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call
back his words: but will arise against the house of the
evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.
23:031:003 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses
flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his
hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen
shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
23:031:004 For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and
the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of
shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid
of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so
shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and
for the hill thereof.
23:031:005 As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem;
defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will
preserve it.
23:031:006 Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply
revolted.
23:031:007 For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver,
and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you
for a sin.
23:031:008 Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty
man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but
he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be
discomfited.
23:031:009 And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his
princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the LORD, whose
fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.
23:032:001 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall
rule in judgment.
23:032:002 And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a
covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as
the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
23:032:003 And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears
of them that hear shall hearken.
23:032:004 The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the
tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.
23:032:005 The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl
said to be bountiful.
23:032:006 For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will
work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error
against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he
will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
23:032:007 The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked
devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the
needy speaketh right.
23:032:008 But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things
shall he stand.
23:032:009 Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless
daughters; give ear unto my speech.
23:032:010 Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women:
for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.
23:032:011 Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless
ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon
your loins.
23:032:012 They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for
the fruitful vine.
23:032:013 Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers;
yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:
23:032:014 Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the
city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for
ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
23:032:015 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the
wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be
counted for a forest.
23:032:016 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness
remain in the fruitful field.
23:032:017 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect
of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
23:032:018 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in
sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;
23:032:019 When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city
shall be low in a low place.
23:032:020 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth
thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
23:033:001 Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and
dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with
thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled;
and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they
shall deal treacherously with thee.
23:033:002 O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou
their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of
trouble.