The World English Bible (WEB) Part 64

15:9 For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; for I will bring yet more on Dimon, a lion on those of Moab who escape, and on the remnant of the land.

16:1 Send the lambs for the ruler of the land from Selah to the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. 16:2 For it will be that as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so will the daughters of Moab be at the fords of the Arnon. 16:3 Give counsel! Execute justice!

Make your shade like the night in the midst of the noonday! Hide the outcasts! Don't betray the fugitive! 16:4 Let my outcasts dwell with you! As for Moab, be a hiding place for him from the face of the destroyer. For the extortioner is brought to nothing. Destruction ceases. The oppressors are consumed out of the land. 16:5 A throne will be established in loving kindness. One will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness.

16:6 We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; even of his arrogance, his pride, and his wrath. His boastings are nothing. 16:7 Therefore Moab will wail for Moab. Everyone will wail. You will mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth, utterly stricken. 16:8 For the fields of Heshbon languish with the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have broken down its choice branches, which reached even to Jazer, which wandered into the wilderness. Its shoots were spread abroad. They pa.s.sed over the sea. 16:9 Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I will water you with my tears, Heshbon, and Elealeh: for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the battle shout has fallen. 16:10 Gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there will be no singing, neither joyful noise. n.o.body will tread out wine in the presses. I have made the shouting stop. 16:11 Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir Heres. 16:12 It will happen that when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, and comes to his sanctuary to pray, that he will not prevail. 16:13 This is the word that Yahweh spoke concerning Moab in time past. 16:14 But now Yahweh has spoken, saying, "Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great mult.i.tude; and the remnant will be very small and feeble."

17:1 The burden of Damascus: "Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap. 17:2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They will be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. 17:3 The fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. They will be as the glory of the children of Israel," says Yahweh of Armies. 17:4 "It will happen in that day that the glory of Jacob will be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean. 17:5 It will be like when the harvester gathers the wheat, and his arm reaps the grain. Yes, it will be like when one gleans grain in the valley of Rephaim. 17:6 Yet gleanings will be left there, like the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of a fruitful tree," says Yahweh, the G.o.d of Israel.

17:7 In that day, people will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel. 17:8 They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they respect that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the incense altars. 17:9 In that day, their strong cities will be like the forsaken places in the woods and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel; and it will be a desolation. 17:10 For you have forgotten the G.o.d of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings. 17:11 In the day of your planting, you hedge it in. In the morning, you make your seed blossom, but the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. 17:12 Ah, the uproar of many peoples, who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rus.h.i.+ng of nations, that rush like the rus.h.i.+ng of mighty waters! 17:13 The nations will rush like the rus.h.i.+ng of many waters: but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.

17:14 At evening, behold, terror! Before the morning, they are no more.

This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.

18:1 Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia; 18:2 that sends amba.s.sadors by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus on the waters, saying, "Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide!"

18:3 All you inhabitants of the world, and you dwellers on the earth, when a banner is lifted up on the mountains, look! When the trumpet is blown, listen! 18:4 For Yahweh said to me, "I will be still, and I will see in my dwelling place, like clear heat in suns.h.i.+ne, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest." 18:5 For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and he will cut down and take away the spreading branches. 18:6 They will be left together for the ravenous birds of the mountains, and for the animals of the earth. The ravenous birds will summer on them, and all the animals of the earth will winter on them. 18:7 In that time, a present will be brought to Yahweh of Armies from a people tall and smooth, even from a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Yahweh of Armies, Mount Zion.

19:1 The burden of Egypt: "Behold, Yahweh rides on a swift cloud, and comes to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence; and the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst. 19:2 I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians, and they will fight everyone against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. 19:3 The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst. I will destroy its counsel. They will seek the idols, the charmers, those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards. 19:4 I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord. A fierce king will rule over them," says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies. 19:5 The waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be wasted and become dry. 19:6 The rivers will become foul. The streams of Egypt will be diminished and dried up.

The reeds and flags will wither away. 19:7 The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all the sown fields of the Nile, will become dry, be driven away, and be no more. 19:8 The fishermen will lament, and all those who fish in the Nile will mourn, and those who spread nets on the waters will languish. 19:9 Moreover those who work in combed flax, and those who weave white cloth, will be confounded. 19:10 The pillars will be broken in pieces. All those who work for hire will be grieved in soul. 19:11 The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish. The counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid. How do you say to Pharaoh, "I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?" 19:12 Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you now; and let them know what Yahweh of Armies has purposed concerning Egypt. 19:13 The princes of Zoan have become fools. The princes of Memphis are deceived. They have caused Egypt to go astray, who are the cornerstone of her tribes.

19:14 Yahweh has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit. 19:15 Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm branch or rush, may do. 19:16 In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble and fear because of the shaking of the hand of Yahweh of Armies, which he shakes over them.

19:17 The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt. Everyone to whom mention is made of it will be afraid, because of the plans of Yahweh of Armies, which he determines against it. 19:18 In that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Yahweh of Armies. One will be called "The city of destruction."

19:19 In that day, there will be an altar to Yahweh in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Yahweh at its border. 19:20 It will be for a sign and for a witness to Yahweh of Armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to Yahweh because of oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a defender, and he will deliver them. 19:21 Yahweh will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Yahweh in that day. Yes, they will wors.h.i.+p with sacrifice and offering, and will vow a vow to Yahweh, and will perform it. 19:22 Yahweh will strike Egypt, striking and healing. They will return to Yahweh, and he will be entreated by them, and will heal them. 19:23 In that day there will be a highway out of Egypt to a.s.syria, and the a.s.syrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into a.s.syria; and the Egyptians will wors.h.i.+p with the a.s.syrians. 19:24 In that day, Israel will be the third with Egypt and with a.s.syria, a blessing in the midst of the earth; 19:25 because Yahweh of Armies has blessed them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, a.s.syria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance."

20:1 In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of a.s.syria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it; 20:2 at that time Yahweh spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go, and loosen the sackcloth from off your waist, and take your shoes from off your feet."

He did so, walking naked and barefoot. 20:3 Yahweh said, "As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia, 20:4 so the king of a.s.syria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with b.u.t.tocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 20:5 They will be dismayed and confounded, because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. 20:6 The inhabitants of this coast land will say in that day, 'Behold, this is our expectation, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of a.s.syria. And we, how will we escape?'"

21:1 The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land. 21:2 A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; attack! I have stopped all of Media's sighing. 21:3 Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish. Pains have taken hold on me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I can't hear. I so am dismayed that I can't see. 21:4 My heart flutters. Horror has frightened me. The twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling for me. 21:5 They prepare the table. They set the watch. They eat. They drink. Rise up, you princes, oil the s.h.i.+eld! 21:6 For the Lord said to me, "Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees. 21:7 When he sees a troop, hors.e.m.e.n in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall listen diligently with great attentiveness." 21:8 He cried like a lion: "Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post. 21:9 Behold, here comes a troop of men, hors.e.m.e.n in pairs." He answered, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the engraved images of her G.o.ds are broken to the ground. 21:10 You are my thres.h.i.+ng, and the grain of my floor!" That which I have heard from Yahweh of Armies, the G.o.d of Israel, I have declared to you.

21:11 The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" 21:12 The watchman said, "The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire.

Come back again."

21:13 The burden on Arabia. In the forest in Arabia you will lodge, you caravans of Dedanites. 21:14 They brought water to him who was thirsty.

The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread.

21:15 For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the heat of battle. 21:16 For the Lord said to me, "Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will fail, 21:17 and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the G.o.d of Israel, has spoken it."

22:1 The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops? 22:2 You that are full of shouting, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; your slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle. 22:3 All your rulers fled away together. They were bound by the archers. All who were found by you were bound together. They fled far away. 22:4 Therefore I said, "Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don't labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people. 22:5 For it is a day of confusion, and of treading down, and of perplexity, from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, in the valley of vision; a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the mountains." 22:6 Elam carried his quiver, with chariots of men and hors.e.m.e.n; and Kir uncovered the s.h.i.+eld. 22:7 It happened that your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the hors.e.m.e.n set themselves in array at the gate. 22:8 He took away the covering of Judah; and you looked in that day to the armor in the house of the forest. 22:9 You saw the breaches of the city of David, that they were many; and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool. 22:10 You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 22:11 You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you didn't look to him who had done this, neither did you have respect for him who purposed it long ago.

22:12 In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth: 22:13 and behold, joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die."

22:14 Yahweh of Armies revealed himself in my ears, "Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die," says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

22:15 Thus says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, "Go, get yourself to this treasurer, even to Shebna, who is over the house, and say, 22:16 'What are you doing here? Who has you here, that you have dug out a tomb here?' Cutting himself out a tomb on high, chiseling a habitation for himself in the rock!" 22:17 Behold, Yahweh will overcome you and hurl you away violently. Yes, he will grasp you firmly. 22:18 He will surely wind you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and there the chariots of your glory will be, you shame of your lord's house. 22:19 I will thrust you from your office. You will be pulled down from your station.

22:20 It will happen in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 22:21 and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your government into his hand; and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. 22:22 I will lay the key of the house of David on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open. 22:23 I will fasten him like a nail in a sure place. He will be for a throne of glory to his father's house. 22:24 They will hang on him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the pitchers. 22:25 "In that day," says Yahweh of Armies, "the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down, and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for Yahweh has spoken it."

23:1 The burden of Tyre. Howl, you s.h.i.+ps of Tars.h.i.+s.h.!.+ For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them. 23:2 Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Sidon, that pa.s.s over the sea, have replenished. 23:3 On great waters, the seed of the s.h.i.+hor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue. She was the market of nations. 23:4 Be ashamed, Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, "I have not travailed, nor brought forth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins." 23:5 When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report of Tyre. 23:6 Pa.s.s over to Tars.h.i.+s.h.!.+ Wail, you inhabitants of the coast! 23:7 Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel? 23:8 Who has planned this against Tyre, the giver of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth? 23:9 Yahweh of Armies has planned it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.

23:10 Pa.s.s through your land like the Nile, daughter of Tars.h.i.+sh. There is no restraint any more. 23:11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea. He has shaken the kingdoms. Yahweh has ordered the destruction of Canaan's strongholds. 23:12 He said, "You shall rejoice no more, you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pa.s.s over to Kittim. Even there you will have no rest."

23:13 Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. This people was not. The a.s.syrians founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up their towers. They overthrew its palaces. They made it a ruin. 23:14 Howl, you s.h.i.+ps of Tars.h.i.+sh, for your stronghold is laid waste! 23:15 It will come to pa.s.s in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre like in the song of the prost.i.tute. 23:16 Take a harp; go about the city, you prost.i.tute that has been forgotten. Make sweet melody. Sing many songs, that you may be remembered. 23:17 It will happen after the end of seventy years that Yahweh will visit Tyre, and she shall return to her wages, and will play the prost.i.tute with all the kingdoms of the world on the surface of the earth. 23:18 Her merchandise and her wages will be holiness to Yahweh. It will not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise will be for those who dwell before Yahweh, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.

24:1 Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants. 24:2 It will be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest. 24:3 The earth will be utterly emptied and utterly laid waste; for Yahweh has spoken this word. 24:4 The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away.

The lofty people of the earth languish. 24:5 The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant. 24:6 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell therein are found guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. 24:7 The new wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry- hearted sigh. 24:8 The mirth of tambourines ceases. The sound of those who rejoice ends. The joy of the harp ceases. 24:9 They will not drink wine with a song. Strong drink will be bitter to those who drink it.

24:10 The confused city is broken down. Every house is shut up, that no man may come in. 24:11 There is a crying in the streets because of the wine. All joy is darkened. The mirth of the land is gone. 24:12 The city is left in desolation, and the gate is struck with destruction. 24:13 For it will be so in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done.

24:14 These shall lift up their voice. They will shout for the majesty of Yahweh. They cry aloud from the sea. 24:15 Therefore glorify Yahweh in the east, even the name of Yahweh, the G.o.d of Israel, in the islands of the sea! 24:16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs. Glory to the righteous! But I said, "I pine away! I pine away!

woe is me!" The treacherous have dealt treacherously. Yes, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously. 24:17 Fear, the pit, and the snare, are on you who inhabitant the earth. 24:18 It will happen that he who flees from the noise of the fear will fall into the pit; and he who comes up out of the midst of the pit will be taken in the snare; for the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.

24:19 The earth is utterly broken. The earth is torn apart. The earth is shaken violently. 24:20 The earth will stagger like a drunken man, and will sway back and forth like a hammock. Its disobedience will be heavy on it, and it will fall and not rise again. 24:21 It shall happen in that day that Yahweh will punish the army of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth. 24:22 They shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; and after many days shall they be visited. 24:23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for Yahweh of Armies will reign on Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem; and before his elders will be glory.

25:1 Yahweh, you are my G.o.d. I will exalt you! I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago, in complete faithfulness and truth. 25:2 For you have made a city into a heap, a fortified city into a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It will never be built. 25:3 Therefore a strong people will glorify you. A city of awesome nations will fear you. 25:4 For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the dreaded ones is like a storm against the wall. 25:5 As the heat in a dry place will you bring down the noise of strangers; as the heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the dreaded ones will be brought low. 25:6 In this mountain, Yahweh of Armies will make all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines, of fat things full of marrow, of well refined choice wines. 25:7 He will destroy in this mountain the surface of the covering that covers all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations.

25:8 He has swallowed up death forever! The Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from off all faces. He will take the reproach of his people away from off all the earth, for Yahweh has spoken it. 25:9 It shall be said in that day, "Behold, this is our G.o.d! We have waited for him, and he will save us! This is Yahweh! We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation!" 25:10 For in this mountain the hand of Yahweh will rest.

Moab will be trodden down in his place, even like straw is trodden down in the water of the dunghill. 25:11 He will spread out his hands in its midst, like one who swims spreads out hands to swim, but his pride will be humbled together with the craft of his hands. 25:12 He has brought the high fortress of your walls down, laid low, and brought to the ground, even to the dust.

26:1 In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

"We have a strong city. G.o.d appoints salvation for walls and bulwarks.

26:2 Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter: the one which keeps faith. 26:3 You will keep whoever's mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you. 26:4 Trust in Yahweh forever; for in Yah, Yahweh, is an everlasting Rock. 26:5 For he has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city. He lays it low. He lays it low even to the ground. He brings it even to the dust. 26:6 The foot shall tread it down; Even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy." 26:7 The way of the just is uprightness. You who are upright make the path of the righteous level. 26:8 Yes, in the way of your judgments, Yahweh, have we waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul. 26:9 With my soul have I desired you in the night. Yes, with my spirit within me will I seek you earnestly; for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 26:10 Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness.

In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not see Yahweh's majesty. 26:11 Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don't see; but they will see your zeal for the people, and be disappointed.

Yes, fire will consume your adversaries. 26:12 Yahweh, you will ordain peace for us, for you have also worked all our works for us. 26:13 Yahweh our G.o.d, other lords besides you have had dominion over us, but by you only will we make mention of your name. 26:14 The dead shall not live. The deceased shall not rise. Therefore have you visited and destroyed them, and caused all memory of them to perish. 26:15 You have increased the nation, O Yahweh. You have increased the nation! You are glorified! You have enlarged all the borders of the land. 26:16 Yahweh, in trouble they have visited you. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them. 26:17 Like as a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs; so we have been before you, Yahweh. 26:18 We have been with child. We have been in pain. We gave birth, it seems, only to wind. We have not worked any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. 26:19 Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast forth the dead.

26:20 Come, my people, enter into your chambers, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past. 26:21 For, behold, Yahweh comes forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.

27:1 In that day, Yahweh with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea. 27:2 In that day, sing to her, "A pleasant vineyard! 27:3 I, Yahweh, am its keeper. I will water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I will keep it night and day. 27:4 Wrath is not in me, but if I should find briers and thorns, I would do battle! I would march on them and I would burn them together. 27:5 Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me. Let him make peace with me."

27:6 In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bud.

They will fill the surface of the world with fruit. 27:7 Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or are they killed like those who killed them were killed? 27:8 In measure, when you send them away, you contend with them. He has removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind. 27:9 Therefore, by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherim and the incense altars shall rise no more.

27:10 For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches. 27:11 When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compa.s.sion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor. 27:12 It will happen in that day, that Yahweh will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, children of Israel. 27:13 It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of a.s.syria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will wors.h.i.+p Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

28:1 Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine! 28:2 Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one. Like a storm of hail, a destroying storm, and like a storm of mighty waters overflowing, he will cast them down to the earth with his hand. 28:3 The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden under foot. 28:4 The fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley, shall be like the first-ripe fig before the summer; which someone picks and eats as soon as he sees it. 28:5 In that day, Yahweh of Armies will become a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the residue of his people; 28:6 and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. 28:7 They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment.

28:8 For all tables are completely full of filthy vomit and filthiness.

28:9 Whom will he teach knowledge? To whom will he explain the message?

Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the b.r.e.a.s.t.s? 28:10 For it is precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little. 28:11 But he will speak to this nation with stammering lips and in another language; 28:12 to whom he said, "This is the resting place. Give rest to weary;" and "This is the refres.h.i.+ng;" yet they would not hear. 28:13 Therefore the word of Yahweh will be to them precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, fall backward, be broken, be snared, and be taken. 28:14 Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem: 28:15 "Because you have said, 'We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we in agreement. When the overflowing scourge pa.s.ses through, it won't come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.'" 28:16 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not act hastily. 28:17 I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. 28:18 Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge pa.s.ses through, then you will be trampled down by it. 28:19 As often as it pa.s.ses through, it will seize you; for morning by morning it will pa.s.s through, by day and by night; and it will be nothing but terror to understand the message." 28:20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in. 28:21 For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his unusual work, and bring to pa.s.s his act, his extraordinary act. 28:22 Now therefore don't be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, on the whole earth.

28:23 Give ear, and hear my voice! Listen, and hear my speech! 28:24 Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods? 28:25 When he has leveled its surface, doesn't he plant the dill, and scatter the c.u.min seed, and put in the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place?

28:26 For his G.o.d instructs him in right judgment, and teaches him.

28:27 For the dill are not threshed with a sharp instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned over the c.u.min; but the dill is beaten out with a stick, and the c.u.min with a rod. 28:28 Bread flour must be ground; so he will not always be thres.h.i.+ng it. Although he drives the wheel of his thres.h.i.+ng cart over it, his horses don't grind it. 28:29 This also comes forth from Yahweh of Armies, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.

29:1 Woe to Ariel! Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts come around; 29:2 then I will distress Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation. She shall be to me as an altar hearth. 29:3 I will encamp against you all around you, and will lay siege against you with posted troops. I will raise siege works against you. 29:4 You will be brought down, and will speak out of the ground.

Your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will be as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech will whisper out of the dust. 29:5 But the mult.i.tude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the mult.i.tude of the ruthless ones like chaff that blows away. Yes, it will be in an instant, suddenly. 29:6 She will be visited by Yahweh of Armies with thunder, with earthquake, with great noise, with whirlwind and storm, and with the flame of a devouring fire.

29:7 The mult.i.tude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night. 29:8 It will be like when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his hunger isn't satisfied; or like when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and behold, he is faint, and he is still thirsty. The mult.i.tude of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion will be like that. 29:9 Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

29:10 For Yahweh has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets; and he has covered your heads, the seers. 29:11 All vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is educated, saying, "Read this, please;" and he says, "I can't, for it is sealed:" 29:12 and the book is delivered to one who is not educated, saying, "Read this, please;" and he says, "I can't read." 29:13 The Lord said, "Because this people draws near with their mouth and with their lips to honor me, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught; 29:14 therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their prudent men will be hidden."

29:15 Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us?" and "Who knows us?"

29:16 You turn things upside down! Should the potter be thought to be like clay; that the thing made should say about him who made it, "He didn't make me;" or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding?"

29:17 Isn't it yet a very little while, and Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be regarded as a forest?

29:18 In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness. 29:19 The humble also will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. 29:20 For the ruthless is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who are alert to do evil are cut off-- 29:21 who cause a person to be indicted by a word, and lay a snare for the arbiter in the gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony. 29:22 Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall no longer be ashamed, neither shall his face grow pale. 29:23 But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they will sanctify my name. Yes, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the G.o.d of Israel. 29:24 They also who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will receive instruction."

30:1 "Woe to the rebellious children," says Yahweh, "who take counsel, but not from me; and who make an alliance, but not with my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin, 30:2 who set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked my advice; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt! 30:3 Therefore the strength of Pharaoh will be your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. 30:4 For their princes are at Zoan, and their amba.s.sadors have come to Hanes. 30:5 They shall all be ashamed because of a people that can't profit them, that are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach."

30:6 The burden of the animals of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, of the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to an unprofitable people. 30:7 For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore have I called her Rahab who sits still. 30:8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. 30:9 For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of Yahweh; 30:10 who tell the seers, "Don't see!"

and to the prophets, "Don't prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits. 30:11 Get out of the way. Turn aside from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us."

30:12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, "Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on it; 30:13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant. 30:14 He will break it as a potter's vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing, so that there won't be found among the broken piece a piece good enough to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern." 30:15 For thus said the Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, "You will be saved in returning and rest. Your strength will be in quietness and in confidence." You refused, 30:16 but you said, "No, for we will flee on horses;" therefore you will flee; and, "We will ride on the swift;" therefore those who pursue you will be swift. 30:17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one. At the threat of five, you will flee until you are left like a beacon on the top of a mountain, and like a banner on a hill. 30:18 Therefore Yahweh will wait, that he may be gracious to you; and therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you, for Yahweh is a G.o.d of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him. 30:19 For the people will dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. You will weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the voice of your cry. When he hears you, he will answer you. 30:20 Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers won't be hidden anymore, but your eyes will see your teachers; 30:21 and when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way. Walk in it." 30:22 You shall defile the overlaying of your engraved images of silver, and the plating of your molten images of gold. You shall cast them away as an unclean thing. You shall tell it, "Go away!" 30:23 He will give the rain for your seed, with which you will sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground will be rich and plentiful. In that day, your livestock will feed in large pastures. 30:24 The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that till the ground will eat savory provender, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork. 30:25 There shall be brooks and streams of water on every lofty mountain and on every high hill in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 30:26 Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh binds up the fracture of his people, and heals the wound they were struck with.

30:27 Behold, the name of Yahweh comes from far away, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire. 30:28 His breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction; and a bridle that leads to ruin will be in the jaws of the peoples. 30:29 You will have a song, as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a flute to come to Yahweh's mountain, to Israel's Rock. 30:30 Yahweh will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the descent of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, storm, and hailstones. 30:31 For through the voice of Yahweh the a.s.syrian will be dismayed. He will strike him with his rod. 30:32 Every stroke of the rod of punishment, which Yahweh will lay on him, will be with the sound of tambourines and harps. He will fight with them in battles, brandis.h.i.+ng weapons. 30:33 For his burning place has long been ready. Yes, for the king it is made ready. He has made its pyre deep and large with fire and much wood. Yahweh's breath, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.