The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 471

8:15. And very many of them shall stumble and fall, and shall be broken in pieces, and shall be snared, and taken.

8:16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

8:17. And I will wait for the Lord, who hath hid his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

8:18. Behold I and my children, whom the Lord hath given me for a sign, and for a wonder in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Sion.

8:19. And when they shall say to you: Seek of pythons, and of diviners, who mutter in their enchantments: should not the people seek of their G.o.d, for the living of the dead?

Seek of pythons... That is, people pretending to tell future things by a prophesying spirit.-Ibid. Should not the people seek of their G.o.d, for the living of the dead?... Here is signified, that it is to G.o.d we should pray to be directed, and not to seek of the dead, (that is, of fortune-tellers dead in sin,) for the health of the living.

8:20. To the law rather, and to the testimony. And if they speak not according to this word, they shall not have the morning light.

8:21. And they shall pa.s.s by it, they shall fall, and be hungry: and when they shall be hungry, they will be angry, and curse their king, and their G.o.d, and look upwards.

8:22. And they shall look to the earth, and behold trouble and darkness, weakness and distress, and a mist following them, and they cannot fly away from their distress.

Isaias Chapter 9

What joy shall come after afflictions by the birth and kingdom of Christ; which shall flourish for ever. Judgments upon Israel for their sins.

9:1. At the first time the land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephtali was lightly touched: and at the last the way of the sea beyond the Jordan of the Galilee of the Gentiles was heavily loaded.

9:2. The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen.

9:3. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and hast not increased the joy.

They shall rejoice before thee, as they that rejoice in the harvest, as conquerors rejoice after taking a prey, when they divide the spoils.

9:4. For the yoke of their burden, and the rod of their shoulder, and the sceptre of their oppressor thou hast overcome, as in the day of Madian.

9:5. For every violent taking of spoils, with tumult, and garment mingled with blood, shall be burnt, and be fuel for the fire.

9:6. For a CHILD IS BORN to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, G.o.d the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace.

9:7. His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

9:8. The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.

9:9. And all the people of Ephraim shall know, and the inhabitants of Samaria that say in the pride and haughtiness of their heart:

9:10. The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with square stones: they have cut down the sycamores, but we will change them for cedars.

9:11. And the Lord shall set up the enemies of Rasin over him, and shall bring on his enemies in a crowd:

9:12. The Syrians from the east, and, the Philistines from the west: and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his indignation is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

9:13. And the people are not returned to him who hath struck them, and have not sought after the Lord of hosts.

9:14. And the Lord shall destroy out of Israel the head and the tail, him that bendeth down, and him that holdeth back, in one day.

9:15. The aged and honourable, he is the head: and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.

9:16. And they that call this people blessed, shall cause them to err: and they that are called blessed, shall be thrown down, headlong.

9:17. Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men: neither shall he have mercy on their fatherless, and widows: for every one is a hypocrite and wicked, and every mouth hath spoken folly. For all this his indignation is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

9:18. For wickedness is kindled as a fire, it shall devour the brier and the thorn: and shall kindle in the thicket of the forest, and it shall be wrapped up in smoke ascending on high.

9:19. By the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is troubled, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire: no man shall spare his brother.

9:20. And he shall turn to the right hand, and shall be hungry: and shall eat on the left hand, and shall not be filled: every one shall eat the flesh of his own arm: Mana.s.ses Ephraim, and Ephraim Mana.s.ses, and they together shall be against Juda.

9:21. After all these things his indignation is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Isaias Chapter 10

Woe to the makers of wicked laws. The a.s.syrian shall be a rod for punis.h.i.+ng Israel: but for their pride they shall be destroyed: and a remnant of Israel saved.

10:1. Woe to them that make wicked laws: and when they write, write injustice:

10:2. To oppress the poor in judgment, and do violence to the cause of the humble of my people: that widows might be their prey, and that they might rob the fatherless.

10:3. What will you do in the day of visitation, and of the calamity which cometh from afar? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

10:4. That you be not bowed down under the bond, and fall with the slain? In all these things his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

10:5. Woe to the a.s.syrian, he is the rod and the staff of my anger, and my indignation is in their hands.

10:6. I will send him to a deceitful nation, and I will give him a charge against the people of my wrath, to take away the spoils, and to lay hold on the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

10:7. But he shall not take it so, and his heart shall not think so: but his heart shall be set to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.

10:8. For he shall say:

10:9. Are not my princes as so many kings? is not Calano as Charcamis: and Emath as Arphad? is not Samaria as Damascus?

10:10. As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idol, so also their idols of Jerusalem, and of Samaria.

10:11. Shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

10:12. And it shall come to pa.s.s, that when the Lord shall have performed all his works in mount Sion, and in Jerusalem, I will visit the fruit of the proud heart of the king of a.s.syria, and the glory of the haughtiness of his eyes.

10:13. For he hath said: By the strength of my own hand I have done it, and by my own wisdom I have understood: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have taken the spoils of the princes, and as a mighty man hath pulled down them that sat on high.

10:14. And my hand hath found the strength of the people as a nest; and as eggs are gathered, that are left, so have I gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or made the least noise.

10:15. Shall the axe boast itself against him that cutteth with it? or shall the saw exalt itself against him by whom it is drawn? as if a rod should lift itself up against him that lifteth it up, and a staff exalt itself, which is but wood.

10:16. Therefore the sovereign Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall send leanness among his fat ones: and under his glory shall be kindled a burning, as it were the burning of a fire.