indeed, a determined one, shall the Lord of Hosts make in the midst of all the land. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Hosts: "O My people that dwellest in Zion! Be not afraid of the Assyrian, though he shall smite thee with his rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, even as Egypt did. For yet a very little while, and the indignation against thee shall cease, and Mine anger shall be for his destruction. And the Lord of Hosts shall stir up against him a scourge, as in the slaughter of Midian, at the rock of Oreb. As His rod was lifted up upon the Red Sea in the case of Egypt, so shall He lift it up against him: and it shall come to pass in that day that his burden will be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck."

Sargon's Invasion (710 B.C.) described.

The Destroyer is come up from the North! He is come to Aiath!

He is passed to Migron! At Michmash he hath pitched his camp!

They are gone over the Pass! "Let our quarters be at Geba!"

Ramah is afraid: Gibeah of Saul is in flight.

Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim!

Laish!

Hearken, O

O Anathoth, answer her! Madmenah hurries away.
The inhabitants of Gebim prepare for flight.

This very day he remains at Nob.

He shakes his hand against the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem!

The Issue.

Behold! The Lord, the Lord of Hosts lops the bough with fearful force.

The high ones are hewn down-the haughty ones are humbled.

He cuts down the thickets of the forest with the iron, and Lebanon falls by the Mighty One. (Ch. x. 15-34.)*

The Prophet's Surprise and Grief at the People's Joy (710 B.C.).

A message concerning the Valley of Vision, i.e., Jerusalem. What's the matter now? Why have you all gone up to the house-tops? Thou art full of stir, a tumultuous city, a joyous city! Thy slain are not slain with the sword, nor killed in battle. All thy rulers are fled together: they are made prisoners without the archers: all that are found of thee are seized while they are fleeing far away!

Then said I, "Look away from me! I will weep bitterly; labour not to comfort me-because the daughter of my people is spoiled. For this is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity from the Lord God of Hosts in the Valley of Vision-breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains."

Elam bears the quiver with troops of men, and horsemen : Kir uncovers the shield. And it has come to pass that thy choicest valleys are full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate. He has uncovered the covering of Judah!

Thou didst look in that day to the armour in the Forest House, and didst see the breaches also in the City of David that they are many. Ye gathered together the waters of the Lower Pool. Ye have numbered also the houses of Jerusalem, and houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall. And ye made also a ditch between the two walls for * See page 91 for Ch. xi.

the water of the old pool. But ye have not looked unto the Doer of this, neither have had respect unto Him that decreed it long ago!

In that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and to mourning, and to cutting of the hair, and to girding with sackcloth but, behold! joy and gladness, slaying of oxen, and killing of sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine-men saying, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."

And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts Himself, "Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die," saith the Lord God of Hosts. (Ch. xxii. 1-14.) The Divine Purpose.

The Lord of Hosts hath sworn, saying: "Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. And as I have purposed, so shall it stand. I will break the Assyrian in My land, and upon My mountains tread him under foot. Then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden from off their shoulders. This is the Purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth! This is the Hand that is stretched out upon all the nations! For the Lord of Hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And His Hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? (Ch. xiv. 24-27.) The Overthrow of Assyria.

Ah! Thou crowd of many peoples! Thou who makest a noise, like the noise of the seas! Oh! the rushing of nations, a rushing like to the rushing of mighty waters! The nations are rushing like the rushing of many waters! But God rebukes them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the whirlwind.

"Lo! behold! in the evening-panic! In the early

morn-nothing!" This is the portion of them that spoil

us, and the lot of them that rob us.

Assyria no cause of Terror to Egypt.

(Ch. xvii. 12-14.)

Ah! thou land of the buzzing of insects! Thou country beyond the rivers of Ethiopia! That sendeth ambassadors over the sea, even in vessels of papyrus upon the waters! Go, swift messengers, to the nation tall and polished, to a people terrible from their origin up till now-a nation that meteth out, and treadeth down, whose land the rivers flow through, and say: “O all ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth! When one lifteth up an ensign on the mountains, see ye! When one bloweth a trumpet, hear ye! For thus hath the Lord said unto me: 'I will take My rest, and I will consider in My dwelling-place. I will remain still, like clear heat in sunshine, and like a cloud of moisture in the heat of harvest. For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becometh a ripening grape, He both cutteth off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and taketh away and cutteth down the branches. They shall be left together to the wild birds of the mountains, and to the wild beasts of the earth. The birds of prey shall summer upon them, and all the wild beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. In that time shall homage be paid unto the Lord of Hosts, by a people tall and polished, a people terrible from their origin till now—a nation who meteth out, and treadeth down, whose land the rivers pass through-even at Mount Zion, the place where the Name of the Lord of Hosts is.'" (Ch. xviii. 1-7.)

PART IX.

THE PROPHETIC DENUNCIATION OF AN ALLIANCE
WITH EGYPT.

The Deposition of Shebna, or Royal Treasurer, declared. Thus saith the Lord God of Hosts: "Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, who is over the State: and say, 'What doest thou here? Whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that cutteth out a place for himself in the rock. Behold! the Lord will hurl thee away violently, O thou strong man! He will lay sure hold on thee! He will assuredly turn and toss thee, like a ball into a wide country! There shalt thou die, and there shall go the chariots of thy glory, O thou shame of thy Lord's house! For I am driving thee from thy station! Yea, from thy rank He shall pull thee down.'" (Ch. xxii. 15-19.) Shebna's Successor Announced.

And it shall come to pass in that day that I will call My servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulders so that he shall open, and none shall shut, and he shall shut, and none shall open. I will also fasten him as a tent peg in a sure place, and he shall be a throne of glory to his father's house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all the small vessels, from the vessels of cups even to