ISAIAH. CHAP. I. 2 THE HE VISION OF ISAIAH THE SON OF AMOTS, WHICH HE SAW CONCERNING JUDAH AND JERUSALEM; IN THE DAYS OF UZZIAH, JOTHAM, AHAZ, HEZEKIAH, KINGS OF JUDAH. HEAR, O ye heavens; and give ear, O earth! For it is JEHOVAH that speaketh. I have nourished children, and brought them up; 3 The ox knoweth his possessor; And the ass the crib of his lord: Neither doth my people consider. 4 Ah, sinful nation! a people laden with iniquity! A race of evil doers! children degenerate! They have forsaken JEHOVAH; They have rejected with disdain the Holy One of Israel; They are estranged from him; they have turned their back upon him. 3 On what part will ye smite again, will ye add correction ? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint: 6 From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no sound ness therein ; It is wound, and bruise, and putrifying sore: It hath not been pressed, neither hath it been bound; Neither hath it been softened with ointment. 7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire; Your land, before your eyes strangers devour it: And it is become desolate, as if destroyed by an inundation. 8 And the daughter of Sion is left, as a shed in a vineyard; As a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a city taken by siege. 9 Had not JEHOVAH, God of Hosts, left us a remnant, We had soon become as Sodom; we had been like unto Gomorrah. 10 Hear ye the word of JEHOVAH, O ye princes of Sodom! Give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah! 11 What have I to do with the multitude of your sacrifices ? saith JEHOVAH: I am cloyed with the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; And in the blood of bullocks, and of lambs, and of goats, I have no delight. 12 When ye come to appear before me, Who hath required this at your hands? 13 Tread my courts no more; bring no more a vain oblation: Incense! it is an abomination unto me. The new moon, and the sabbath, and the assembly proclaimed, I cannot endure; the fast, and the day of restraint. 14 Your months, and your solemnities, my soul hateth : They are a burthen upon me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; Even when ye multiply prayer, I will not hear; For your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash ye, make ye clean ; remove ye far away The evil of your doings from before mine eyes: 17 Cease to do evil; learn to do well; Seek judgement; amend that which is corrupted; Do justice to the fatherless; defend the cause of the widow. a 18 Come on now, and let us plead together, saith JEHOVAH: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they be red as crimson, they shall be like wool. 19 If ye shall be willing and obedient, Ye shall feed on the good of the land; 20 But if ye refuse, and be rebellious, 21 Ye shall be food for the sword of the enemy: For the mouth of JEHOVAH hath pronounced it. How is the faithful city become a harlot ! She that was full of judgement, righteousness dwelled in her; But now murtherers ! 22 Thy silver is become dross; thy wine is mixed with water. 23 Thy princes are rebellious, associates of robbers 24 ; Every one of them loveth a gift, and seeketh rewards : And the cause of the widow cometh not before them. Wherefore saith the Lord JEHOVAH God of Hosts, the mighty Aha! I will be eased of mine adversaries ; I will be avenged of mine enemies. 25 And I will bring again mine hand over thee: And I will purge in the furnace thy dross; And I will remove all thine alloy. 26 And I will restore thy judges, as at the first; And thy counsellors, as at the beginning: And after this thy name shall be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful metropolis. 27 Sion shall be redeemed in judgement, And her captives in righteousness. 28 But destruction shall fall at once on the revolters and the sinners; And they that forsake JEHOVAH shall be consumed. 29 For ye shall be ashamed of the ilexes, which ye have desired; And ye shall blush for the gardens which ye have chosen : 30 When ye shall be as an ilex, whose leaves are blasted; And as a garden, wherein is no water. 31 And the strong shall become tow, and his work a spark of fire; And they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them. CHAP. II. THE WORD, WHICH WAS REVEALED TO ISAIAH, THE SON OF AMOTS, CONCERNING JUDAH AND JERUSALEM. 2 IT shall come to pass in the latter days; The mountain of the house of JEHOVAH shall be established on the top of the mountains; And it shall be exalted above the hills: And all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many peoples shall go, and shall say: Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of JEHOVAH; To the house of the God of Jacob; For from Sion shall go forth the law; And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, Nation shall not lift up sword against nation; 5 O house of Jacob, come ye, And let us walk in the light of JEHOVAH ! 6 Verily thou hast abandoned thy people, the house of Jacob : Because they are filled with diviners from the East; And with soothsayers like the Philistines; And they multiply a spurious brood of strange children. And there is no end to his treasures: Neither is there any end to his chariots. 8 And his land is filled with idols; He boweth himself down to the work of his hands; To that which his fingers have made : 9 Therefore shall the mean man be bowed down, and the mighty 10 man shall be humbled; And thou wilt not forgive them. Go into the rock, and hide thyself in the dust; From the fear of JEHOVAH, and from the glory of his majesty, When he ariseth to strike the earth with terror. 11 The lofty eyes of men shall be humbled ; The highth of mortals shall bow down : And JEHOVAH alone shall be exalted in that day. 12 For the day of JEHOVAH God of Hosts is against every thing great and lofty; And against every thing that is exalted; and it shall be humbled. 13 Even against all the cedars of Lebanon, the high and the exalted ; And against all the oaks of Basan : 14 And against all the mountains, the high ones; And against all the hills, the exalted ones; 15 And against every tower, high-raised ; And against every mound, strongly fortified. 16 And against all the ships of Tarshish; And against every lovely work of art. 17 And the pride of man shall bow down; And the highth of mortals shall be humbled; And JEHOVAH alone shall be exalted in that day: 18 And the idols shall totally disappear. 19 And they shall go into caverns of rocks, and into holes of the dust; From the fear of JEHOVAH, and from the glory of his majesty, When he ariseth to strike the earth with terror. 20 In that day shall a man cast away his idols of silver, And his idols of gold which they have made to worship; To the moles, and to the bats; 21 To go into caves of the rocks, and into clefts of the craggy rocks: 22 From the fear of JEHOVAH, and from the glory of his majesty, When he ariseth to strike the earth with terror. Trust ye no more in man, whose breath is in his nostrils; For of what account is he to be made? CHAP. III. 1. For behold the Lord JEHOVAH God of Hosts Every stay and support; The whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water; 2 The mighty man, and the warrior ; The judge, and the prophet, and the diviner, and the sage : 3 The ruler of fifty, and the honourable person; And the counsellor, and the skilful artist, and the powerful in persuasion. 4 And I will make boys their princes; And infants shall rule over them. 5 And the people shall be oppressed, one man by another: And every man shall behave insolently towards his neighbour; The boy towards the old man, and the base towards the honourable. 6 Therefore shall a man take his brother, of his father's house, by the garment; Saying: Come, and be thou ruler over us; |
