Thus saith the Lord, Lo, I will lift my hand, And they shall bring thy sons upon their breast, Queens thou shalt as their nursing mothers see; Their faces to the earth shall they bow down, What, shall the prey Be taken from the mighty one away? Or shall the spoils Be rescued from the adversary's toils? Jehovah hath said, Yea: Even the great ones' prey shall be released, Ye shall recover what the spoiler seized. With those that strive with thee, I am the striver And I thy children surely will deliver. And those that wrought thee ill, With their own flesh I fill, And as with wine, their blood Shall drench them in a flood: ; CHAPTER L. THUS saith the Lord, Produce to me the word By which I wrote your mother's separation; My creditors among, To whom I sold you as a compensation? And from your sins does her divorce arise. Is my I came, there was not one: I called, had answer none. hand shortened that I cannot save? What, can I not set free? In wrath I dry the sea: Their fish have failed because they lack the wave: Yea, I in darkness will envelop heaven, And I have sackcloth as its covering given. The Lord hath favoured me with wisdom's tongue, The Lord Jehovah opened hath mine ear, Unto the smiting ones my back I gave, My cheeks to those that plucked off the hair, Nor would my face from shame and spitting save; The Lord hath holpen me these ills to bear; I therefore as a flint have set my face, The justifying one is near at hand, What mortal to contend with me will choose? Where is the man among you fearing God? Behold, ye blind igniters of a flame, Which ye with fuel thus have compassed round; Ye raised the light-now walk ye in the same, And in the fuel which your sparks have found; This punishment my hand to you shall send, In shame and sorrow your device shall end. CHAPTER LI. HEARKEN, all ye who righteousness have sought, Abraham, your great father, look upon; Thus will I comfort Sion's deep distress, Great joy and gladness Sion shall display, O all ye peoples, to my words give heed, My coming righteousness is near at hand; And all the earth beneath your feet behold: From its inhabitants their breath I sever, Hearken to me, ye that know righteousness, These as a garment shall the moth consume, Awake, awake, thy mighty strength unfold, Arm of Jehovah ! Awake, awake, as in the days of old! Art thou not he that smote proud Rahab's hold, And the rebellious dragon triumphed over? Art thou not he that dried up the sea |