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Let the ungodly man his ways abjure,
And the unrighteous all his thoughts impure;
And let them turn where mercy may be found,
Implore that God whose pardon will abound.
My thoughts are not as yours,

Neither are your ways my ways, saith our God;
For as the heavens are higher than the clod,
So are my ways above those ye have trod,
And so my mind beyond your thoughts endures.
Yea, as the falling rain,

And as the snow from heaven,

Do not return again,

But to the earth are given,

To form the blossom and the fruit, to spread

Seed to the sower, to the eater bread:

So is the word that goeth forth from me,
Which shall not back return, nor fruitless be;
It shall effect that which I have decreed;
The end for which I sent it, shall succeed.

With gladness I will all my people bring,
With peace will I lead on their chosen bands;
The mountains and the hills shall shout and sing,
And all the forest trees shall clap their hands.
E 2

In place of thistles shall the fir tree grow,
For choking brambles, myrtles will I plant;
And this for a memorial I bestow,

And for an everlasting covenant.

CHAPTER LVI.

THUS saith the Mighty Lord, Incline your ear,
Maintain ye judgment, practice equity;
For my salvation now approaches near,
My righteousness shall rise to every eye.
Blessed is he who maketh these his stay,

The son of man who holdeth this command,
Who from profaneness keeps my holy day,
And who from wickedness restrains his hand.

Let not the stranger's son exclaim,
That cleaveth to my holy name—
"The Lord hath from his race divided me;"
Nor he that hope hath none,

Of daughter or of son,

Lamenting say, "Lo, I am a dry tree."

For thus to him declares his gracious God-
If he have kept my sabbaths unprofaned,
And in the ways where I delight, have trod,

And steadfastly my covenant maintained,

To him a place within my house I give,
And in my walls bestow on him a name;
Longer than sons or daughters shall it live,
One that he everlastingly shall claim.

And all the stranger's sons that cleave to me,
To love my name, and in my presence serve,
Who from defilement keep my sabbaths free,
Nor from my holy covenant will swerve,

These to my hallowed mountain will I bring,
And make them glad within my house of prayer;
Their sacrifice and willing offering

Shall on my altar be accepted there.

My holy temple now is named

The house of prayer for all the earth— Thus hath the mighty Lord proclaimed,

Who calleth Israel's outcasts forthAnd all the numbers that I now restore, Shall be increased by many legions more.

O all ye savage wolves, now is your hour;
Ye wild ones of the forest, come, devour:
His watchmen all are blind, they do not mark;
Yea, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark;
Sloths, dreamers, and from slumber unreclaimed-
Greedy, aye, of an appetite untamed.

The foolish shepherds cannot comprehend,
And each aside to his own way doth bend;

They all are after filthy lucre goneAll, from the highest to the lowest one.

Come, let us wine provide,
And pour the flowing tide;
And as this day hath run,
So shines to-morrow's sun;
As this hath been redundant,
That shall be more abundant.

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