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; And let thine hand support our ruinous state. 7 Then shall he openly declare saying:

I will not be the healer of your breaches;
For in my house is neither bread, nor raiment:
Appoint not me ruler of the people.

8 For Jerusalem tottereth, and Judah falleth;

Because their tongues, and their hands, are against
JEHOVAH;

To provoke by their disobedience the cloud of his
glory.

9 The steadfastness of their countenance witnesseth against them;

For their sin, like Sodom, they publish, they hide it

not:

Wo to their souls! for upon themselves have they brought down evil.

10 Pronounce ye a blessing on the just: verily, good [shall be to him];

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1

For the fruit of his deeds shall he eat.

11 Wo to the wicked: evil [shall be his portion]; For the work of his hands shall be repaid unto him. 12 As for my people, children are their oppressors; And women bear rule over them.

13

O my people, thy leaders cause thee to err;
And pervert the of thy paths.

way

JEHOVAH ariseth to plead his cause;
He standeth up to contend with his people,
14 JEHOVAH will meet in judgment,

The elders of his people, and their princes:
As for you, ye have consumed my vineyard:

your

houses.

The plunder of the is in poor 15 What mean ye, that ye crush my people; And grind the faces of the poor? Saith JEHOVAH, the Lord of hosts.

16

Moreover JEHOVAH hath said:

Because the daughters of Sion are haughty;
And walk displaying the neck,

And falsely setting off their eyes with paint;
Mincing their steps as they go,

And with their feet lightly tripping along.

17 Therefore will the Lord humble the head of the daughters of Sion;

And JEHOVAH will expose their nakedness.

18 In that day will the Lord take from them the ornaments,

Of the feet-rings, and the net-works, and the crescents;

19 The pendents, and the bracelets, and the thin veils ; 20 The tires, and the fetters, and the zones,

And the perfume boxes, and the amulets; 21 The rings, and the jewels of the nostril; 22 The embroidered robes, and the tunics;

And the cloaks, and the little purses ;

23 The transparent garments, and the fine linen vests;

And the turbans, and the mantles:

24 And there shall be, instead of perfume, a putrid

ulcer;

And, instead of well-girt raiment, rags;

And, instead of high-dressed hair, baldness;
And, instead of a zone, a girdle of sackcloth :
A sunburnt skin, instead of beauty.
25 Thy people shall fall by the sword;
And thy mighty men in the battle.

26 And her doors shall lament and mourn;
And desolate shall she sit on the ground.

CHAP. IV.

1 AND seven women shall lay hold on one man in that day, saying:

2

Our own bread will we eat,

And with our own garments will we be clothed;
Only let us be called by thy name;

Take away our reproach.

In that day shall the Branch of JEHOVAH
Become glorious and honourable;

And the produce of the land excellent and beautiful,
For the escape of the house of Israel.

3 And it shall come to pass, whosoever is left in Sion, And remaineth in Jerusalem,

Holy shall he be called;

Every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem.

4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Sion;

And the blood of Jerusalem shall have removed from the midst of her,

By a spirit of judgment, and by a spirit of burning: 5 Then shall JEHOVAH create upon the station of mount Sion,

And upon all her holy assemblies,

A cloud by day, and smoke;

And the brightness of a flaming fire by night;

Yea, over all shall the Glory be a covering.

6 And a tabernacle it shall be, for shade by day from the heat

And for a covert, and a refuge, from storm and rain.

CHAP. V.

LET me sing now a song to my Beloved;
A song of loves concerning his vineyard.

My Beloved had a vineyard,

On a high and fruitful hill :

2 And he fenced it round, and he cleared it from the

stones,

And he planted it with the vine of Sorek;

And he built a tower in the midst of it,

And he hewed out also a lake therein:

And he expected, that it should bring forth grapes, But it brought forth poisonous berries.

3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and ye men of Judah,

Judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard: 4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, Than I have done unto it?

Why, when I expected that it should bring forth grapes,

Brought it forth poisonous berries?

5 But come now, and I will make known unto you, What I purpose to do to my vineyard :

To remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; To destroy its fence, and it shall be trodden down. 6 And I will make it a desolation;

It shall not be pruned, neither shall it be digged; But the brier and the thorn shall spring up in it; And I will command the clouds,

That they shed no rain upon it.

7 Verily, the vineyard of JEHOVAH God of hosts is the house of Israel;

8

And the men of Judah the plant of his delight:
And he looked for judgment, but behold tyranny:
And for righteousness, but behold the cry of the op-
pressed.

Wo unto you, who join house to house;
Who lay field unto field together;

Until there be no place, and ye have your dwelling,
Alone to yourselves, in the midst of the land.

9 To mine ear hath JEHOVAH God of hosts revealed it:

Surely many houses shall become a desolation:

The great and the fair ones, without an inhabitant. 10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield a single bath of wine.

And a chomer of seed shall produce an ephah.

11 Wo unto them, who rise early in the morning, to follow strong drink;

Who sit late in the evening, that wine may inflame them:

12 And the lyre, and the harp, the tabor, and the pipe, And wine, are their entertainments;

But the work of JEHOVAH they regard not;

And the operation of his hands they do not perceive. 13 Therefore my people goeth into captivity for want of knowledge;

And their nobles have died with hunger;

And their plebeians are parched up with thirst.

14 Therefore Hades hath enlarged his appetite; And hath stretched open his mouth without mea

sure:

And down go her nobility, and her populace; And her busy throng, and all that exult in her. 15 And the mean man shall be bowed down, and the great man shall be brought low;

G