17

For wickedness burneth like a fire;
The brier and the bramble it shall consume:

And it shall kindle the thicket of the wood;

And they shall mount up in volumes of rising smoke. 18 Through the wrath of JEHOVAH God of hosts is the land darkened;

And the people shall be as fuel for the fire:

A man shall not spare his brother.

19 But he shall snatch on the right, and yet be hungry; And he shall devour on the left, and not be satisfied: Every man shall devour the flesh of his neighbour. 20 Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh;

1

And both of them shall be united against Judah.
For all this his anger is not turned away;

But his hand is still stretched out.

CHAP. X.

Wo unto them, that decrée unrighteous decrees; Unto the scribes, that prescribe oppression :

2 To turn aside the needy from judgment; To rob of their right the poor of my people: That the widows may become their prey; And that they may plunder the orphans. 3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation? And in the desolation, which shall come from afar? To whom will ye flee for succour ?

And where will ye deposit your wealth;

4 Without me, they shall bow down under the bounden,

5

And under the slain shall they fall.

For all this his anger is not turned away;

But his hand is still stretched out.

Ho! to the Assyrian, the rod of mine anger,

The staff in whose hand is the instrument of mine indignation!

6 Against a dissembling nation will I send him;
And against a people the object of my wrath will I
give him a charge :

To gather the spoil, and to bear away the prey;
And to trample them under foot like the mire of the

streets.

7 But He doth not so purpose;

And his heart doth not so intend:
But to destroy is in his heart;

And to cut off nations not a few.

8 For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? 9 Is not Calno as Carchemish?

Is not Hamath as Arphad?

Is not Samaria as Damascus ?

10 As my hand hath seized the kingdoms of the idols, Whose graven images were superior to those of Samaria and Jerusalem;

11 As I have done unto Samaria and her idols,

12

Shall I not likewise do unto Jerusalem, and her images?

But it shall be, when JEHOVAH hath accomplished his whole work

Upon mount Sion, and upon Jerusalem :

I will punish the effect of the proud heart of the king of Assyria;

And the triumphant look of his haughty eyes.

13 For he hath said, By the strength of my hand have I done it;

And by my wisdom; for I am endowed with prudence.

I have removed the bounds of the peoples;

And I have plundered their hoarded treasures;
And I have brought down those, that were strongly
seated.

14 And my hand hath found, as a nest, the riches of the peoples:

And as one gathereth eggs deserted,

15

So have I made a general gathering of the earth:
And there was no one that moved the wing;
That opened the beak, or that chirped.

Shall the ax boast itself against him, that heweth
therewith?

Shall the saw magnify itself against him, that moveth
it?

As if the rod should wield him, that lifteth it;
As if the staff should lift up its master.

16 Wherefore JEHOVAH the Lord of hosts shall send Upon his fat ones leanness;

And under his glory shall he kindle

A burning as of a conflagration.

7 And the light of Israel shall become a fire,

And his Holy One a flame;

And he shall burn, and consume his thorn,

And his brier in one day.

18 Even the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, From the soul even to the flesh, shall he consume;

And it shall be, as when one fleeth out of the fire. 19 And the remainder of the trees of his forest shall be a small number,

20

So that a child may write them down..

And it shall come to pass in that day,
No more shall the remnant of Israel,
And the escaped of the house of Jacob,
Lean upon him, that smote them:
But shall lean upon JEHOVAH,
The Holy One of Israel, in truth.

21 A remnant shall return, a remnant of Jacob,
Unto God the Mighty.

22 For though thy people, O Israel, shall be as the sand

of the sea,

A remnant of them only shall return.

The consummation decided, overfloweth with strict justice;

23 For a full and decisive decree

24

Shall JEHOVAH the Lord of hosts accomplish in the midst of the land.

Wherefore thus saith JEHOVAH the Lord of hosts: Fear not, O my people, that dwellest in Sion, because of the Assyrian :

With his staff indeed shall he smite thee,

And his rod shall he lift up against thee, in the way of Egypt.

25 But yet a very little time, and mine indignation shall

cease;

And mine anger in their destruction :

26 And JEHOVAH God of hosts shall raise up against him a scourge,

Like the stroke upon Midian at the rock of Oreb, And like the rod which he lifted up over the sea; Yea he will lift it up, after the manner of Egypt. 27 And it shall come to pass in that day,

28

His burden shall be removed from off thy shoulder,
And his yoke from off thy neck:

Yea the yoke shall perish from off your shoulders.

He is come to Aiath; he hath passed to Migron; At Michmas he will deposite his baggage.

29 They have passed the strait; Geba is their lodging for the night:

Ramah is frightened; Gibeah of Saul fleeth. 30 Cry aloud with thy voice, O daughter of Gallim; Hearken unto her, O Laish; answer her, O Anathoth. 31 Madmena is gone away; the inhabitants of Gebim flee amain.

32 Yet this day shall he abide in Nob:

33

He shall shake his hand against the mount of the

daughter of Sion;

Against the hill of Jerusalem.

Behold JEHOVAH, the Lord of hosts,

Shall lop the flourishing branch with a dreadful crash;

And the high of stature shall be cut down,

And the lofty shall be brought low:

34 And he shall hew the thickets of the forest with iron, And Lebanon shall fall by a mighty hand.

CHAP. XI. ▾

1 BUT there shall spring forth a rod from the trunk of Jesse;

And a scion from his roots shall become fruitful. 2 And the spirit of JEHOVAH shall rest upon him; The spirit of wisdom, and understanding;

The spirit of counsel, and strength;

The spirit of the knowledge, and the fear of JE

HOVAH.

3 And he shall be of quick discernment in the fear of JEHOVAH:

So that not according to the sight of his eyes shall he judge;

Nor according to the hearing of his ears shall he

reprove.

4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, And with equity shall he work conviction in the meek of the earth.

And he shall smite the earth with the blast of his mouth.

And with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked one.

5. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins; And faithfulness the cincture of his reins.

6

Then shall the wolf take up his abode with the

lamb;

And the leopard shall lie down with the kid:
And the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling
shall come together;