The Gentiles deliverance. ISAIAH Happy success of them that believe. children of the desolate than the children of the people, a leader and commander to the people. married wife, saith the Lord. 5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou 2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them knowest not, and nations that knew not thee stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; shall run unto thee, because of the LORD thy spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath stakes; glorified thee. 3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. 6 ¶ Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return 4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: nei-unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; ther be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. of thy widowhood any more. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, 5 For thy Maker is thy husband; The LORD of so are my ways higher than your ways, and my hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy thoughts than your thoughts. One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. 9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. 10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. 11 10 thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted! behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapplaires. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the firtree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. CHAP. LVI. Exhortation to holiness of life. THUS saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. 2 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth 12 And I will make thy windows of agates, the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders hand from doing any evil. of pleasant stones. 3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath 13 And all thy children shall be taught of the joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. LORD hath utterly separated me from his peo14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: ple: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt dry tree. not fear and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. 15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. 4 For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; 5 Even unto them will I give in my house and within my walls, a place and a name better than 16 Behold, I have created the smith that blow-of sons and of daughters: I will give them an eth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. an instrument for his work; and I have created 6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themthe waster to destroy. selves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; 17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD. CHAP. LV. 7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for my house shall Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the be called a house of prayer for all people. The prophet calleth to repentance. waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 8 The Lord GoD which gathereth the outcasts 2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which 3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. 4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the 10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. 12 Come ye, say they, I will fetcli wine, and we The Jews reproved for idolatry. CHAP. LVII, LVIII, LIX. Blessed death of the righteous. THE righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. Hypocrisy is reproved. CHAP. LVIII. The fast which God accepteth. CRY aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice: they take de2 He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in light in approaching to God. their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. 3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and 3 But draw near hither, ye sons of the sor- thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our ceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in 4 Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the all your labours. tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood; 5 Inflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks? 6 Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; they, they are thy lot: even to them hast thou poured a drink-offering, thou hast offered a meat-offering. Should I receive comfort in these? 4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and tc smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? 6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to 7 Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and offer sacrifice. that ye break every yoke? 8 Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou 7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discover- that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy ed thyself to another than me, and art gone up; house? when thou seest the naked, that thou thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee a cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from covenant with them; thou lovedst their bed thine own flesh ? where thou sawest it. 8 Then shall thy light break forth as the 9 And thou wentest to the king with ointment, morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedand didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send ily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself the glory of the LORD shall be thy rere-ward. even unto hell. 9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall an 10 Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy swer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou am. If thou take away from the midst of thee hast found the life of thy hand; therefore thou the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and wast not grieved. speaking vanity; 11 And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not? 12 I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee. 10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon-day: 11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat 13 ¶ When thou criest, let thy companies deli- thy bones and thou shalt be like a watered ver thee; but the wind shall carry them all garden, and like a spring of water, whose wa away; vanity shall take them: but he that put-ters fail not. teth his trust in me shall possess the land, and 12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the shall inherit my holy mountain; old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foun14 And shall say, Čast ye up, cast ye up, pre-dations of many generations; and thou shalt be pare the way, take up the stumbling-block out called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of the way of my people. of paths to dwell in. 15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that 13 ¶ If thou turn away thy foot from the sabinhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell bath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; in the high and holy place, with him also that is and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own the contrite ones. pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. 16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. 17 For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. 18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. CHAP. LIX. Punishment of Israel for sin. BEHOLD, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 19 I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, 2 But your iniquities have separated between saith the LORD; and I will heal him. you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not bear. 20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. 4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for Salvation is only of God. ISALAH. Blessings after a short affiction truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they 4 Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: al conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. they gather themselves together, they come to 5 They hatch cockatrice's eggs, and weave the thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and daughters shall be nursed at thy side. that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. 5 Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and 6 Their webs shall not become garments, nei-thy heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the ther shall they cover themselves with their abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, works: their works are works of iniquity, and the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. the act of violence is in their hands. 6 The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the 7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and inof iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their cense; and they shall shew forth the praises of paths. the LORD. 8 The way of peace they know not: and there 7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered tois no judgment in their goings: they have made gether unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein minister unto thee: they shall come up with acshall not know peace. ceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory. 9¶ Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. 10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon-day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. 11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. 12 For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; 13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking op pression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. 14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truin is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. 15 Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. 16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. 17 For he put on righteousness as a breast-plate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. 18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense. 19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. 20 T And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. 8 Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? 9 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee. 10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. 11 Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. 12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. 13 The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. 14 The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee: and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 15 Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. 16 Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. 17 For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. 18 Violence shall no more he heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. 19 The sun shall be no more thy light by day: neither for brightness shall the moon give light 21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an saith the LORD; My Spirit that is upon thee, everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. and my words which I have put in thy mouth, 20 Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth thy mourning shall be ended. and for ever. CHAP. LX. Glorious access of the Gentiles. ARISE, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. 21 Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. 22 A little one shall become a thousand, and a 2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten and gross darkness the people: but the LORD it in his time. shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. CHAP. LXI. The office of Christ. 3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and THE Spirit of the Lord God is upon mere ach kings to the brightness of thy rising. cause the LORD hath anointed me to preach The blessings of the faithful. CHAP. LXII, LXIII. The loving kindness of God. good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty for the which thou hast laboured: to the captives, and the opening of the prison to 9 But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and them that are bound; praise the LORD; and they that have brought it 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. and the day of vengeance of our God; to com- 10 T Go through, go through the gates; prefort all that mourn; pare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up 3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy standard for the people. for mourning, the garment of praise for the spi-11 Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the rit of heaviness; that they might be called Trees end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his rehe might be glorified. ward is with him, and his work before him. 4 And they shall build the old wastes, they 12 And they shall call them, The holy people, shall raise up the former desolations, and they The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of called, Sought out, A city not forsaken. many generations. 5 And strangers shall stand and feed your CHAP. LXIII. flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your W dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is ploughmen and your vine-dressers. 6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatLORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our ness of his strength? I that speak in righteousGod: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and ness, mighty to save. in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. 2 Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine fat? 7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the 3I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of double everlasting joy shall be unto them. the people there was none with me: for I will 8 For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery tread them in mine anger, and trample them in for burnt-offering; and I will direct their work my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon in truth, and I will make an everlasting cove- my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. nant with them. 4 For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and 9 And their sced shall be known among the the year of my redeemed is come. Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: 5 And I looked, and there was none to help; all that see them shall acknowledge them, that and I wondered that there was none to uphold: they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed. therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto 10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul me; and my fury, it upheld me. shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed 6 And I will tread down the people in mine me with the garments of salvation, he hath co- anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I vered me with the robe of righteousness, as a will bring down their strength to the earth. bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and 7 ¶ I will mention the loving-kindnesses of the as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to 11 For as the carth bringeth forth her bud, and all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the as the garden causeth the things that are sown great goodness toward the house of Israel, which in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause he hath bestowed on them according to his merrighteousness and praise to spring forth before cies, and according to the multitude of his lovall the nations. ing-kindnesses. FOR CHAP. LXII. God's promise to his church. NOR Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. 2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. -3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. 4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. 5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. 8 For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour. 9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. 10 But they rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them. 11 Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him? 12 That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name? 13 That led them through the deep as a horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble? 14 As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD caused him to rest: so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name. 6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jeru- 15 T Look down from heaven, and behold from salem, which shall never hold their peace day the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, where is thy zeal and thy strength, the soundkeep not silence, ing of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me ? 7 And give him no rest, till he establish, and are they restrained? till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. 16 Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abra8 The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and ham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more us not thou, O LORD, art our Father, our Regive thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and deemer, thy name is from everlasting. The complaint of the church. ISAIAH. God's judgments on the wicked. 17 ¶ O LORD, why hast thou made us to err found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all. of thine inheritance. 9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, 18 The people of thy holiness have possessed it and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: but a little while our adversaries have trodden and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants down thy sanctuary. shall dwell there. 19 We are thine: thou never barest rule over them they were not called by thy name. CHAP. LXIV. The church's prayer to God. 10 And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me. 11 But ye are they that forsake the LORD, Of that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, table for that troop, and that furnish the drinkoffering unto that number. 2 As when the melting fire burneth, the fire 12 Therefore will I number you to the sword, causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: beknown to thine adversaries, that the nations cause when I called, ye did not answer; when may tremble at thy presence! I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before 3 When thou didst terrible things which we mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delooked not for, thou camest down, the moun- lighted not. tains flowed down at thy presence. 4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. 5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved. 6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. 7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. 8 But now, O LORD, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. 9 Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. 10 Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. 11 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire and all our pleasant things are laid waste. 12 Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore? CHAP. LXV. The calling of the Gentiles. AM sought of them that asked not for me; 13 Therefore thus saith the Lord GoD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry : behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: 14 Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit. 15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen for the Lord GoD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name: 16 That he who blesseth himself in the earth, shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes. 17 ¶ For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. 20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old: but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 And they shall build houses and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the I am of them that sought me not: said, of a tree are days of my people, and mine Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name. elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. 24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. 2 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; 3 A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick; 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, 4 Which remain among the graves, and lodge and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: in the monuments, which eat swine's flesh, and and dust shall be the serpent's meat. broth of abominable things is in their vessels; shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy moun5 Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near tain. saith the LORD. to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day. CHAP. LXVI. God will be served in sincerity. They 6 Behold, it is written before me: I will not THUS saith the LORD, The heaven is my keep silence, but will recompense, even recom- throne, and the earth is my footstool: where pense into their bosom, is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?. 7 Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom. 8 Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is 2 For all those things hath my hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. 3 He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; |