Jeremiah's complaint. B. C. 588. The mercies of God. 4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. LAMENTATIONS.-CHAP. III. "upon the ground, and keep silence: they | A. M. 3416. have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground. u Is.3.26. ▾or, faint. w Je.27.14, 15. x Is. 53.1. Je. 23.22. 11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of by the my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. 12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mother's bosom. 13 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee? way. z Ps.35 21. a Le.26.16, &c. De 28.15, &c. Je. 18. 11. b Pa89.42. c Je. 14.17. d PR.62.8. e Eze 5.10, 16. f De. 28.53. Je. 19.9. dled with their hands. 14 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered * thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but h 2Ch.36.17 have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment. i Je.6.25. j Ho.9.12, 13. 15 All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter a Am.5.20. of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? b Job 16.8, &c. Je.50.17. 16 All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: 51 they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it. d Ps. 143.3. e Ho 2.6. f Job 30.20. g Ho.5.14. 13.7,8. h Ho.6.1. Job 7.20. Jsona. k P.69.12 1 bitterneasca. m Pr.20.17. n rolled me in the. o good. Job 7.7. P P8.31.22. 19 Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out 4thy heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young or, re children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street. 20 Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their f fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the LORD? 5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. 6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. 7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. 8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. 9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. 10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait and as a lion in secret places. 11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. 12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. 13 He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. 14 I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day. 15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. 16 He hath also broken my teeth with m gravel stones, he hath "covered me with ashes. 17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. 18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD: 19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. 20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. 31 For the LORD will not cast off for ever: 32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. 33 For he doth not afflicts willingly nor grieve the children of men. 34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, 35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High, h 36 To subvert a man in his cause, the LORD I approveth not. 37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the LORD commandeth it not? 38 Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good? 39 Wherefore doth a living man 1 complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? 40 Let us search and try our ways, and m Hag.1.5,7 turn again to the LORD God's justice acknowledgea. LAMENTATIONS.-CHAP. IV., V. 41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. n 42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. B. C. 588. h Zion confesses her sins. M36 punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her. n Da.9.5. o 2Ch.36.17. p 18.24.17. 43 Thou hast covered with anger, and perse- r 18.63.15. 8 my soul. than. 45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and or, more refuse in the midst of the people. 46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. u Da.16.17. v Jo.2,3,4,7. w Ps. 130.1. x Is 43.1,2 y Je.51.36. P35.1,23. a Je.11.19, 20. b or, obetinary. Is.6.10. a 2 Ki.25.9, 10. b 2 Ti.2.20. cor, seacalves. 16. 7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire: 8 Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin * cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick. 9 They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field. 10 The hands of the pitiful m women have sodden their own children: they were their meat" in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 11 The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof. 12 The kings of the earth, and all the inhad Job 39.13, bitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem. e De.32.21. f Job 24.8. gor, iniquity. Ro.7.13. h Ge.19.25 darker than blackness. c.5.10. k Ps.102.5. flow out. m Is.49. 15. n De 28.56, 57. 2 Ki.6.28, 29. o Je. 7.20. p Je.21.14. q Je.5.31. Eze.22.26, 28. Zep.3.4. r Mat.23. 31,37. s Je.2.34. 17 As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us. 18 They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come. 19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the that they mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness. t or, in could not but. u Nu.19.16. A pitiful complaint of Zion, LAMENTATIONS.-CHAP. V. B. C. 5 d Our necks are under persecution: we la- | A. M. 3116. bour, and have no rest. 6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. 7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities. 8 Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. 9 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness. 10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. 11 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah. 12 Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured. 13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood. d or, on our Ne.9.36,37 f Ne.5.15. i of our Hab. 1.12 1 for length m Pa.80.3, D Hab.3.2 o or, For in prayer unto God 14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music. 15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. 16 The crown is fallen from our head: wo unto us, that we have sinned! 17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. 18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it. 19 Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation. 20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time? m 21 Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. 22 But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us. THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. CHAPTER I. 1 The time of Ezekiel's prophecy at Chebar. 4 His vision of four cherubims, 15 of the four wheels, 26 and of the glory of God. Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. e a с 2 In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity, 3 The word of the LORD came expressly unto ' Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him. 4 ¶ And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind i Re.4.6,&c. came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. 8 And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four 4 13.55.9. had their faces and their wings. 9 Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. 10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. 11 Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. 12 And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went. 13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps; it went • up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. 14 And the living creatures P ran and return r or,streaks. Pr.15.3. c. 10.12. ver.12. 1 Co. 14.32 u or, life. w c. 43.2. 16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. 17 When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. 18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four. г 19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. 20 Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 22 And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. V 23 And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies. 24 And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of a host when they stood, they let down their wings. 25 And there was a voice from the firmaJob 37.2. ment that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings. Ezekiel's commission. EZEKIEL.-CHAP. II., III. God encourageth him. ward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, | AM 340 made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be and it had brightness round about. dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. B. C. 595. e Ge.9.13. Re.4.3. 10.1. 10. 24.16,17. 28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the ap-d Ex. 16.7, pearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake. CHAPTER II. 1 Ezekiel's commission. 6 His instruction. 9 The roll of his heavy prophecy. AND he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. 2 And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me. 11. 10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thy heart, and hear with thine ears. 11 And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak Re. 1.17,18 unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. e c.3.23. Da. 8.17. Ac. 9.4. a Da. 10.11. b c.3.21. e nations. d De.9.27. 30. e hard of f Mat. 10.16. g c.3.11,27. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Ísrael, to a rebellious • nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against i Je 1.8,17. me, even unto this very day. e h c.33.33. Lu 12.4. Ac.4.29, 31. jor, rebels. k 28. 23.6,7 Is.9.18. Mi.7.4. 4 For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD. 5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious m rebellion and I sat where they sat, and remained there house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them. 1 1 Pe. 3.14. n 18.50.5. o Re. 10.9,10 q c.3.1. a ver.2,8,9. 6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of p.8.3. them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thoub Je 15. 16. dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. 7 And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. 8 But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou" rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and bit was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. 4 ¶ And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. 5 For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel; 6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. 7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. 8 Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. 9 As an adamant harder than flint have I 11 Ki.18.12. 2 Ki. 2. 16. c.8.3. Ac.8.39. m kissed. n ver. 12. o bitter. hot anger. 92.3.15. P.137.1. 18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his "iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand. 19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 20 Again, when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thy hand. 21 Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul. 22 And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee. 23 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the u Jn.8.21,24 river of Chebar: and I fell on my face. 12.8. 56.10. Je.6.17. He. 13.17. tc.33.6. v 1s. 49.4.5. Ac. 20.26. w c.18.24. 33. 12,13. righteous nesses. y 1Pe.2.6..8 z Pa. 19.11. a Lu.1.20, b Am.8.11, 12. c man re proving. d Pa. 38.13, 24 Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thy house. 25 But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them: 26 And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover: : for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Gop; He that heareth. d The type of Jerusalem's siege. EZEKIEL.-CHAP. IV., V. let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him | 4. M. 340. forbear: for they are a rebellious house. CHAPTER IV. 1 Under the type of a siege is showed the time from the defection of Jeroboam to the captivity. By the provision of the siege is showed the hardness of the famine. THO HOU also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem: 2 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about. 3 Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. d 4 Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. B. C. 595. a Lu. 19.43, 44. b or, chief leaders. c.21.22. c or, a flat plate, or, alice. The type of the prophet's hair CHAPTER V. Under the type of hair, 5 is showed the judgment of Jerusalem for their rebellion 12 by famine, sword, and dispersion. AND thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair. 2 Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in 126,11. the midst of the city, when the days of the Beginning siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a 1223 third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them. 975. ending 585. Na. 14.3,4. g a day for a year, a day for a year. h c.33.25. i thy side to thy ride. Jor, spell. k Ho.9.3. Le.17.15. 5 For I have laid upon thee the years of 1 Ac.10.14. their iniquity, according to the number of mEx.231 the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 594. n De 14.3. Is.65.4. Ps. 105. 16. Is.3.1. 6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt o Le 26.26. bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee & each day for a year. 7 Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it. 8 And, behold, I will lay bands h upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from i one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege. 9 Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and maked thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof. 10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it. 11 Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time shalt thou drink. 12 And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight. 13 And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among || the Gentiles, whither I will drive them. 14 Then said I, Ah Lord God! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for 1 from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that m which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable "flesh into my mouth. 4 Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel. 5¶ Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. 6 And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them. 7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GoD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you; 8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GoD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations. 9 And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations. 10 Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds. 11 Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord God; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any " pity. 12 ¶ A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter P a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. r 13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be " comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them. 14 Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by. 15 So it shall be a "reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when 1 shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it. |