11. For thus said Jehovah unto me in strength of hand, and instructed me away from walking in the way of this people, saying, 12. Ye shall not call conspiracy everything which this people calleth conspiracy, and its fear ye shall not fear nor be afraid. 13. Jehovah of hosts, Him shall ye sanctify; and He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread. 14. And He shall be for a holy thing, and for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel; for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15. And many shall stumble over them, and fall and be broken and be snared, and be taken.
16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law, in my disciples. 17. And I will wait for Jehovah, that hideth His face from the house of Jacob, and will expect Him. 18. Behold, I and the children which Jehovah hath given me are (for) signs and for wonders in Israel from Jehovah of hosts, the (One) dwelling in mount Zion. 19. And when they shall say to you, Seek unto the spirits and to the wizards, the chirpers and the mutterers: should not a people seek to its God, for the living to the dead? 20. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, (they are they) to whom there is no dawn. 21. And they shall pass through it hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall be that when they are hungry they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and shall look upward. 22. And to the earth he shall look; and behold distress and darkness, dimness of anguish, and (into) darkness (he shall be) driven. [— Or, The dimness of anguish and of darkness is dispelled.]
IX.—1. For (there shall) not (be) darkness (for ever) to her who is now distressed. As the former time degraded the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, so the latter glorifies the way of the sea, the bank of the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
2. The people, those walking in the dark, have seen a great light: the dwellers in the shadow of death, light has beamed upon them. 3. Thou hast enlarged the nation, Thou hast increased its joy: (they) rejoice before Thee like the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil; 4. that the yoke of his burden, and the rod of his shoulder, and the staff of the one driving him, Thou hast broken as in the day of Midian. 5. For all the armour of the armed man in the tumult, and the garments rolled in blood, shall be for burning, food of fire. 6. For a son is born to us, a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7. To the increase of the government and to the peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it and to confirm it, in justice and in righteousness from henceforth and for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts shall do this.
8. The Lord sent a word unto Jacob, and it came down into Israel. 9. And they know, the people, all of them, Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, in pride and in greatness of heart saying, 10. “Bricks are fallen, and hewn stone will we build; sycamores are felled, and cedars will we substitute.” 11. And (now) Jehovah raises up above him the enemies of Rezin, and he will instigate his own enemies: 12. Aram before, and Philistia behind, and they devour Israel with open mouth. For all this His wrath does not turn back, and still His hand is stretched out.
13. And the people has not turned to Him that smote them, and Jehovah of hosts they have not sought. 14. And Jehovah has cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and root, in one day. 15. The elder and the favourite, be (is) the head, and the prophet teaching falsehood, he (is) the tail. 16. The leaders of this people have been seducers, and the led of them (are) swallowed up. 17. Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, and on their orphans and their widows He will not have mercy, for every one of them is profane and an evil-doer, and every mouth (is) speaking folly. For all this His wrath is not turned back, and still is His hand outstretched.
18. For wickedness burneth as the fire, thorns and briers it consumes, then kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll themselves upward, a column of smoke. 19. In the wrath of Jehovah of hosts the land is darkened, and the people is like food of fire: one another they do not spare. 20. And he tears on the right hand, and is hungry (still), and devours on the left, and (still) they are not satisfied; each the flesh of his (own) arm they devour: 21. Manasseh Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, (and) together they (are) against Judah. For all this His wrath is not turned back, and still His hand (is) stretched out.
X.—1. Woe unto them that decree decrees of injustice, and that write oppression which they have prescribed; 2. to turn aside from judgment the weak, the right of the poor of my people, that widows may be their spoil, and the fatherless they plunder. 3. And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the ruin (which) shall come from far? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your glory? 4. It does not bow beneath the prisoners, and (yet) they shall fall beneath the slain. For all this His wrath is not turned back, and still His hand is stretched out.
the sin and the doom of assyria.—chap. x. 5–34.
5. Woe unto Asshur, the rod of My anger, and the staff in their hand is My indignation. 6. Against an impious nation will I send him and against the people of My wrath I will commission him, to take spoil and to seize pray, and to render it a trampling, like the mire of streets. 7. And he not so will think, and his heart so will think; for to destroy (is) in his heart, and to cut off nations not a few. 8. For he says, Are not my princes altogether kings? 9. Is not Calno like Carchemish? or (is) not Hamath like Arpad? or (is) not Samaria like Damascus? 10. As my hand hath found the idol-kingdoms, and their images (more) than (those of) Jerusalem and Samaria, 11. shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her gods?