Chapters 17-32 (3)

Chapters 17-32 (3)

CHAPTER 31

1 Wo to them that go down into Egypt for help,
And who rely on horses,
And who trust to chariots, because they are numerous,
And to horses, because they are very strong,
And have not looked to the Holy One of Israel,
Nor have sought Jehovah.

2 Yet he also is wise:
Therefore he will bring evil,
And will not make void his words;
He will rise up against the house of the evil-doers,
And against the aid of the workers of vanity.

3 And verily the Egyptian is a man, and not God;
And his horses are flesh, and not spirit.
Therefore, as soon as Jehovah shall stretch out his arm,
The helper shall fall,
And he who is helped shall fall down,
And all shall fail together.

4 For thus hath Jehovah said to me:
As the lion roareth,
And the young lion for his prey,
Against whom, if a multitude of shepherds be gathered together,
He shall not be alarmed by their cry,
And shall not humble himself on account of their noise;
Thus will Jehovah of hosts come down
To fight for Mount Zion,
And for its hill.

5 As birds which fly,
So will Jehovah of hosts defend Jerusalem;
Defending, he will deliver it,
And passing over, he will preserve it.

6 Return ye,
As ye have made a deep revolt,
O children of Israel!

7 For in that day shall a man cast away
The idols of his silver,
And the idols of his gold,
Which your hands have made for you, a sin.

8 Then shall the Assyrian fall by the sword, not of a mighty man;
And the sword, not of a man, shall devour him;
And by flight shall he seek safety from the face of the sword,
And his young men shall melt away.

9 He shall pass to his stronghold through fear,
And his princes shall tremble at the banner, saith Jehovah,
Who hath a fire in Zion,
And who hath a furnace in Jerusalem.

Note 396. Or, Who is to him a fire.

CHAPTER 32

1 Behold! a king shall reign in righteousness,
And princes shall rule in judgment.

2 And that man shall be
As a hiding-place from the wind,
As a covert from the rain,
As streams of waters on dry ground,
As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

3 Then the eyes of them that see shall not be closed up,
And the ears of them that hear shall hearken.

4 And the heart of fools shall be eagerly directed to knowledge,
And the tongue of stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.

5 No longer shall the base man be called liberal,
Nor shall the parsimonious man be called bountiful.

6 For the vile person will speak vileness,
And his heart will contrive iniquity,
To commit wickedness,
That he may utter mockery against Jehovah,
That he may make empty the hungry soul,
And that he may withhold drink from him that is thirsty.

7 The instruments of the covetous man are evil;
He contriveth wickednesses,
That he may deceive the simple by lying words,
And that he may speak against the poor man in judgment.

Note 397. Or, The measures are evil.  

8 But the liberal man shall devise liberal things,
And in acting liberally he shall make progress.

9 Ye women at ease, arise;
Hear my voice, ye careless daughters;
Hearken to my speech.

10 Days above a year shall ye tremble, ye careless women;
For the vintage shall fail,
And the gathering shall not come.

11 Tremble, ye women that are at ease;
Be troubled, ye careless women;
Strip you, make you bare, gird your limbs.

12 Mourning over the udders,
Over the pleasant fields,
Over the fruitful vine.

13 There shall come up the thorn and brier
On the land of my people,
Even on all the houses of gladness in the city of rejoicing.

14 For the palace shall be forsaken;
The noise of the city shall be left;
The tower and the fortress
Shall be reduced to dens for ever,
Where wild asses may delight themselves,
And where flocks may feed.

15 Till the Spirit be poured out upon you from on high,
And the wilderness become a cultivated field,
And the cultivated field be reckoned like a forest.

16 And judgment shall dwell in the wilderness,
And justice shall have its abode in the cultivated field.

17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace;
The effect of righteousness shall be
Safety and quietness for ever.

18 And my people shall dwell in a tabernacle of peace,
And in safe dwellings,
And in quiet resting-places.

19 And in coming down the hail shall turn aside on the forest,
And the city shall be situated in a low place.

20 Blessed are ye who sow on all waters,
Who send forth the feet of the ox and of the ass.

END OF VOLUME SECOND.